Me and my wife are about to move to Geneve as she will work at UN. Because we have a carte de legitimation, we feel more flexible to cross the border but there are still so many questions to answer.
- We will either live in Grand Saconnex (GS) or Ferney Voltaire (FV) because we want to cut down the commute time as much as possible. UN is 15 minutes walking distance from GS and 15 minutes with the bus F or car from FV. So no big difference here.
- Grocery shopping would not make a difference either, we would shop in France in any case.
- The cost of living is substantially different though. We get a bigger apartment in FV for a lower rent/deposit/bills/etc.
- We also like to live in a smaller place rather than a city. We like slow paced environments. But GS also seem to be quite as well? Should we worry about the noise from the airport? GS and FV should be equally disturbed by the airport I guess?
- In the light of al these points, we may prefer to live in FV because it's cheaper! But then there is the problem of buying a car and traveling.
If we buy a car in Switzerland, it will have a Swiss plate and we don't know if we can drive that in France for extended periods of time. The same goes for buying the car in France and driving in Switzerland. I have read horror stories about Swiss rental cars having trouble in France and vice versa. There is not much about OWNING the car though. What kind of trouble should we expect if we become a frontalier and buy the car in France/Switzerland?
Also we travel a lot. Like a lot!! We are very likely to spend all our weekends driving all around France and Switzerland for sightseeing/hiking/doing touristic stuff. So we don't want to have a hard time with our car.
I think it would be easier to sell a Swiss licensed car rather than a French one because there are so many potential buyers in Geneve but so many in FV. So I'm inclined to buy the car in Switzerland. Also, surprisingly, the vehicle I want is cheaper in Switzerland.
TLDR;
We want to be resident in Ferney Voltaire and buy a car in Switzerland. What kind of trouble should we expect?
If I export the vehicle, I assume I would have to switch the plate as well? Then my desire to sell the car in Switzerland would be silly. In addition I would pay the export expenses. So I'd better buy the car in France.
Do you think it would be easy to sell a car in FV?
Would I have any trouble (or additional expense) driving the car in Switzerland on a daily basis?
If you buy a car you will normally need to register it at home, ie plates, insurance and in Switzerland, tax. There's no problem visiting another country regularly.
If you're going to be just over the border there's the option of getting red plates specific for frontaliers/people living in the border zone, aka the "zone franche" and you can avoid import duties, so you might be able to have the Swiss price but French plates if you live in Ferney.
I guess the only complicated part of this process was the way my mind works (or fails to work). Thank you for the answers, it turned out to be a much simpler issue than I thought it would be.
She can indeed buy tax free in CH. I don't know if she can in France.
Also we found a used car in CH at a reasonable price so we also think about getting that. The car we like to have (Seat Arona) is a new car and not readily available at the second hand market. Hence why I wanted to buy in CH at the first place. But it may turn out to be more expensive in the end. Still confused
There should be no problems whatsoever if it is correctly registered, plated, insured, and taxed. In general it has to be plated, insured etc. at the place of your residence and where the car usually stays overnight (usual location).
As a general rule: As an EU resident you can not simply drive an non-EU plated car in the EU, and as a Swiss resident you can not simply drive an non-Swiss plated car in Switzerland. This is regardless of your nationality or driving license. There are a few exceptions for some specific cases which might need prior approval by customs and some paperwork.
If you change the cars usual location from one country to an other you might be subject to tax and duty. Depending on reason of moving (simple import or part of a household movement) and time of prior possession.
If you buy a car in Switzerland it will have no plates at all. To drive the car you will need to get plates (no plates needed if you move the car on a trailer or store it only on private property). If you do not have a Swiss residency (permanent or holiday home) you normally can not get regular plates. The best are temp export plates.
The carte de legitimation will be issued by the Swiss government. It has nearly zero bearing in France and specially may not permit you by default to take up residency in France. And even if you can (like because you are an EU national) living in France it may mean you have to waive certain tax benefits. Better check first those conditions.
I am an EU (UK) resident. I also have a Swiss B permit. I bought a Swiss registered car in Switzerland, which I drive it to France often. I also have a UK registered car, which I drive in the UK to and from the airport, as a weekly commuter.
What happens when I cross into France in the Swiss car?
Also, my wife does not have a Swiss permit, because she lives in the UK. But when we drive from Switzerland to France, she shares the driving of my Swiss car. If she is driving when we cross the border, how does that differ (if at all).
Yours, confused.
Regards
Ian
PS. I should point out I have tried to extensively research this on and off the forum ever since the stupid EU law came in, and am still none the wiser, because as soon as a you find a "definitive" answer you will also find one that says the opposite!
As a cross border commuter you maybe should not have a permit B but a permit G (Which may be tax wise the better option). But having a permit B makes crossing the border with a Swiss registered car easier as you can claim full Swiss residency.
The one who drives over the border is normally the one which imports/exports. Temporary tax free imports w/o any formalities and paperwork applies to tourists from other tax areas only.
This is handled in the Istanbul Convention on temporary admission, Annex C:
once crossed the border wife can drive based on Article 7, section b
The "may permit" thing for example can not be found in the Swiss law. But neither is it explicitly forbidden. I contacted Swiss customs and they said such a use would be perfectly o.k.
I do not know if this also would apply to the EU. But at least you have a probable excuse why you thought it would be o.k. for your wife to drive.
Note: "territory" in the above means customs territory. Give or take, with some oddities such as Büsingen, Campione etc which are excluded, or Monaco which is included, but not Vatican. (See Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-cont...X%3A32013R0952 ) this is the EU.
You are asking the question to the wrong group of people and therefore getting the wrong answers.
A Carte de Legitimation is given specifically to employees of International Organisations like the UN, CERN, the BIS, etc.
Different rules apply to CdL holders compared to holders of B, C or other regular residence permits.
My wife and I are here on a CdL and we were allowed to buy a brand new car in Germany and bring it into Switzerland tax-free, which makes it much cheaper. After 3 years the car "becomes Swiss", ie it is regarded as a fully Swiss car. If we sold it before 3 years we would have had to pay a pro-rated portion of the import tax.
Because the CdL is quite unique, with numerous exemptions from Swiss laws, you are probably better off checking with the HR department of the UN what you can and cannot do. For example, we are exempt from the requirement to exchange our foreign driver's licence for a Swiss one, and we are exempt from paying the annual vehicle tax.
Check out this link on the UN website - it answers most of your questions, but I still recommend speaking to the HR department at the UN.
Thank you Dizzydee. We have been reading everything on the intranet to find answers but they are not always %100 helpful. We will be in Geneve in february and we will get answers from HR once we arrive. I'm just trying to figure it out before we move so that I have a general idea about how to steer through bureaucracy.