Having recently left CH, we will be coming back for Christmas. We are renting a car (in Spain), so wondering if I need to do anything special for the tires. I cannot remember if all-season or Winter tires are mandatory on all roads? We will cross the border at Geneva and then head up to Payerne, so no mountain driving.

And I assume I need to buy a vignette at the border.

Thanks for any tips to refresh my memory.

fduvall

There are no rules concerning what tyres you have to use, just recommendations.

It seems it's not a law in Switzerland, but insurance companies may not cover you in an accident if you don't have proper tires.

A fried of mine just rented a car in Italy, and planned to drive it to Switzerland, but the rental company wouldn't allow it because the car wasn't equipped with winter tires. Altho it would have been technically legal, I guess they didn't want to assume any insurance liabilities and the rental agency refused to allow it themselves.

Here's some tips:

http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/...sl/nortou.html

In northern Italy, snow tires are mandatory (since last year) if there is snow on the ground.

Tom

In Switzerland there is no specific law about winter tires, but Swiss law requires that a car on a public road must be roadworthy ("verkehrssicher") at all times. Once you drive on a snowy or icy road with summer tires, your car is no longer considered roadworthy and you may end up with a fine.

When we rented our car at the airport I asked if it had winter tires and they guy at the counter said they were required by law to provide winter tires and chains.

I didn't investigate further. I was happy to get winter tires and chains on the rental.