Hi,

I sold my car last week and currently do not have plans to buy a new one. The dealer I sold the car cancelled my registration and told me he will return the plates and this will automatically cancel the insurance and will get the rest of my money back. (at least he told me he would do this).

Is the above procedure correct or can I keep the plates in case I will buy a new car and avoid the high registration fees, would this have been possible? Thanks

Well you cannot really keep the plates if there is no car attached to them....

You can keep the plates for up to 1 month...

Thanks, this helps. So, next time I will need to pay the CHF 300-400 registration fee again...

The only thing you would not get away with paying when you buy a new car and swap plates over is the cost of the plates which saves you some SFr. 40 on the deal...

Is that not the road tax? I don't recall the registration fee being that steep?

plates in Zurich cost 80 francs. I think you might, for a time, get the same number if you wish. When your plates are handed in, two things happen:

1. Your insurance company is notified automatically (but I always tell my chap)
2. You get a refund of what's remaining on the road tax for the year

You can post your plates through the return letterbox in ANY canton traffic office - it does not have to be open.

You're right I checked. You should be able to do it for SFr. 107... I only ever pay what the garage asks me to pay - which seems to be a lot now...

I got a bill of over CHF 300 from Strassenver...t (still cannot spell that..). I did not check it properly and assumed it is a registration fee and plates etc.. I will try to find the invoice somewhere and find out what that actually was..

Actually, I've heard that some insurance companies prefer to think that you did not sell the car, but rather suspended your plates (i.e., you can return them back to 9 months to police), therefore they can still bill you for casco insurance claiming that they assume car is somewhere placed on parking (without plates!), and in case of any damage they will cover it. Therefore, they continue to send insurance bills

I was told about this problem from my insurance agent about Generali insurance. He recommends to notify insurance with a letter that you have sold your car, and state that this is not a temporary suspention of plates

Hope it will be helpful to someone.

*Re-animates old thread.....

As we will be changing cars, I am thinking of changing our insurer (possibly to TCS) and also switching the insured driver from my wife to myself (as I am the TCS member). I assume that once we sell our current car, the current insurance contract is terminated immediately, correct? Should I inform them, or does it go through the Strassenverkehrsamt?
Secondly, since I was previously insured with a 2nd car we had at the time (over 11 years ago), will I still have those plates under my name, or is there a certain period after which they are reissued?

If you sell a car - and don't replace the contracts are cancelled. Your plates are returned to the STVA - and held on retention for you for 12 months*.


* I found that out last month!

As we are going to replace the car, are we therefore bound to retain our insurer until the contract is up for renewal?

If you change cars you can change the insurance too.

That's what I thought, don't think our friendly insurance chappy is going to be too happy.