Can anyone confirm the logistics of selling a car privately to someone in another canton? In an example with a seller in Geneva and a buyer in Vaud does it work like this?

1. Buyer and seller agree on price.
2. Buyer buys car insurance.
3. Buyer and seller meet in Geneva, exchange cash, and both sign a copy each of a sales contract. Seller gives buyer the Grey Card and the car.
4. Buyer drives car to 'Service des automobiles et de la navigation' in Vaud, and gets his own plates and new Grey Card in his name, using the sales contract as proof they're the new owner.
5. Seller travels to Vaud to collect his old plates.
6. Seller goes to 'Service des automobiles et de la navigation' back in Geneva to hand old plates back in.
7. Any remaining insurance and tax are automatically refunded by post.

Is that right, or does the seller need to cancel the Grey Card in Geneva before step 3? Are steps 5 & 6 necessary, or can the buyer just throw away the old plates or leave them with the 'Service des automobiles et de la navigation' in Vaud?

Thanks!

1) Sell the car
2) collect the money
3) take your plates
4) give grey card to buyer
5) done

Tom

Just read one of the similar threads at the bottom of the screen.

Most people cancel their own plates/registration if the car gets sold. The buyer is responsible how to transport the vehicle to his place (e.g garage plates). Once the deal is done and payment received, the seller has nothing to do anymore just handover keys and paperworks.

I would never sell a car to someone if it is still registered under my name. We all know what can happen.

If you give the plates back nothing can happen as the car can't be legally used on the road.

What i am trying to say is i would never give the car away with my plates on it. Some people trust strangers and after selling the car, lend them their plates for a certain period of time.

I did exactly that when I sold my Porsche last year, the buyer had only given me half of the money as well. A week later he returned the plates & a month later gave me the balance. In Switzerland a lot of business is done on trust. We did not even have a contract, I gave him a receipt when I received final payment.

To each his own

It's no difference to taking you car for a service........

It's very different. In the event of a traffic infringement while your car is being serviced, your car is in the care of a registered business, not an individual (although the employee of that business would ultimately be liable for any traffic misdemeanours), and you as the owner of the car can prove with the service records and receipt for payment for the service that your car wasn't being driven by you at the time of the offence.

I can say who I had given permission to drive on my plates, I knew his name, his address, who he worked for & his mobile phone no. In any case I had deregistered & was no longer living in CH.

A registered business offers less protection, especially if GmbH or AG are in the business name, both being warning signs your dealing with a legal entity not a person who has unlimited liability.

In CH you receive a bill for a service in arrears, you can't 'prove' anything but don't need to, you just say you were not driving your car as it was at xxx garage for a service. It's then unto the police to investigate, obviously if your lying & the photo shows you were driving it will get expensive. You may not be aware that you are innocent until proved guilty even in CH. There is never any requirement to prove innocence.

Exactly my point — if your car is at the garage, you have nothing to fear.

The legal status of the garage is irrelevant. As I said, the police will come after the individual driving the car, not his employer.

So what is the advantage of giving your car to a garage over a private individual, or have I not understood your point.

But do I need to take the plates back to the Services des Automobiles or can I just put them in the bin?

To make things easier for the buyer (and hence quicker for me) I'm happy for him to drive it to the Vaud Services des Automobiles on my plates (I know his name, workplace etc). When he gets his own plates can he then leave my Geneva plates with the Vaud Services des Automobiles or just chuck them away? Or do we need to meet up again so I can get my plates back (which is obviously a hassle I'd like to avoid if possible)?

Don't throw them away. The insurance won't be cancelled until the plates are handed in so unless you want to pay insurance for a car you no longer own this is a really bad idea.
The buyer can hand the plates in when he registers the car in Vaud and they will be returned to Geneva.

If he's using your plates, he's also using YOUR insurance, as his won't kick in until the vehicle gets registered under his name.

But, yes, he can drive with your plates, hand them in at the DMV he registers the car at, and they will send them back to your canton.

Tom

Plates aren't a consumable, to be disposed of, and are always assigned to a driver and not a car.

Those plates will be forever recorded against your name, with you having full liability for what ever happens in any vehicle using those plates - until you return them and have them de-registered.
They will then be assigned to another new driver, plus you may be eligible for an insurance refund, which you will only receive once they are returned.

Returned plates are a bonus in my Kanton, because low numbers, implies oldies, having had the same plates for decades and struggling to cope with modern traffic = DANGER; and high numbers means newly qualified or newly arrived auslanders, who can struggle in traffic, here = DANGER.
Mid-range numbers = anonymous, calm and steady.

Although of course very low numbers imply millionaires who paid for these plates = HIGH SUGAR DADDY POTENTIAL.

The buyer can obtain day plates from the kantonal licensing office in order to drive the car he is purchasing home. When he returns the plates he registers the car and obtains his own plates and insurance.

Not here, for the really low numbers - unless they drive taxis, municipal or agricultural vehicles.