I am selling a car and a motorcycle in Basel Land. The person buying the car lives in Solothurn. I have never sold a car in Switzerland so I am not sure what I should do except send in the license plates. Can someone tell me what they have found when selling to someone who lives in a different canton?

You have to take the beige/grey car paper "Fahrzeugschein" to the "Strassenvekehrsamt" in your Canton and get the paper stamped "Ungultig". Take your "Ausweis - Permit" or driving license with you. You can also take the plates with you, it will be in the same building.

Once you agreed on the price you can print two copies of the sale contract (there are tons of forms in the internet for free, the only important part of which for you is the "sold as is" section). On the day of the transaction go to the local Verkehersamt (like Ittigen mentioned) or your local Post Office and have them stamp it as "annuled". Once you receive payment and the buyer signs your copy of the sale contract, you give the buyer the annuled vehicle permit and the keys to your ex-car. Done. Congratulations, you sold the car.

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Thanks, this information is really helpful as I will need to sell my car shortly as we are leaving Switzerland. Please can you advise what I need to put into the search engine to find a sales contract. Or can you recommend a good one?

Just to clarify please could you confirm this is the correct procedure.

1) Advertise car - Find buyer, agree price
2) Print two copies of sales contract - Signed by buyer and seller
3) Go to Verkehersamt or post office to get paperwork annulled
4) Receive Payment
5) Hand over annulled paperwork and Keys

Please could you advise if this means I am unable to drive the car back home after the papers are annulled (i.e I need to go to the verkehersamt by public transport or get a lift from a friend). Also at what point do I hand my number plates over.

Also when I converted my UK drivers license to a Swiss one my UK license was held by the authorities. Can anyone tell me where I get this back from? Would if of been sent back to the UK DVLA or will it be held at the Verkehersamt?

Any advice will be gtratefully appreciated, Many thanks

You don't need a sales contract.

Also, you are NOT required to hand in the plates and cancel the registration. The new owner can simply register with the current plates if they wish, and the current registration will be automatically canceled when they register it in their name.

Tom

You got it.

Regarding the question: you can drive until the end of the day when the permit is annuled. If you are LEAVING the country you might not NEED the contract, but the contract states that you are selling the car as is, and assume no responsibility for anything that could happen to it after you hand it in. No implied warranties. The buyer MIGHT want one (my latest one educated me on the subject, I had no clue).

Here is a link to a simple contract: http://www.autoscout24.ch/AS24Web/Au...px?cmsaid=4192

You can apply for a new license in the UK, you have to state you have ( or possiblly will) be in the UK for at least 6 months.

Your original license got sent back to the UK

Excellent thank you. I am leaving Switzerland at the end of August and will be in the UK until the middle of December when I will be moving back to Singapore! I have a Singapore Drivers License (I have lived there before) which expired just two months ago - I am sure this will be easy to renew but only once I have my pass. Funny enough when I got my Singapore license I kept my UK license so hopefully I will be able to have a Singapore License and a UK drivers license at the same time. Am I best not advising the DVLA about me leaving to go to Singapore? Many thanks for all your help.

Sorry just another question. Do I need to cancel my Swiss drivers license or do I send that to the DVLA so that I can get my UK license back?

The UK will want the CH one which will be sent back to CH.

And if they don't register the car and simply drive around on your insurance? It happened to a friend of mine, he had to steal his plates back off the car, before the insurance was cancelled.

maybe you don't have to, you would be a fool not to!

I have always kept my plates to. They belong to me and not the car was my understanding.

ALSO you take payment BEFORE you change the grey cards, not after. once the grey card is annulled the car is no longer yours and he/she can simply say they paid. And it is true the insurance is not cancelled until the plates are turned in.

Not true at all, it simply means that it can't be driven until a new one is issued. I get several of mine annulled for part of every year to save on taxes and insurance. I can't drive them but I still own them.

Tom

I meant when the other persons name is on the grey card with that vehicle the car belongs to them

True Anthony, but they don't get to have their names on the Farzeugausweis until they send the annuled one in to the Verkehrsamt along with a letter requesting the new one in their name.

Then it's a new grey card.

An annulled grey card still has the seller's name on it.

Tom

Thanks for all the information.

I talked to my insurance agent also and they said to make sure that they have a letter stating that the car was sold on a specfic date and that registration should be changed by the new owner. In my situation the new buyer is in a different canton so they can take the car and the old plates with them to the office and get their new plates.

The insurance agent said that if he does not get a letter saying the registration has been changed then he will call the police and tell them that the car is not insured and they will chase down the new owner.

I just finished with selling and transferring my car. A little background first. I live in BL and the buyer lives in SO so there was two different MFKs to work with.

What has to happen first is that buyer has to get insurance coverage first or the MFK will not register the car.

When the seller has the money and the buyer has insurance then the buyer must go to the MFK and register the car and get the new plates. Give the buyer the current registration. They must then take the plates to the car/owner and exchange the old plates and the seller hands over the car.

The seller then takes his old plates to his MFK or Cantonal Police station and they mail them back to the MFK for their canton. Then the balance of the registraiton costs will be returned.

Your insurance agent should also be notified so he can cancel your insurance and you will get the remaining money back.

I tried to cancel the registration at the post office as noted in an earlier post and they could not do it in BL. It was all done at the MFK.

STill not clear on the issue of driving after you've handed in the grey card AND the plates. It's just kind of a pain to get to the MFK from where I live via public transport (a couple of hours just to get there and back). Can you still drive it back home once you've given them the plates back or not? I would guess not.

Mail works!

Also, find a friendly local garage, mine usually goes to Camorino a few times a week, and has done it for me in the past.

Tom