Hi,

Im looking for some advice. Im from the UK and have lived in Switzerland for 11 months now (so coming up on that 12 month deadline...) and am wondering whether to exchange my driving licence.

I don't own a car at the minute, but wouldnt like to rule it out entirely for the future (we'll definitely be here another couple of years at least) and I can foresee at least wanting to hire a car at one point.

Should I change my driving licence?

Also, when i go back to the UK sometimes in the summer, I tend to go on the insurance on my family car, would this cause a weird problem having a swiss licence instead?

Id appreciate any advice!

Thanks

**paging LiB**

Change the license, if you want to do it later, you'll have to take the driving test again.

I changed mine, and I don't own a car, I use mobility sometimes, it's quite reasonable for the one off times I do need a car.

You can use the Swiss license in England, though I don't know what it does for insurance, rental companies don't care.

Change it. It will cost (CHF80 the last I heard).You may want to hire a car here at some time. Or a few years down the line move and find a car would be useful.

It will not alter your UK insurance status. I am a named driver insured to drive my parents car in the UK...

Nope. Not true at all. You can change the licence over any time you like; no test needed. Maybe different for non-EU people.

I've been here 1.5 years and haven't changed my UK licence. If I decide to get a car here I'll need to switch it over. I asked, and only an eye test is needed. Of course, it's better to change it over in advance. Right now, I can't (legally) just hire a car impromptu for a weekend, for example.

I went for over three years without a change, just do it in your own time no problem.

You two may have been lucky, from all I can find, the UK drving license is valid for 12 months in Switzerland. After that, you no longer have a valid driving license. Maybe no one checks, maybe they do, maybe they let you off, maybe they don't.

I had a German one, maybe a different thing, all what was asked was if I wanted the 7.5 ton addition, would have cost 100 Chuffs more.

Neither post was implying that their licenses were currently valid. The point being that although after 12 months the licence is no longer accepted, there's no imperative to change it to a Swiss one unless you want to use it, and this can be done at any time, not just within the first 12 months.

Although I can't imagine life without driving, but some folks are strange.

Thanks everyone!

Ill change it then, but sounds like theres no rush until I think about actually using a car.

Cheers!

I can't find anything that says there's no limit on conversion, only that the license must be converted within 12 months.

http://www.strassenverkehrsamt.lu.ch...rerausweis.htm

(For Luzern, maybe it varies). It explicitly states that the driving license should be converted, 1-2 months before the end of the 12 month period.

To me, that implies consequences if it isn't done. Not having a valid driving license for conversion would be a reason to have to take a test. I've heard the authorities may be lenient, but never that there's no limit on conversion.

Like several recent discussions, there doesn't seem to be any definitive proof one way or the other, but the only empirical evidence seems to point in one direction. Several people, including myself, have successfully exchanged licences well outside the 12-month period - I was explicitly told I _must_not_drive_ until I'd done so - but I've not seen any examples where anyone has been forced to resit a test for not doing so.