I'm sure the answer must be on here somewhere already, but I can't find it. So apologies in advance....

I wish to "permanently import" my car from the UK to Switzerland (Zürich). From the UK perspective, this means taking the car out of the UK for more than 12 moths. If I do this, I don't have to pay UK road tax.

However, if I do that do I lose the right to carry UK registration plates? Having seen other threads, it seems I don't have to register the car in Switzerland for 12 months from the date of import - which means I won't have Swiss plates. Clearly I need one or the other...!

Also, when I first brought the car to Switzerland, should I have notified the authorities that I was importing it? Problem is, at that point I didn't think I was... I was only going to have it here for say 3 months but have now changed my mind.

Any advice gratefully received...

I imported a new tax free car car some time ago. The process is different whether you have owned the car less/more that 6 months.

A) If you have owned your car more than 6 months
- You need to notify the authorities immediately when you bring the car here (I did it after 4 months because I was just lazy, but no problems)
- You can drive your car with your UK plates 12 months from your arrival to Switzerland (not from the import date)
- If you plan to stay in Switzerland with your car after 12 month period, you need to register it in Switzerland (start the process after 11 months from your arrival)
- There will be no taxes or customs duties

B) If you have owned your car less than 6 months
- Same as above, but instead of registering it in Switzerland after 12 months, you get Swiss customs plates (Zollschilder) for one additional year and after that you need to pay the Swiss VAT and customs duty based on the value of your car at that time (I would be interested to know how they will do the valuation)
- Not sure can you get your UK taxes paid back in this case

Hope this helps.

The reason you won't find much information is that most threads basically end up boiling down to:

DON'T DO IT

If there is any way that you can take your car back to the UK and sell it there, then buy a Swiss car this is definitely the best option. The reasons being:
- Once you import the car here you will never be able to sell it here except to a scrapping yard.
- It is more dangerous to drive a right hand drive car on the right hand side of the road, and hence the insurance is more expensive.
- I have heard that the roadworthiness test when importing a car can be brutal.

If, on the other hand, like me, you decide against all reason to import your UK car then the tax is basically as HRA-47 said. I didn't declare the car when I entered, but I don't think it is a problem. PM me your email address (don't post it on the forum) and I will send you the information that I just received from the customs office.

You will also need to go to your local garage and get an abgas, which is the emissions test. You also need to read this thread here Fact Sheet #1 - Car Registration and Number Plates

Also, don't notify the UK of exporting your car until it is fully Swiss registered. As soon as you export your car, your UK insurance becomes invalid and you can not legally drive the car until you have Swiss plates, which makes it tricky getting it to the inspection.

The Swiss insurance company will issue temporary insurance cover for this purpose - they will want the VIN which appears on the insurance docs in place of the registration number.

But seriously, don't do it.

I didn't even dream there was a possibility to register RHD car in Switzerland.
now, despite all the reasons why not to do it, i'm seriously going to consider this option.

so what if you return (with your car) to UK after 11 months and
then come back to Switzerland for another 12 months ?
or how do they actually know when your car entered swiss soil
(as in "yeah officer, but I just brought my car only yesterday") ?


apart from the obvious problem when overtaking a slower car without a passenger in LH seat, what other dangers are out there to consider ?
(I've never driven RHD car in continental Europe so I wouldn't know)

Try pulling a ticket out at any car park/toll barrier. Plus every passenger you take will try and get in the driver's seat.

Another point is that new cars are cheaper in Switzerland than rip-off UK...

Actually this is quite interesting and was the cause of some debate in another thread where my experience was very different to others. When I brought my bike in I had already been in Switzerland for a couple of years and I did have a 3 month break. They take your arrival date as the first date you arrived with or without your vehicle. Therefore, my year had long gone. I was required to register it in Switzerland immediately.

Another point to consider is the lights - they dip the wrong way and this has to be changed to satisfy the test. On some model it can be very expensive.

I think I read somewhere that if there is a three month gap in the middle that is allowed. But you also have to leave the country and deregister. As SwissBob said, the 12 months is from when you enter the country, not your car.

Oh, and I also backup SwissBob on the headlights. You must get new one's. The beambenders that you stick on are fine for driving a UK car in Switzerland, but will not pass the Swiss roadworthiness test.

The things I find dangerous driving a RHD car on the right are, as expected, not being able to see when overtaking. The other is if you are wanting to make a left turn in heavy traffic. You sometimes have to sit there for ages waiting for the car in front to creep away from you far enough to make sure that there is nothing coming the other way, and put up with the drivers behind getting impatient and cranky. You can kindof get away with this when you have UK plates, as the Europeans expect the English to be stupid. But I expect to cop more flack once I get Swiss plates.

The whole thing of people getting in the wrong side I find more an amusement than a hassle. Then the look of discomfort on their faces as they sit on the "wrong" side of the car without a steering wheel is priceless.

I should likely start a new thread about this but I plan to sell my car in Switzerland in few years. The car is from another EU country and has exactly same specs as the same Swiss car.

I am sure the first excuse to give me a lower price will be "This is an imported car and we pay you 20% less..". Although the car has been driven in CH since new.

Any experience?

In the case of importing a brand new car, and having to pay all duties,

does anyone know if the value of the car you have to pay tax+duty over is the value you paid for it or the value customs think is likely correct for Switzerland? As there could be a few k difference if you export a new car tax free from one country to Switzerland...

No one seems to know this but I will tell you in January. I assume it is the value of the car at the time of registering it to Switzerland. How the valuation is done, I do not know. If you import a new car and register it in Switzerland immediately the value basis is the tax free price of the new car which should equal to your purchase price.

My case is this:

1) Imported a new car from an EU country (duty free),
2) Informed Customs that I have it here with foreign plates. Should be done when entering to Switzerland, I forgot but they did not care that I did it three months too late
3) Next step is to get Swiss zoll plates for a year
4) After that pay taxes based on the value of the car that time + customs duties.

Nobody seems to know how the valuation is done. I know there is a central database for car resale values which is used by car dealers. If they use that as basis for the value that is good, as the prices there are really low. I have also heard that customs duty in Switzerland is based on weight, not value (i.e. customs duty for 2 tons of dog shit = customs duty of a Ferrari)? Is this true?

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Customs duty is based on a combination of weight and the size of your engine, so in your example, the Ferrari would be slightly higher since dog shit has no engine capacity. These fees are relatively small, however, compared with the VAT that you may have to pay. In our case, the VAT was based on our purchase price, which was in our favor as it was relatively low.

VAT should be based on the value of the car when importing it to Switzerland. I understand that the import date is the date of registering it in Switzerland -> it should be based on the value that time. So far I am driving a car which is not imported but has a permission to be used in Switzerland.

I just had the misfortune to import my second hand Audi from Luxembourg, and because I had only purchased it in April (really for the purposes of getting to and from Zurich for interviews), I had to pay duty - a fact I hadn't quite realised when I bought it.

In April, I paid EUR16,000.

I had an import agent working for me as part of my moving company deal, so together we hatched a plan and decided that its value must be all of CHF15,000.

The customs people were not in agreement.

There was lots of toing and froing from an online database and lots of supervisors involved, and finally they came up with the figure of CHF15,500. How pleased am I?! I'm 99% certain its worth significantly more than that...

If it is an EU country your exporting from, I thought you are exempt from duty if you have an Eur. 1. form. Then it is value tax of 7.6% and another tax of 4% left. So with duty I am referring to the 12 CHF per 100 kg of weight here.

Helpful thread.

Question: I'm considering purchasing a used car (2003-2004) in Germany (due to volume of inventory available) to bring back to Zurich. Concerning VAT + duty:

1. What differences will exist between buying from a private individual in Germany (will VAT be required) and a dealer in Germany? From the dealer, can I arrange to not pay VAT to Germany, as I'll not be registering it in Germany?

2. Customs duty: Anybody know of a document or website that explains (in English or French) how the customs duty on a used car is calculated?

3. Leasing company here in Zurich explained they could not lease a car from outside Switzerland. Steps needed would be: a. I purchase car in Germany with bank loan. b. I import car, paying duty & VAT. c. Leasing company buys from me, paying off loan immediately for same price. d. Leasing company leases it back to me. (They also said that in Switzerland they could only lease from dealers, or where VAT must be paid. I'm not clear on how this would/would-not apply in the scenario above after I purchase from Germany and resell to the leasing company.)

4. Any experience with car loans from banks in Zurich/Switzerland?

Thanks,
Washbrol

Not an answer, just a request for the similar info.
UK car, how long before I have to get it registered here, and how much does it all cost?
Have found bits on various websites, but the actual cost is difficult to understand. Can I get an estimate before I sign up for importing the car?
If its too much I'll take the car back to UK and buy one out here/do without.
Many thanks for any help on this.

Hello all,

I am in the same situation, about to begin the process of registering a right hand drive car.

Can anyone recommend an insurance company that would cover me?

Thanks.

Hope we get some replies..I was refused insurance from the 3 insurers I contacted unless I had Swiss plates.

Questions on what it will cost to bring an imported car to an acceptable level for Swiss registration are impossible to answer. This will depend on so many factors: the vehicle, year, specification, etc etc. Lights, speedo and so will all have an influence.

Basically, unless its a very recent model and selling will lose a lot, you bought it as a bargain, or it is a classic car, it is rarely worth importing a car to Switzerland...