Just thought I'd provide my experience in case anyone is doing the same... basically on Ricardo and without going to the Strassenverksamt with the new owner.

I sold my car on Ricardo and in the end it was relatively easy. Now unlike when I bought the car off a friend (where we both went to the Strassenverksamt to swap plates, etc.), the guy I sold it to on Ricardo wanted to pick load the car onto his trailer without visiting the Strassenverksamt and registering it. There is no need... especially if he is selling this car on. So this is what I did:

Downloaded a blank sale receipt (kaufvertrag) from TCS' website and filled it in with the details. I specified problems with the car and that there was no guarantee (sold as seen, etc.)--this is what I described in the Ricardo advert so the guy knew this already.

Went to the Strassenverksamt and had my fahrzeugausweis cancelled. They basically stamp the document leaving a big red "Ungüiltig" notice on it. They informed me that I can keep the number plates on the car for 14 days. This is so that the car can legally remain on the road and be driven to the next buyer if needed.

Guy came with his trailer and he signed my TCS sales receipt/kaufvertrag, handed over the dough, etc. I then took the plates off and he loaded the car onto the trailer. I later returned the plates to the central post office in Zurich (this could also be done at the Strassenverksamt of course but the post office is closer to me). The post office issued me with a confirmation document.

The next day I returned the city parking permit and sent a letter to my insurance company saying that I wanted to cancel my insurance and that I had returned the plates. I also gave them my bank details to both the parking office and my insurance company.

I am now waiting for refunds for the parking office, insurance company and the Strassenverksamt (for unused road tax for 2011).

The guy who bought the car will have to register it with the Strassenverksamt in his canton if he wants to put it back onto Swiss roads. Otherwise he can export it.

I was told by the Strassenverksamt that as the fahrzeugausweis has been cancelled, once I return the number plates I will no longer be responsible for the vehicle (of course I couldn't just leave it in the road, but basically I am not responsible for what the new owner does). In case there are any disputes as to ownership, I have a written document (in the form of a TCS sales receipt/kaufvertrag) showing that a transaction between me and the new owner took place.

Nice breakdown of the procedures. I would like to add a couple more pointers if I may:
If the car you are selling was ever on a leasing contract, you have to provide proof to the Traffic office that the leasing contract has been completed and the car is legally yours to sell. the leasing company should provide the necessary documentation.
OK, this bit is about buying, but anyway; some leasing companies insist the named person on the car registration papers is the same name as that on the leasing contract. I had a panicked garage owner phoning me from the traffic office this morning to say the papers weren't in my name and had to be (they were in my wife's). A quick call to the insurance company to alter the policy details was all it took, they then transmitted the corrected details to the traffic office on the spot. Have to say, Smile Direct have been extreemly helpful so far.

__________________
Stealing jokes off the internet and passing them off as my own since 1995

Hi
Just wanted to know who/what ricardo is pls?

I have a car that I would like to sell and am not sure if I should do it on my own or through the garage that we bought from, which has quoted, of course, not a very attractive price. I got my car evaluated on comparis.ch and the target price was 15,000chf more than what the garage has offered. The garage showed me an evaluation from eurotaxglass's which is 10,000chf lower than comparis.ch. The evaluation from eurotaxglass's is the amount they have used to quote me their price. Anyone knows which is a more reliable evaluation?

We have about 2 months before we leave and selling to the garage seems really easy as we can drive till the last day and they will do all the paperwork.

Seeing as we can save some money, I would like to try selling the car on my own provided it is not something that would be too difficult and stressful as we have our upcoming move to take care of as well. I don't really know how to price the car to make sure it sells fast enough and also whether there are alot of hassles? does 'ricardo' help in any of these processes too? I have also seen lots of adverts on autoscout.24. Anyone knows how that works too?

would greatly appreciate any tips / comments / advise please and thank you all!

Ricardo.ch is a Swiss auction site equivalent to e-bay. (oops - the link is for the German language site - click on Parlez-vous francais, at top if you need FR).

To buy or sell you need to set up an a/c - confirmation code is sent out by post, so takes a day or so to get activated.

I've only bought before, but procedure for setting up a sale shouldn't be too difficult - and a minimum starting price can be specified, and bid incremental steps, set.

P.S. You could also offer your car here on EF - although you would have to realistically and attractively price it if you want a sale.
Do research on more that just one site (Autoscout24 is a good(ish) gauge), and consider a price that may be a little less than you believe it's worth, but still not such a big loss, as you'd get with the garage option.
P.P.S. Don't know how to go about selling on Autoscout.

Or you can just post it on here to gage interest and if you don't see that much interest then you will struggle to sell it on Ricardo specially without having any reputation etc.

So go ahead and post it! You might find yourself a buyer!

Dealers here will always use eurotaxglass, they seem to blanket offer the book price without even looking at the car. This was my experience when selling my Merc as I din't want to trade it in at the insulting price.

It would seem the norm for the Swiss tho is to trade in take the hassle out of the private sale and therefore take the crappy price offered. Most people it seems wish to buy from a dealer with a warranty... very different to Europe.

I ended up up using Autoscout and when I had translated the specs it was actually really straight forward, in the end it was actually another dealer who
wanted to buy it via the advert thus I had to drop the price a little but had no sales or plate transfer issues. Be warned tho you WILL get the calls from the companies offering to "help" your sale... annoying but same as the UK I guess...

Thank you very much everyone for your replies and suggestions.

I will try and sell it here on EF... can anyone please tell me how do i advertise it here on EF?

thanks again!

Does anyone have experience of selling a right-hand drive car in Switzerland?