If you have to pay yourself, then I don't think the service will break the bank. What will kill your wallet are replacement parts and labour costs.
You have these with any cars no longer under warranty, but BMW and Mercedes will probably charge more for parts than VW or maybe OPEL does.
We are moving to CH in summer and we are thinking of buying a used car in Switzerland. We have our faithful Volvo whitch we will use to bring our stuff from Ireland. But then driving RH car wont be too comforgable on the continent so I have couple of questions:
1.For how long can we drive legaly our car in CH without registering it?Do we have to "declare" it on the border?If yes,what is the procedure and its cost?
2.We fell in love with alfa romeo guilietta-how reliable are those cars ? What is the service cost and parts availability in Swizerland?Anyone owns alfa here?
3. Is Lausanne reion epensive tax-wise?
4.What do we need to do/pay to regisger a car bought n CH?
Thanks for any help!
It would help us if you searched the Forum first, as all the above problems have been covered already. Then quote the thread(s) and give us your specific unanswered question(s), thanks.
So called 'forum legends'?
Well, i am certainly not the one, nor do I care. Speak for yourself.
But this thread did give me quite some useful info. The only post that I find not useful here is actually yours. But again, only my opinion, certainly there are no 'us'.
Anyone knows how long can I use our car without registration and what will I encounter on the border crossing for the first time?
You can then get a pre-service done, to replace wheel bearings, drive shafts, dodgy alternators, brakes, shocks, all those items with high markup get done elsewhere a few months before during a holiday in Poland or whatever. Then you rock up for the 12 month service needing literally only the standard items, oil filter, etc.
Just make sure your other mechanic doesn't touch any parts covered by the warranty. You can also do this to maintain a dealer service history on any car, irrespective of warranty. A good dealer will be happy to reset the computer, do all the easy for a dealer bits. Plus you get the expert eye of a marque specialist to view the whole car and the works done. I also find that MFK people too are very good with fault finding, they can spot some interesting non-standard mods to the car. I learnt about some non-standard but OK bits fitted to my S6 that I had already owned for 6 years.
I'm moving to Switzerland soon but I'm wondering about taking my own car there.
It's a 2001 VW Golf diesel. Overall, it's a reliable car but you know - it's got Polish plates on so I'm not too sure whether it makes any sense to bring it here. Considering its mileage, the car is worth around 2000 EUR which is not too much. Perhaps it might be a good idea to buy a car when in Switzerland?
Please advise!
It really depends on the condition and mileage. An LHD Golf makes it easier, if you decide to keep it, plus after working here for a year presumably you may have a different perspective on keeping it, maybe you don't need a car, or want an upgrade...
The mileage is enormous - I'm driving around 40 000 km annually so now it's got more than 400 000 kilometers on the clock.
I'm wondering - is car maintenance in Switzerland very expensive? I can do most work on the car myself (its being a pretty much simple car) but sometimes going to a mechanic is unavoidable
I know exactly the type of owner you are, a bit like me perhaps. I have never taken a car for service here since 2006, or anywhere else for that matter. Major stuff like a noisy gearbox I will drive abroad to a friend with some beer and fix it in his yard, etc. I wonder why I bother some times...
You need the car to be totally leak free, clean and all rubber seals replaced, not to mention shocks, which are tested on a machine, brakes which must be visually great condition as well as balanced.
I suspect if you visited a few car lots here, you would be amazed at the car you could get, old, but low mileage perhaps, needing small works, for 800 to 2000 euro.
I would say bring it, moving your stuff over in it, and change it before the year is up. However, if your car is really pristine, then a trip to TCS, the Swiss motoring club for car owners, and for 80chf they will confirm this is the case and you could then start importation with peace of mind. I do think it would be crazy to import a car with 400k on it. On the other hand, I do miss my old ex-UK Police rapid response vehicle, an Opel Vectra (cavalier) 1994 2.0 4x4 petrol turbo. Even though it was RHD, I still sometimes wish I had given importing it a go.
- old headlights - IE where the glass is cloudy
- washer jets - they need to deliver a good spray in the "right" place on the windscreen
- mirrors - no tarnishing
- missing paperwork - if you have a towbar on the car you'll need to get it separately approved
- emissions - be very careful of cars that were sold in Europe but not in Switzerland prior to the alignment of regulations at EU3 (IIRC)
Finally - make sure the interior is immaculate with no rubbish etc, carpets all vacuumed etc. They won't fail for a muddy footprint BUT a car that is not well looked after inside is likely to be inspected more thoroughly underneath.
You bought an end-life car and had to do major interventions like turbo clutch etc., people in switzerland usually throw away or give back the car at that point because it's cheaper to buy a new one, a clutch and a turbo you are easily over 5000-6000 chf and you are spending that on an old car...
A lot of eastern european vehicles, but also italian ones, would not pass the test in switzerland so be careful, the car being fine doesn't nearly cover it.
If you plan on going back and forth you could do expensive maintenance in poland, that would be a bargain I would even hazard buying a used luxury car lol
Not sure about the following:
- towbar - I actually have one. I'm not too sure I got any paperwork on it at all- it was on the car when I bought it.
What if I took away the external part only? Do I have to present paperwork anyway?
- emissions - I got the yellow sticker (Gelbeplakette) from Germany glued to the windscreen. It is tantamount to meeting the EU3 norms Would that suffice? If not, where do I get an equivalent?
The certificate of conformity is really to confirm what emissions equipment the car was originally supplied with. It does not relate to the cars current performance and configuration. For example, did the car have a CAT when new, would it have had a CAT if supplied new in Switzerland in that year, etc. The import process would then make sure the car was compatible with the original configuration spec. So first off it needs to have had the correct spec when new, then secondly it needs to perform at time of import. Any variations from this simply complicate the process, making it less attractive to import.
Really, just service it well in Poland, drive it over and see the amazing car bargains to be had here. I have Polish friends who have come over allegedly on "holiday", car hunting, they then take the cars back to Poland to repair selling them on for a good profit, after a few months of ownership posing to their mates back home.