You will need to register at the nearest Garage that will make the test for you. Also ask them if they can provide you with the little booklet where they will put the "results" of the test or if you need to order it online. I ordered mine online, i paid online and it arrived within 3 days.

You are thinking of the emissions test, not MFK. MFK is not done at garages.

Tom

I know this post is a couple of years old, maybe nobody is looking at it anymore, but, is there a limit to the number of cars you can import and register within one year?

Awesome post Bobo_97 - thanks!

What about co2 emission charges, could someone share their experience on this ?
this has to be paid in addition ,when you import cars, and if they exceed 134 g co2/km
:

http://www.bfe.admin.ch/themen/00507...x.html?lang=de

take care:

http://www.thelocal.ch/20140606/germ...border-mistake

Thank you very much for this. I found it very useful. I plan to import a second hand mercedes I bought in Germany and am sure I can make it go smooth thanks to your write-up. Best, Richard

The true question to ask when you come to Switzerland is DO YOU REALLY NEED A PERSONAL CAR?

Public transport goes everywhere on a frequency of twice per hour or more, and reaches the most remote areas. You can combine with a good offer of shared cars such as Mobility Carsharing, with biking, with elektro-biking and by going on foot. And a number of bike models are well suited for families and for shopping, yes.

When we arrived 3 years ago in Switzerland, we decided to give it a go without a personal car. And now, we feel freer and fitter than ever :-)

How about skiing you say? When we go skiing for several days, we have our skis and luggage sent upfront to the ski resort and travel light. Easy.

Convenience.. so yes.

Depends where you live.

Around here, yes, you do.

I know plenty of places that I go to that are unreachable by public transport, and plenty more with no service after 7PM, or only 3 services on Sundays and holidays.

Tom

You definitely need a car around here.
The bus comes here nine times per day ( mostly suited to work/school hours) and none at all on Sundays and we're not even remote.
There are lots of places with a frequency of much less than twice per hour.

Oh god, here we go again. Thanks for coming to a thread discussing importing a car and arguing that you don't need a car. I'll make sure to pop be every public transport thread and say that you don't need public transport because [reasons].

Also you don't need A LOT of things. Including a nice house, a good hot meal every day and so on and so forth.

It sure damn is nice to have though, ain't it?

I have purchased a car in Germany and will be driving it to Switzerland during weekend (Saturday) with temporary German number plates my dealer has arranged.

I am planning to enter Switzerland at the Basel autoroute and complete the formalities with German and Swiss customs at Basel/Weil am Rhein-Autobahn crossing.


From the website the German customs seems to be open till 22 hours on Saturday. http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs...efNum=DE004055


I am not sure of the Swiss customs office. The official page shows two options for opening hours http://www.ezv.admin.ch/dienstleistu...OTE%3D&lang=en


I tried google translate but it did not make any meaning. Which one of the two "Zollinspektorat" or "Grenzwachtposten" is relevant for paying VAT and completing form 13.20 for used car import?

Does anyone have experience completing (i.e. paying VAT) at this border on Saturday? What are the timings? 24 hours as indicated or they close at 13 hours?

Thanks,

If it is closed you can simply go to a custom office on Monday and do it as well.

Thanks bobo_97. I can complete the Swiss duty payments on Monday but reading from other posts it appears that German customs stamps the paper confirming export out of EU only once the Swiss authorities have completed their paper work. Is that correct?

If yes, how can this be done on Saturday? I live in Geneva and it will be expensive to come back to a German border to get the paper stamped after the week end.

Or, can the German customs stamp the paper based on my Swiss permit (C permit)?

Thanks,

No.

Tom

Hi,

Thank you for this post! very useful. There's just one thing that is not clear to me. If the insurnace and the temporary numbers expired in 2 weeks, how did you manage until the import MFK test? how did you take the car there and what did you do for insurance?

Many thanks!
Iulia

IuliaMa, based on experience shared by Bobo_97, I did get insurance for 4 weeks. However as a precaution (and knowing that Geneva service de automobile) is very busy, I had called my insurance company to find out what happens in case I cannot do MFK within 4 weeks. My insurance company confirmed to me that I am OK to drive the car from my place to service de automobile provided I have appointment confirmation from service de automobile .

You can also get a permit from the Strassenverkehrsamt (not sure of the name in Geneva) which is valid only for the trip to the MFK test (and back home in case you fail).

Hello Everyone,

Just want to say, all went well with the car import, no issues at all! I could also take temporary plates for 24 hours to drive the car to the import test .

Iulia