I am will be viewing a car in the next hour (I will not commit to it til I have done more research on the law and safety, this is to show interest etc) and was hoping to get some advice.

This is the first car that I have purchased in Switzerland (and first car of this value which is high for me but appreciate not high for others 50k) and I have already found out how tricky some things are in this country so want to get this right. (If any other tips or advice I will gladly accept!).

The seller (private) stated:

1) you give me a small deposit for confirm your buy.
2) we sign a contract and we fix the terms of delivery of the car.
3) After I receive the payment I must go with the license Plat and with the car registration document to (LOCATION).
4) After that you can take the car and will be yours

(The car is in a canton far away from me. Car has a full main dealer service history).

Obviously I will purchase my car parking space and insurance. I am still on UK license (still within the year here), is this a problem? Are there any other considerations? Is the contract quite straightforward? I'm presuming it waives any liability in the event something goes wrong etc?

Check the oil and take it for a drive.

I would pay in cash: sign the contract, hand over the money and get the gray card in one meeting with the buyer.

You can get temporary plates if you have a copy of the grey card.

No. You don't even need a licence to buy and insure a car, just to drive it.

Not sure you can even check the oil on these new fangled machines. Would like an old classic to work on but think blue parking is probably not designed for jacking up a car and changing the oil yourself!

Eh? Am I missing an obvious joke?

Okay, so I can get temporary plates to drive it back. Was going to enquire how I'd get it from somewhere 2 hours away back!

From the contract side, is there anything to watch out for (I will ask for it to be in English) anything that is "assumed" I guess? Or am I overthinking things?

Don't pay a deposit

Go there. Test-drive. And buy (sign contract/purchase slip. Transfer money/cash) take paper

At Zulassungsstelle you need the insurance (transfer of proof automatically with the starting day to be the day you go there)

You get the plates handed over. And could take the train to pikcuk the car. If you want to safe the hassle win temporary plates

A confirmation that the car is accident-free, confirmation that the car has no flaws, that all services have been done and watch out that there are no clauses that void guarantee.

How do you mitigate against the car and seller disappearing after the money has been transferred or from selling a stolen car?

Is this such a good deal that can't be matched by a dealer. I would much rather deal with a dealer than private person. At least you have some kind of recourse.


What's the car?

There do not seem to be many examples of this car around. I have been surfing comparis.ch quite a lot and this one seems good (full service history, reasonable specifications etc). I presume the dealers advertise on there (or the sites comparis uses?)/

You can always pay a couple of hundred and have the TCS inspect the car .. They also have template contracts and loads of advice.
They won't tell you if the seller will run away with your deposit or payment.. But hey..

You're not missing a joke.
To buy, own and insure a car you don't need a driver's licence.

You do if you actually want to drive it though.

Whats's the car, please?

Rather not say at the moment to be honest as it's a small world especially in the expat community (not paranoid).

Am I right in thinking that I cannot:

1) Buy the insurance (using car details)
2) Use the MFK and my details to get car plates
3) Pick the car up from the other canton with my new plates?

Seems to be crazy with regards to having to get temporary plates etc?

Crazy system..........

No need for temporary plates, just register in your canton then collect car paying cash like everyone else

Scam sign. If it's a private seller the convention is to just pay all the cash on the spot in exchange for the car and registration document. Used cars are a buyer's market in Switzerland, don't let the seller hassle you around like that. It's not unreasonable to even ask him to let you drive the car back to your place on his plates, if they and insurance are still valid and he doesn't need the plates for a next car, although he may legitimately refuse to go with that for liability reasons.

Okay maybe I am reading this wrong but checking the Zuri website (using translate...) it seems like I need the car details before I get a number plate?

Collecting with my own plate seems a lot easier. Also you cannot get blue parking until you have the car details as well so will need to figure it out.

I am just very wary of doing something wrong and paying an obscene fine.