I did a quick search and didn't find anything else along these lines, so I decided to make a new thread. Hope I didn't miss an obvious "cheap swiss cars" thread...
Anyway, I was wondering if I'm alone in thinking that cars in general here seem to be much cheaper to buy / lease than they are in the UK? The thought was inspired when I was walking by the Maserati garage in Zug last week (during my extended Heartbeat holiday lol) and looked idly at one of the (three!) Quattroporte's that they have for sale on the forecourt.
Now, this is my 2nd most perfect car to own of all time - if I won the lottery, then I'd be shoppinf for one of these - so I know that they're not the cheapest of cars in the world to buy new, and I know that they depreciate faster than a ticket for "An Evening With Tony Blair" does right now, but still, this was an '04 car with only 30,000km on the clock, and it was going for 90,000CHF (£37,000ish) - this is about 25,000CHF (£10,000) cheaper than the same kind of car would cost in England!
I'm going to be changing over my car in the next few months (from a UK RHD to a LHD) - not to a Quattroporte I might add - and so I'd be curious to know whether I'm better off to get a car over here, or buy in the UK and drive it back across (I've got my eye on a sweet Pontiac Firebird over there at the moment...)
Anyone else noticed a difference in prices or is it just a one-off?
Can I get more car for my money in Switzerland than I can in the UK?
It sort of depends on my boss - if I get my way, I'll be here at least until my current B permit dies in 2012, but there's a chance that in 2 or 3 years I might be relocating again to an office in Madrid, New York or Bangkok depending on where the business grows fastest.
I'm torn at the moment between getting a new car on a lease (in which case, I'll have roughly 400CHF per month to put in on it) or getting an old 70's car (Opel Manta or Berlinetta, Pontiac Firebird, Chevy Corvette etc) in which case I'll be looking to spend about 10-12,000 CHF.
Yes, I know those are all mid life crisis cars. No, I don't care.
Check out www.autoweb.ch to see prices and availability. Check out Japaneese cars, for some reason the Swiss do not like them, and they do not sell well, so you can pick one up for a good price.
A Pontiac Firebird? With all those tight speed limits in all europe it really doesn't make sense anymore to buy those kind of cars..
Anyway, driving RHD in Switzerland as well as the rest of europe is not only dangerous but it would raise up the price of your insurance.
Unless your girlfriend is going to be your navigator while you drive your RHD car, buy a second hand car here and be safe. Prices are certainly cheaper than UK even though not that consistently (I've noted Italy is still cheaper than CH, but import taxes + 7.6% VAT would make it non sense).
Yeah I brought my RHD car over here from the UK, and I want to swap over to a LHD for those exact reasons! Hence why I'm asking
Buying a 1970's Pontiac Firebird has nothing to do with sense, and everything to do with having a 19070's Pontiac Firebird I'd never drive it fast anyway, just crawl along at 20kph and pose hahaha
Thanks to both Fabio and William Tell for the links and tips
What's the position if I buy a car in Switzerland,register it there (I have an apartment in Canton Bern so have been advised I could do this).Could I drive it home to the UK without restrictions ?
It would not be an import as it would be Swiss registered.
Suppose there may be a time limit on how long it could remain in the UK.
I travel from the UK to Switzerland and back five or six times a year and spend around five months over there,winter & summer.
New cars definitely less expensive in Switzerland.Also gas.Cheapest I've found, COOP @ CHF 1.66 which equates to approx 70p/litre
Yank Tank in these roads, are you mad? It's all very well driving fast in a straight line but with these mountain roads I would rather have something that actually corners well. Also those American 4 speed autos are just soo bad, I drove my friends American SUV a few times looking for my car and it was not fun driving it and even made us quite car sick.
Cars definately seem to be cheaper over here. Plus they seem to have a few models that I didn't know existed. We picked up a second hand 330xi (4 wheeled drive 3 series?). It was a bargain and the BMW garage where we bought it from where excellent.
Don't forget fuel is cheaper, plus my insurance was way cheaper than the UK.
Of course you can drive it back to the UK but if you attempt to sell it or if you attempt to move back to the UK, the car becomes subject to import duties seeing as Switzerland is not part of the EU. As long as you are registered living in Switzerland and have a valid insurance policy, the car can stay there as long as it likes.
You can't. After I think 91 days in the UK you will fall under the residence rules.
Now here is something to consider VERY Carefully.
Your residence of origin ie the residence of your father was I assume English, also if you were born and lived the formative years in the UK you fall under this. This means you are nominally UK resident until such times as you can demonstrate you have left to live abroad.
The mere fact that you have a residence here does NOT mean that you are not UK resident. If you are spending 5 months per year in the UK you will fail the residence abroad test. In this case you will be fully liable to UK taxes as if you lived in the UK and your car will be treated as an import as soon as you drive over the border.