Hi all,

I was hoping someone can share their experience of selling their car in Switzerland as I have just sold a car registered in Aargau. The buyer is asking me to cancel my Grey car paper but can I just give him the paper after I receive the payment and he can use the paper to transfer ownership.

I am use to the process in England where once you sell the car you just need to fill a form and send to the DVLA office notifying new ownership.

By the way I will be removing plates and sending back the transport office.

Thanks in advance

Clearly, you are not use to the search function of this forum

I did search it but did not really get the right answer.

The buyer is asking if he can take my grey paper and cancel it himself and transfer the ownership and then collect the car the following day with payment cleared on the day of collection.

You get the money, then give grey card and keys - not the other way around.
You can send a copy of the grey card so that the buyer can organize insurance.

Thanks for a straightforward answer!

Best

Transfer of ownership is super easy. A car is like a book, sofas, or washing machine: There are no special formalities. Hand over money in exchange to key, gray card, and access to car. Done. Written contract is optional.

Transfer of registered holder (which neither has to be the owner, nor is it related to ownership) is also super easy if there is no special remark in the gray card. Just hand it in at the SAN/StVA/MFK and get named holder changed.

Sorry for bumping a year old thread but I sold a ZH interchangeable plated car which the buyer registered in Chur two weeks ago. But after calling insurance, they said they haven't received any notification from the StrassV.

Would I need to go in person to the StrassV. to get it cancelled? But I don't have the original permit anymore. Or is it just a matter of waiting for the Cantons to communicate (which i'm not sure if they do)?

Thanks in advance.

You should have had the grey card cancelled for that one.

I have several sets of vehicles with such plates, and take one off the road from time to time.

Tom

To update: Talked to the StrassV in zurich and they saw the registration in the other Canton three weeks ago. Once their ownership transfer request is sent from that Canton, Zurich will cancel and backdate everything including the insurance for refund.

Just a note: Its not a transfer of ownership (this happened already at time of sale) but a change of the registered holder.

Sold my car last year and got some good advise on this forum.
Was in Aargau.
The quickest way is to take your Grey Card to the Strassenverkehrsamt and ask them to cancel it. It is super quick and then you confirm it to the buyer.
Ideally the Payment for the car and cancelling the Grey Card is done in quick succession. Do it yourself unless you sell your car to a garage and they can do it for you.
They will take the cancelled grey card when they take the custody of the car.
Pretty straightforward.
And remember, the license plates belong to you and dont go with the car.

__________________
Logotherapy
That which gives reason for being.

And has to be handed in when you cancel the registration.

Tom

Unless you keep them for your new car.... ;-)
Otherwise, you are correct.

So a car is just like a bicycle? Authorities don't care who is the owner when you register a car? And whether it was paid for or not? There is no sale contract or invoice required when registering a used car you just bought from a private person or a dealer? You just need to pay insurance and bring the grey card and they will register you as the new "holder/keeper" of the car?

Yes.

Tom

This thread - although very short, is very useful in terms of answers!

Haven't sold my car yet, but intend on doing it myself next time around (did a trade in with a dealership last time, as my X3 had so many issues I could not in good conscience sell it to an individual)

Would never recommend to buy or sell a car without a written contract. A must in my opinion.

TCS even has a template. Made it super easy, and clear in writing that the car was sold as-is, no warranty, etc. The price and contact details of both parties was there too. Sure, a verbal contract is a contract too and I bet many of our members have sold cars that way. However, if a dispute arises, it's a lot harder to prove who said what in a verbal contract.

About 20 years ago I sold my car to a garage. The car wasnt in working order at the time and because of this the garage owner didnt register himself as the ownwr for another couple of weeks. This meant I was still liable for the road tax for the vehicle for this period even though I wasnt the owner.

You can return plates and cancel the grey card. That's where your liability ends. If a garage needs to, the garage will use own (shareable between multiple cars) plates to drive.