In Switzerland, once a car is five years old it registers some flag in the Swiss traffic authorities computer that randomly fires out a date when you need to turn up for your test.

I had mine this week and am might pissed. I drive a Mercedes and as it is this time of the year changed to winter tyres. This means, in my case, having two sets of wheels and tyres and not just two sets of tyres. I had them swapped and drove in to have the car tested. It failed and it was such a serious failure that I had to go back in January for a retest something which generally happens with those cars that deserve it. So what was the reason for failing.

I did not have the original wheels on and the ones I had were not original Mercedes therefore they need to be stamped in a little book to say that Mercedes accept them as good enough.

I am totally blown away. As I said to the guy what would have happened if I had not changed to winter tyres - you would have passed!!!!!!!!

Sympathy much appreciated

Thanks

Richard
PS I will now write something in the tips and tricks section!

if you have non-original wheels then ..... you need a Bewiligung. I had this on my old Saab and passed no problem. Also for the non-standard exhaust.

So.... Bewilligung Bewilligung Bewilligung...!

And don't forget to have the engine and underside steam-cleaned before you go - if it's manky in the engine bay then they are likely to fail you too. Ask your garage to prepare the car for MFK They'll even take it - for a price - to the STVA.

Yeah great to know after the event though isn't it. I added it to the tips section in the hope it won't annoy somebody else. As for the getting the garage to prepare the car it costs more than the test so why not let the guys test it and correct the faults - it is so much cheaper. And hey hey getting them to drive it there is a joke - CHF 175 per hour and it takes two hours to drive there have it done and drive back. Merry Christmas they say...

Richard

Hi Richard,

Well this is of course totally your fault for doing something so downright dangerous

The part that I love the best is that you have been here 7 years, and even though you think you're ready for all of Switzerland's little tricks, they still manage to get one up on you every now and then!

No wonder there isn't much of a car modding industry here. Not only are the idiots who normally mod the cars struggling to pay their health insurance bills and the high cost of mechanics, but even if they do manage to afford it they'll get screwed for every modification by the Strassenverkehrsamt!

Just saw this - you are quite right about the preperation costing a fortune. I made the mistake of telling the local garage that my car was going for a test and asking them to check it and prepare it. They basically charged me 600 CHF for running a series of checks analagous to the test. Plus almost 500 more for replacing a few rubber seals and doing the usual oil and filter change. Luckily I didn't take them up on their offer to drive it to the centre and just took a few hours off of work myself.

It would have been much cheaper to just bring the car to the test centre without preperation, have it checked and go to a garage with a list of the specific faults which needed repairing. Really, the auto-repair business here is such a ripoff. I'm going to look for somewhere in Germany to service my ageing Golf in the future. A mate in Lausanne takes his into France to get it done because even in that part of Switzerland (which is usually a bit cheaper than here) the prices are a joke.


Gav

I have my car serviced and wheels changed and stored in Ticino. This makes great sense.

Having said that, I had only the cost of a steam-clean over and above the regular servicing before my last MFK - and have managed about 8 months without valid abgas as I was waiting for them to write to me!!

Hi Lob,

Are you aware that this is a bye bye license offence? I would suggest you get in touch and say you want an appointment...

My word I was wrong... My wife ventured to the garage after a car rammed her in the A**E. The garage politely pointed out theat the Abgas had run out 1 year ago and the police have a fixed penalty for this if you are stopped CHF 100 per month its out of date... So there you are.

Does anybody know if there is a checklist anywhere which tells you what the STVA will actually check?

I have to present my car "11:06" on tuesday for the MFK and am not too confident about it passing, but I don't fancy bringing it to a garage beforehand and giving them carte blanche to find whatever they want wrong with it..

hope u understand german.............
here's are two links of the TCS
first one describes why the car has to be tested adn the second one is more specific about WHAT's going to be tested.

http://www.tcs.ch/main/de/home/auto_...n/amtlich.html

http://www.tcs.ch/main/de/home/auto_..._vehicule.html

and the site of the Canton Zurich

http://www.stva.zh.ch/internet/ds/st...rf_period.html

They will test your car in three criterias

Verkehrsicherheit ( security) - brakes,steering,lights,RUST!!
Vorschriftskonfomität(regulations)- check that your car will not have for example illegal spoilers attached to it etc
Umweltverträglichkeit - emmisions ( this test is mandatory to be done every year with elder cars, a brand new one has to have done this testing every two years at first)

does this help?


EE

I had my first such periodic inspection last December and was really expecting a more detailed examination than the car ended up with. Just seemingly basic suspension and brake tests, headlight alignment checks etc alongside a detailed visual inspection.

Having said that, my car is bog stock and less than 5 years old. If you roll up in something somewhat older/have more obvious mods they might be more critical.

I had a weird experience on this a couple of years ago. My car failed because there was a broken light and some "unknown" liquid on the underside of the engine. I pointed out that it was raining but this didn't convince the guy . So straight after I took it to my local garage and he asked me if I'd cleaned my engine before the inspection. I (of course) replied that I hadn't and he basically looked at me as though I'd lost my mind. He changed the lamp, washed my engine and a day later I passed without a problem.

So, a clean car is a healthy car

Yup - a clean car is a must. And - be on time - 11:06 IS 11:06! Otherwise, they might just tell you to come again. Of course, you'll have to pay anyway!

We basically do what EastEnders listed. Anything else the inspectors find they will list on a form. You then only have to get those things sorted out and re-checked and not what a garage may tell you.

Thanks for all the tips! I'm feeling a bit more optimisic

Don't do that - unless you really trust the garage. I did that with a local garage and got stung for a couple of thousand francs as they ran a complete test on it which cost close to a thousand CHF. I'm sure they 'fixed' a load of things that weren't strictly necessary to pass the test too.

Get the car serviced as per normal and also get the engine steam cleaned. Then before you go, give the underside a good spraying at a jet wash.

If the car fails you'll get a list of why it did so. Take that list to a garage and get the specific things attended to before you bring the car back for the retest. The test only costs something like 80CHF or so, so if you fail it once it's no great loss and frankly, it's worth it for the defects it might find.


Gav

Usually (if you take the car yourself) you get a nice display of what goes on down at the 'street traffic offial test centre' - clambering under the car with the inspector (in the nicest possible way of course). Out on the short test track he'll check your speedo against a big sign and finally try and put you through the windscreen with an emergency stop.

Sadly, last time I missed all this, as all they were so interested in was the piece of paper from my garage about the aluminium non-standard wheels the car was shod with. The inspector sent me off into the building to get it stamped. This cost nothing, but I missed the fun and had to meet my car and the inspector at the hut on the way out.

It passed. But I would recommend using a garage beforehand (but see the above post for a good tip if you don't trust them). I just told mine it was going for the test and they did all the necessary, including that famous bit of paper for the wheels.

This wheel business is new gag at the test centre. Like Richard I drive from April to November on other wheels - which are completely illegal according to the Swiss authorities, but my test was in February...

Thanks for the advice guys,

I took the car to a small garage I'd used before and he seems to have gone on easy on me. He did recommend new front discs and pads, but these were definitely not changed out of vanity, the difference in the braking effect was huge!

Otherwise all he did was clean the engine and sort out my crosseyed headlights.

It was enough though, the car passed with flying colours

Now I'm wondering what all the fuss is about

The trick to get your car through the test evey time is the following :

Take the car volentarily to your local TCS center ask them to check it for a test,costs about 40Frs if you are a member.
They will give you a written list what it will fail on, or if it will pass.

Simple then you either do the job yourself,or take it to a garage, can't be ripped off then.
Or if it will pass,after the initial check, then book a test date with TCS costs about 45Frs if you are a member, so if it is in good nick total cost about 85-100Frs.

SIMPLE AS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

NEVER NEVER WAIT UNTIL THE MFK SENDS YOU AN ' EINLADUNG'
just a recipe for disaster and expensive garage bills.

I take my car about every two years and never a problem and the car is twenty years old.
Super Simple.

Is that AB(dominal) GAS?
do you mean refrigerant for AC?

Abgas is German for exhaust (fumes). Driving a vehicle without a current exhaust certificate will attract a healthy fine if/when caught...