I will be in the area for 8 months and I am looking at buying and registering a car for the period. (Anyone know of a nice late 80's BMW 3 series cabrio?)
My question is about buying and registering on tourist plates. Anyone have any suggestions about how I can go about it ???

Why do you want to do that ? Hassle and expense for less than a year ? I would rent ad hoc.
dave

As far as I am aware it is not possible to register a car in Switzerland unless you have a permit to be here. I've never heard of such things as tourist plates in Switzerland. What type of permit do you have, and have you thought of asking at your local traffic authority for the information?

When I first arrived I bought a car, but it had to sit at the dealership for two months while I waited for my work permit to come through. I was only allowed to register the car in my name once I had my permit.

You may be able to get Z-plates for exporting the car but if you're in the area of Lugano, are you in fact over the border?

And why would you want a heavy old slab of BMW creakiness?

Thanks all .....

..... You may be able to get Z-plates for exporting the car
Do you have any info on this

But if you're in the area of Lugano, are you in fact over the border?
Yup - on the Italian lakes.
Can't register a car here without residency - but I heard on a grapevine that the Swiss have tourist plate system where a foreigner can register a car as a tourist - a registration that is valid through Europe. But that's the info I can find.

Somebody does this .... at a fee! I expect it could be done directly.
http://www.swissplates.com

... And why would you want a heavy old slab of BMW creakiness?
I own a BMW 2002 back in Oz and love it.
a late 80s car won't depreciate (cos it already has - and has lost most of its "wank" factor)
Just a bit of sentimentality I guess

do you speak Italian?

http://www.ti.ch/DI/DI/SezC/argoment...one/index.html

It does not appear to offer too much information on export plates and to be honest I don't know if you can get them as a non-resident.

Are you illegally in Italy if you have no residency?

Thanx for that - I have had a look and a combination of my limited Italian and Babel-Fish tells me that this is a temparary transition to another (overseas) registration. It also looks like the export plates replace existing (Swiss) plates.

I am legally in Itally - an EU citizen by accident of birth.
Have applied for Permission to Stay and Residency - but this could take a month or two or three or four to come through.

If you hold an EU passport, surely there is no way they can stop you having a local car?

I would say that getting a Swiss car for export might still be hard work/not possible - but pop over to a garage in Switzerland and have a chat.

There's a damn fine Ferrari garage at Lugano Sud/Grancia

.... There's a damn fine Ferrari garage at Lugano Sud/Grancia

tempted!

.... If you hold an EU passport, surely there is no way they can stop you having a local car?

You need residency papers to register and insure. A leftover from the late 30's along with Milan Central Station I presume. I understand that new EU laws might make things easier next year where residency in the EU willno longer be able to be restrictive. But not yet.

It used to be easy to get Q plates in the UK. I once had a car registered in Algeria with diplomatic plates and when I left I sold it to a dodgy Tunisian buyer on the condition that I would have it driven to Calais and on the ferry to Dover my driver would remove the dip plates. At Dover Customs he got a 6-month entry permit and then bought short-term tourist insurance and Q plates from the AA in the ferry terminal. A logbook for the Q plates could then be had from another AA office near London. Car was then driven back to Algiers and sold to the buyer for local currency. That was 35 years ago. The UK is still a car thief's paradise as passable documents for a stolen car are still easy to arrange. The documents I just mentioned allowed a car to be driven almost anywhere in the world, at least for a while. I'm sure one could still get a Carnet de passage en douane, something I had when I drove a VW Beetle all the way around the Mediterranean in 1965.

You resurrect a topic which has been dead for 14 years to update it with info from 35 and 55 years ago.

This deserves a price of some kind

Extraordinary times need extraordinary posts.

Just to answer and correct some questions and misunderstandings.

- To register a car in Switzerland you must have a registered residence. It is possible that this residency is your holiday home.

- If you intend to stay for more than 90 days in Switzerland you must register a residency.

- Z-plates are not for exporting. Z-plates are used on imported but not yet taxed cars. Like when you move from abroad but your car does not fulfill all criteria to be a duty and tax free import. In that case tax and duty is deferred for up to two years and only has to be paid on the cars future value (which is normally much lower than at time of import).

- True export plates are not meant to be used on cars regularly driven in Switzerland. Also export plates are valid only for a limited time, usually to the end of the month (or for two weeks if the end of the month is close). To get export plates Swiss residency is not a pre-condition.

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