New on here and hoping to get some useful info. So I'm moving to Switzerland and hoping to bring both my car and bike along. Both are registered as British at present.
The car is an old (uk)tax exempt VW camper and I wondered if I exported it to Switzerland, if I ever wanted to return to live in the UK, what happens? Would I get my old plates back? Would the car still be road tax free or would I have a horrible new number plate?!
I've looked at a few posts about importing cars to Switzerland but I can't seem to find an appropriate answer as to what is required of me to import the car and what kind of cost I'll be incurring. Does it have special regulations as it's so old - I'm pretty sure it won't pass any modern emissions tests!
Isn't there a means to "park" your registration number(s) under UK law? Isn't that how a lot of "desirable" numbers get sold?
The best people to ask would be the DVLA/DVLC/whatever they are called this week, not the Swiss (and probably not EF members), because it would be the Brits who would assign you the old or new number.
im pretty sure when you return it to the UK you will not be allocated a 'new' number but instead given a 'q' plate, which is not good.
Im quite interested in this thread as i might look next year to bring either an old car into Switzerland (a late 60's 911) or even a replica kit car such as a Porsche 356 rep or a Cobra rep.
Anyone know how these kind of cars get on for personal imports?
IE how can a replica have any 'original' equipment?
Q no's are for made up cars where the year of manufacture cant be determined. On reimporting a car you should get a 'suitable' no, i.e one like the original.
No chance to import a replica or kit car unless you are prepared to pay a fortune to have it tested possibly 50k were talking about.
I can confirm you get an "age appropriate" plate when you import. I imported a 1981 Porsche some years ago, and got allocated a plate in the style AAA 111 X, where X is right for the original first-on-the road date for the car.
So DVLA got back to me....upon re-importing the Car to the UK I will be issued with an age appropriate number plate, although they can't guarantee the original plate (shame). Tax exemption will not be affected so that's all good.
They also reminded me that unless I'm driving the car directly to an MOT station I will need to transport the car via truck or whatnot to my house from the ferry port.
All good to export it to Switzerland it seems, just not looking forward to the costs!
I was told a few months back that a new law went into effect that plastic or fiberglass replicas even on newer frames are no longer allowed.. Am not sure if this is true. A friend has a 50 merc replica on a chevy frame and he told me that he just got it here before the law changed??
If you're really attached to the registration number, you can put it on retention. It'll cost you though, and you'll need to renew the retention annually. From memory, it was about 70 quid a year to retain a number, but that's a while back now.
Here is the Swiss Federation of Vintage Vehicles. They would be a good starting point to find out what's required to import an 'oldtimer'. They're not governed by the same rules as newer vehicles.
The second hand resale value of replicas and imports often doesn't reflect the cost the original owner had to endure for the homologation testing etc. Its kinda like buying a modified car in the UK, sellers will say they have 20k worth of receipts for the mods/work yet the car will be on sale for 10k.
As mentioned earlier, 'old timers' have a special set of rules for import in Switzerland, and depending on the car it might not be too difficult or expensive. Kit cars on the other hand... if they are imported they will have to be inspected by an engineer and all parts signed off as meeting roadworthiness/safety/CE/dot standards etc. This costs a fortune, but I know some people that have done it. These guys have experience with homologation:
A very useful thread as I will be importing a factory built Lotus Seven/early Caterham and an Aprilia Moto 6.5 soon....hopefully things will not be too dramatic to register them alongside my household goods being imported...