I have a BMW 1 series which is on lease from BMW Bank in Germany. The lease is one year old and 2 years are still left. I am moving to Switzerland next year, so the question is can I bring my car to Switzerland. Would it be possible to get the Swiss number plate? Does anybody has any experience with it?
Hello there,
you want to export a leased german car?
what do you recon? you don't own the car, of course you can't export it.
Well, I got the information from the BMW Bank in Germany that I cannot take the car which is leased in Germany to Switzerland because I cannot get the car registered in Switzerland. Is it necessary to register the car in Switzerland? What can go happen if I still keep on driving the car with a German number plate?
Doesn't that answer your question?
Tom
you can drive a non swiss registered car here for upto 12 months, your issue will be insuring it if you live here (ie you don't have an address in germany)
in reality the authorities seldom check, we had a uk registered car here for way over 12 months (it was fully UK legal and we still had a house in the uk) I was also only on an L permit as soon as I got a B we swiss registered it.
Hi divya.bajaj
Did you figure out what to do with your leased BMW?
No he didn't (Just click on his name and read his posts)
Not sure where where you got this info from. If you permanently move to Switzerland (e.g. you have a permit to live here and sign in with the Gemeinde as a permanent resident), you have 14 days to get your car registered here. You need to pay import taxes on your car upon first official entry. There was an article in some major newspaper last week about this - it's estimated that a large number of foreigners ignore this law and that there's a coordinated crack-down going on. Fines are quite massive (usually double the customs duty owed plus additional fines and back-taxes) and can, depending on the car, easily exceed 10'000 fr. You might also want to get things settled for insurance reasons.
Bigblue2's info is correct. There is a difference between paying customs tax and registering:
- registering (i.e. swiss plates) must be done within 1 year
- tax must be paid also within 1 year, but can be extended to 2 years upon completing some forms at customs; either way you have to declare your car at the customs when you bring it AND if you've owned it for more than 6 months you can import it tax free
Source: police and customs
Thank you for the replies everybody. I am still a little bit confused, so I will appreciate any help here.
Looks like owning the car fully (completely paid off) and then importing it, is the standard way.
I am not sure I want to own an expensive car which may need expensive repairs in the future, but lease is fine. I am also trying to find a way to keep current lease, so I do not loose a lot of money by paying off what is expected in the contract(I still have over 2 years till the end of the lease). And when it ends I would get another car already in Switzerland.
So as I understand, I have to
1. declare car at customs during move. (Would I need to do this for leased car?)
2. can wait for 12 months to register it (As I understand that for my leased car BMW bank in Germany won't allow it, even if I still have residence in Germany).
3. Can wait for 24 months to pay import fee. Can I simply leave car in Germany after 23 months, not pay any fees?
What happens if police checks on me? Will they charge multiple VAT fees on leased car?
I researched the forum, it there is no clear answer for leased cars.
It also means if I take new car that I bought in credit in Germany (and still paying off), I still need to pay it off completely if I want to import it to Switzerland, right?
If you look at this logically, you need to declare the car you own when you move to Switzerland. If you do not own the car, you cannot declare it and the effective owner would need to give his approval. As you then would remove a leased car out of the jurisdiction of the leaser (Germany), I am quite sure they will not give approval. So you can either pay off the car (some leasing companies do allow that) or find someone to take over the lease.
Simply said, it is not your car as you only lease it and do not own it.
So the same statement would be true if I would buy (not lease) car in credit (paying off within X years), right? I would need to pay it off completely before moving to Switzerland?
or you just cancel the leasing contract. Will cost you quite a bit, especially with a very expensive car such as a BMW and will leave you with no car to trade in for a new one, but at least you get rid of the other one.
I guess the lesson to learn here is: if you plan on emigrating, don't lease a car or enter into other long-term commitments.
The maximum amount of time you can drive a car with foreign registration in Switzerland is 12 months (not 24, don't know where you got that from) - that only goes if your car is older than 6 months. In that case, you don't have to pay import duties if you import the car together with the rest of your belongings when you move into the country. If you get your car into Switzerland this way, you're not allowed to sell it for 12 months, otherwise you will still have to pay customs.
If your car is newer than 6 months, it will be consider a new car. In that case, you have to pay customs duties on it AND you have to register it within one month.
Once you're registered your car here, (after 1 month or 12 months, doesn't matter), you have to get the MFK (TÜV in Germany) for it.
Source:
http://www.comparis.ch/umzug-schweiz...-fahrzeug.aspx
You can not import and register a car in Switzerland that doesn't belong to you once you've registered with the community. E.g. as soon as your immigration process is complete and you have your permit, you'll have to leave your car in Germany.
The maximum amount of time you can drive a car with foreign registration in Switzerland is 12 months (not 24, don't know where you got that from) - that only goes if your car is older than 6 months. In that case, you don't have to pay import duties if you import the car together with the rest of your belongings when you move into the country. If you get your car into Switzerland this way, you're not allowed to sell it for 12 months, otherwise you will still have to pay customs.
If your car is newer than 6 months, it will be consider a new car. In that case, you have to pay customs duties on it AND you have to register it within one month.
But that counts only if the car has been yours for more than 6 months. As the car is leased, the OP does not own the car. Apart from the fact that the leasing company will not allow the export to Switzerland.