we broke down at the crossing at basel a couple of years ago, we where stuck there with the crossing police for a couple of hours waiting for tcs, having a laugh and a joke with them (in english too) and the only people they pulled over where, erm, no pc way to put this, was non whites, just about every single non-white driver was pulled out of the queue and the vechicle given a good going over.

I drove a bigger white van (hired from a car rental) from CH to Germany and back. I was never stopped at the boarder so far.

Only slightly off topic, but a warning if you are crossing in a van. I came over through Basel 2 weeks ago with a full load and they wanted to do a spot weight control. It appears that my van was about 100 Kg over it's allowed weight and they refused me entry into Switzerland.

I was carrying commercial goods with all the import paperwork for one consignment in one vehicle. We had to get that paperwork cancelled and have 2 new ones made up for 2 part loads. I had to unload half of the stuff into the customs warehouse so I could deliver the first part to our warehouse in Zurich and then head back to get the 2nd part. And all of this late on a Friday afternoon.

The customs controllers were pretty helpful about it all, but, just beware to check the weight you are allowed to carry. I thought it'd only be the traffic police could pull you over for this. Not so!

Well, seems that Basel is a bit tighter in controls than the other border to Germany towards Stuttgart (haven't got a clue what it's called... GPS helped me )

What were you wearing? (Nothing to do with the thread, though I'd just pop the innocent question into the melée)

Seriously though; sunglasses and casual clothes don't help at the border crossings, if you make a slight amount of effort to look decent, you'll fit the PC image and more often than not get waved through.

Well, maybe it was just easier for me being a woman, blonde and on my own..... they obviously didn't think I looked like a criminal....

So maybe next time just send your girls to drive

Well, just cross from Basel into France (Saint-Louis) and then go to Lörrach (no border at all) and Bob's your uncle

the EU - complete total waste of money and too much to do with idiot Euro institutions. Hate them.

Nah this isn't EU related but Dutch related.

Basically when you buy a new car here they add a "Eco Tax" on to it which bumps the price up. This adds value to the cost of a second hand car also.

So when you import and own less than 6 months they charge you the same tax.

This is a good thing believe it or not as if you import a car over 6 months old there is zero to pay. Hence the value carries through and you make money on the car if you sell it in NL

Mike, the border control in Switzerland are extremely hot on commercial vehicles being overweight and have a zero tolerence, where as many countries allow between 2 to 10%. You were lucky that they allowed you to put the goods into the warehouse as normally they insist on another vehicle coming to take part of the load directly off you.

I was delayed for 5 hours at the Weil am Rhein A5 crossing a few years ago due to being a similar amount overloaded and had to wait for a colleague in Frankfurt to come and help out. Fortunately as my customer had put the wrong weight on my paperwork, I was able to pass on the extra charges incurred and also the fine and extra paperwork costs.

I'll be crossing (Basel most likely) in the next weeks in a rented small van/ large car moving from Frankfurt to Switzerland.


a) I have some items, especially expensive hi-fi related, that are in absolutely pristine condition but actually several years old. Is there a danger I could be billed on these as the Customs may suspect them to be new? I'm not sure if I still have the original invoices.

b) I'm pondering whether to buy some reproduction design classic furniture and take that in the same run. The UK/US and many other patents have expired on these 1950s/1960s designs now so it is perfectly OK (entirely public domain) to trade and it is a thriving niche. I have a feeling that Swiss Customs (on behalf of Vitra - Swiss firm) may not look kindly on these. Vitra sells the 'official/original' version for 6000 pounds, Near identical versions in UK retail for 500-900 pounds.
Could this be an issue on the border ? Maybe customs wouldn't recognise or care about a couple of chairs amongst the thousands of vehicles crossings. Or being Swiss and being gov employees and customs experts .... maybe this is exactly what gets them excited.

If it was a bag of fake Rolexes I'd understand destruction. What is the worst case with furniture for personal use ? Could I leave it at the border and bring it back to Frankfurt on the return trip?



Thanks !

Captcha