Hello All,

I am living in Zurich, and would be here for long-term. I am an Indian citizen and is holding a Indian Driving Licence (english version). Is it possible for me to rent a car from Mobility? I have read through their website (luckily they got an english version) however never found anything in respect to driving licence and all.
I came to Switzerland only 4 months back. So I have not yet completed 1 year here, as I have heard from some people that once you have stayed oven an year in Switzerland then you might need to get a Swiss Driving Permit.
If anyone could give me an insight into this, would be of great help.

Thanx..!!
Great Day Ahead

If your license is valid in Switzerland, they will accept it. They let me join on my UK one, but stated I had to supply my Swiss one within 1 year or my membership would be revoked.

Hi Cyrus,

So, as I understand in that my Indian licence should also be valid. Yes, I also came to know that you are allowed to use your non-swiss driving permit untill 1 year of your residence in Switzerland.

Now, I would not be interested in a membership from Mobility, as I would not be using to quite often. So, is it possible or viable to rent a car from them without initiating any membership..??

Thanx

Well, the 4 months trial is quite cheap, IIRC.
However, when my I cancelled my subscription with them, they offered me a program called "Mobility Après", which consists in a free membership, but the cost per km is higher. I signed up for that and used the service maybe twice in the next two years, without any problems.
To be completely honest I don't remember how much higher the price per km was (it was quite substantial BUT it all depends on how much you use the service), but the weird thing is that I could never find any mention of this program on their website.

Either it's their best kept secret, or it was some sort of temporary initiative that died out.

Anyway, try contacting them about it and see what they say, and then maybe report back here. I am sure it could be very useful for many people.

PS: just to show what I mean for best kept secret, googling for "mobility apres" on sites .ch yields:

Results 1 - 1 of 1 for "mobility apres" site:*.ch. (0.21 seconds)

ok...I havnt a clue abt mobility but can certainly tell u this...u can drive here for 1 yr on International driving license issued from India. If u appear for a driving test within 1 yr u just do a driving test...no written etc. If u apply for a driving license after 1 yr of ur stay...u go thru the whole procedure...first-aid class...written etc..So better apply for one and appear for a test within 1 yr.
For developed countries like USA, UK etc ...they just need to show their license and it is exchanged for a swiss one...but not for us...believe me I know....I am an Indian.

The cheapest mobility membership is 25CHF, which is a very good deal - normally you save that in the first rent. In their site you can compare the rent you pay them vs others like Europcar - for city runs it is always cheaper with mobility. The other kind of memebership is more expensive but if you will be a heavy user it is a good deal as the price per km is cheaper. another advantage is that you have 'tons' of mobility points, normally there is one a block from your house (my case) and you can take and deliver the car 24hrs a day.
regarding the drivers license, my advise is to change yours for the Swiss one before completing one year otherwise you will need to do a writen test. in any case you will need to do an eye test (mine costed 12CHF, can be up to 20CHF) that takes max 7 minutes . Depending where you come from they send your 'original' driver license to your home or to the country that issued it (my case, European Union). the good thing: the Swiss driver license has no expirity date - you can drive until the last day of your life.
last advise: Drive safely and enjoy Switzerland!

Yes, they've got a scheme in conjunction with SBB called 'Click and Drive', which is just like normal Mobility but without any membership. Higher rental fees, naturally, but fine for just a couple of times a year.

http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/...clickdrive.htm

kodokan

I have found a bill from my mobility apres.
The price per km is actually identical to the normal one (I got a car at 0.70Fr/km), but what is more expensive is the hourly price: 6Fr/h.

@ toetictac

So, you mean that I need to have an International Driving licence from India. I just have the normal driving licence, will that do..??
Or else, I need to get a Swiss licence as soon as possible.

Cheers..!!

How about you just call Mobility and ask them?

Or do you want someone here to call & ask for you & post the response?

Gawd ,,,

I guess you have not read my last reply. If not spare some time out to read it properly. It was solely intended for a particular person.
I hope you understand the significance of @ symbol.

Thanks, sash, I know the Internet quite well, including the use of the "at" symbol. Added a groan to your snappy response just because I felt like it.



On a more general note, I just sometimes wonder why some folks (not really pointing at you unless you want to feel pointed at) would rather start a thread asking a bunch of questions and follow-up questions rather than making one simple phone call to get to the bottom of the matter.



Why is EnglishForum.ch smarter than the Mobility customer service hotline?



Just my $0.02, which is CHF 0.00 because of all the rounding they are doing in the stores here.

And It probably won't take 3 days just to get a 'guesstimate'. If it's a language thing then..... oh hang on.... I just called them for you the answer is yes if you have been here less than a year , and it must be translated but as you have said it's in english then they will accept that.
See, wasn't hard was it.

To follow the old CS commercials ...

Some call it lazyness.
Some call it efficiency.

I'll assume she can't speak German and that all the Mobility receptionist can't speak english.
It could happen.

Well ... Mobility does have a Web site in Ingrish.

http://www.mobility.ch/pages/?dom=6

So one might be tempted to assume that they have customer service in Ingrish, too?

So, what were the other options then?

Other (language) options?

D - F - E

Tschörrman - French (not a language, just an outrageous accent) - Ingrish

That's not what I meant.

TGIF.