Importing a UK car into CH after a year

Hi,

I currently own a UK BMW M5, which I drove when I arrived for a two year contract role in Switzerland.

Towards the end of my first year (thinking that that I was gonna relocate back to the UK after 1.5 years), I applied for an extension / permission from Zurich Strassenverkehrsamt to not register my car and was granted an additional three months. I’m currently in my 14th month of my contract and yesterday, I was offered a promotion and my employer has decided to make me permanent here with an offer that is hard to refuse.

In short, I would like to sell my M5 back in the UK and importing an M8 from the UK since I could save a whopping CHF 30k!!! Driving the RHD car in Switzerland never bothers me—I’d rather save the money.

So, may I know if anyone has been in a similar situation? How was the process and how long did it take to get the Swiss plate (in this case in ZH)? Is it easy to import from the UK? What should I be aware of?

Thank you.

Since this is a very generic question, did you search for info on this forum and the relevant authorities?

Sticky topic, first post (from 2012, but generally still valid):
https://www.englishforum.ch/1595875-post1.html

Info direct from the source (Swiss Customs):
https://www.bazg.admin.ch/bazg/en/ho…es–cars-.html

Presumably the M8 will be newly bought (not necessarily brand new), so you won't enjoy the same simplified process. It will get taxed, and the default import procedure to be followed including having it tested and approved.

It'll may still be cheaper than bought here (though you'll have fewer extras with your import and no free servicing so the comparison isn't 1:1), but there will be additional hoops, costs, and considerably more paperwork.

And a sale, if it comes to that, will require a massive rebate due to RHD, or the hassle of re-exporting it to the UK and re-immatriculation there.

Buy an M8 in Germany

Thank you for your reply.

The M8 that I'm looking to purchase is BMW Approved pre-owned with 20,000km on the clock. So, I understand that I may lose the 12 month extended warranty. But the price difference, the hassle is worth the paperwork in my opinion. I mean, a comparable BMW (approved used) M8 cabrio with ~20,000km is around CHF 125k here in Switzerland, in Germany, it's around EUR 107k nett (ohne MWST). In the UK, it's around CHF 80k. I plan to keep the car for quite some time.

I just wanted to have an idea on how difficult is it to do so, how much would it roughly cost on top of it and how long would it take?

I was thinking of it, but there's still around 20-25k difference in nett price of the car :/

Thank you this can be useful. Actually, I tried to search, but I couldn't quite find someone with a similar situation as I am planning to buy the car directly from an authorised dealer of BMW UK, not an individual. And the car that is between 2-3 years old.

Are you in a rush to enjoy your cabrio this summer?

If not, cabrios' prices have a strong seasonal component. Not a good idea to buy a cabrio from March to September. Look, I got this email from local dealership on 09.02.2023. They are literally filing their knives to skin their customers

By end of August/September you may strike a nice deal over a demo model on a dealership here because they don't want to be bagholders over the winter. This way you get the 3 year maintenance plan where you don't pay for labor cost for service and more years of warranty. You don't want a twin turbo engine with no warranty

So, same dealership last year on 15.11.2022 , if you add company discounts, you get to 35-40% total discount.

If the UK car is RHD you'll need to look into complying with RHD lighting regulations both front and back. Could get expensive. Otherwise there'll be VAT to pay and I don't know if there's duty. Google can probably tell you.

It's not just because I wanted to enjoy the cab in the summer, it's because I have less than two months to decide on whether to register my M5 in ZH or sell it back in the UK. Hmmm... tough decision.

A RHD vehicle will drive you mad each time you enter/exit a parking, unless you are accompanied by some one sitting on the left seat. Beware of it!

I know, I've been living with it for the past year or so. I got a stick, so, it doesn't bother me as much anymore

I see.

In that case, you have to add to the price the import duties, 4% extra for car imports, 7.7% of VVAT, technical inspection (MFK).

It's a model that exists here, so there should be no problem at all. Anyway, make sure the certificate of conformity (CoC) of the car meets Swiss requirements. Basically, if it's the same engine(volume, PS) and transmission as the cars here, emissions should be the same, thus approved.

It's not you we worry about, it's us

Yeah, I've taken all of that into consideration, +11.7% and MFK. Still cheaper!

Thank you for your advice!

Take also in account that you can get UK VAT back under the personal export scheme: https://www.gov.uk/taking-vehicles-o…to-take-abroad

20k km on the clock. I may be wrong in this case but typically there's no getting VAT back for 2nd hand.

Nor paying it in the first place.

Tom

You are all very dramatic in here. It will be too expensive, too much hassle etc etc. We brought 3 cars from uk . First one was as part of our household, RHD and not new. Used it for over 6 years and sold it back to uk.

Next 2 totally new, made to order for exporting to Europe so LHD and needed to pay all taxes and duties.

Importing was quite straightforward. No problems at all so if you want to bring the car just go for it.

Actually parallel parkings seemed easier with a RHD and realistically, you just pull the hand brake --> do a circle around the car, grab the ticket and go back in --> for a 30 k difference , I think it would not bother that much to waste 30 seconds to grab the parking ticket in/out