Hello All,

Apologies if this has been answered before. I am moving to Switzerland next week to work for 18 months or so. I will be living in the Nyon area near Geneva.

I was wondering whether in general it is more cost effective to buy a used car in Switzerland or whether to buy one outside the country and have it registered?

Regards,
Neil

Why don't you use the search function ?

Buy a car in Switzerland it is alot less hassle. I imported mine when i came over and it took so long never worth it. If your coming from england bring your car with you it can stay here for 12 months you could push it out to 18 months as well

No you can't - not legally. And your insurance is unlikely to cover you if you have accident.

My advice: buy something relatively cheap over here - and accept you'll lose a good chunk of that after 18mths.

Unless you are going for a premium type of vehicule (think porsche, bmw etc) in most cases it's better to get it in Switzerland if only for the hassles involved.


you haven't specified what you are coming from and if you have a personal vehicule you'd like to bring along with you.

In some cases depending on the country of arrival it may be more lenghty and difficult to get it validated properly insured etc.

Accepted.

Now look at the bottom of this page and see what you would have found with a search...

Hello,
I spent the last 40minutes reading the numerous topics on buying a car, importing one, etc...

Let's consider "my best friend" has Swiss' permis B=person A. His fiancee not yet here, not yet official, will come to settle soon= person B. Of course Person B will have official papers as soon as entering the country (student permit or 6month tourist thing).

Ok Person A wants a car. It's Person B who will buy it abroad (germany). Person B will then register it in another European country.

Then because it's registered somewhere else, and Person B does not officially leaves in Switzerland, what is blocking them for not declaring it in Switzerland?

I mean in the event of being caught, how do the police knows the car has been there long time, not declared?




Why all the hassle? well it seems it's pretty expensive to register everything here- and Person B knows some guy who can negotiate deals at dealers in Germany (for a fee).


It also looks like "importing" directly from germany can be an option, if one goes through the hassle-and has compared the price difference.


Ok thanks!

Unfortunately there is no such thing as relatively cheap.. though I do agree, buy something rather than import. There are loads of people just like you coming and going after short stints so a ready supply of buyers and sellers. Dont get something too old though as the supply of buyers when you want to leave will be less.

Im buying a 2 year old and will sell it before it gets to 70,000KM or 2 years.

Good luck,

Bruster

There is!

There are plenty of cheap cars that if you can get the garage to do the MFK make ideal 2 year cars. There are plenty of old BMWs and Mercs about.

I think you can extend the period of keeping the car in Switzerland to two years. What will happen if after a year you take a trip to Germany, Italy or France and come back after a week? Can you keep the car in Switzerland for another year without registering it?

No. This won't help. If you are a resident, you have 1 year. That's it.

I learnt recently that if you are a resident in Switzerland, you can not drive someone else's foreign registered car in Switzerland. If you are a resident of more than one country (i.e. you spend significant time in more than one country every year), then it may be possible to drive a foreign registered car here for more than the initial 12 months- but the Swiss will probably find a way of taxing you for the priveledge.

Buy from an individual and haggle. If you buy from a dealer you'll be paying the dealer's spread when you buy and 18 months later when you sell.

If the car has recently passed inspection, you may never have to deal with getting this done if you only own it for 18 months. The purchase and registration process is very straightforward, and at least in Zurich I found the registration office to be quick and efficient.

There are a lot of solid used cars on the market here, as the Swiss tend to get all regular maintenance done and the inspectors are fairly strict.

That said, be sure you actually will need a car, since the expense and hassle is so much greater than the lovely rail system.

This may not be the tune you want to hear, but I'm sure that the most cost-effective thing would be to forgo the purchase of a car altogether. Get yourself a 1/2 fair train card, a bicycle, and a mobility car sharing membership for those occasions when public transport just won't cut it. You'll save all that cash on car expenses like gas, insurance, upkeep, speeding tickets, super expensive parking, depreciation of the vehicle, the mandatory set of winter tires, and so on. Use your 18 months to save some money in one of the few countries where it's actually possible to do so as a normal-earning person. Pedal around on that bike and feel good about your decision and the health benefits that come with. My $0.02.

That said, I'm jonesing hard for a Skoda Fabia wagon.

Actually, you can.

When I moved here, I brought a motorcycle with me, and was given two years to get it converted to Swiss plates.

And I got Swiss insurance for free (don't know how, but I still have the Swiss green cards somewhere).

Tom

This is nonsense.

What you CAN'T do, is drive a car registered in YOUR name in ANOTHER country in CH.

Tom

Either I'm reading this wrong, or this conflicts with your previous post? Or was the motorbike registered in CH?

Anyway, as said above yes you can drive a car registered in another country - but legally for 12 months only, then you are suppose to either register it as Swiss (MFK, Swiss plates etc..) or take it home again.

The date that you entered Switzerland is printed in your residence permit.

ha?
So they check the residence permis? (permisB)

So we have to carry that document all the time???

Yes, and Yes.

Tom