Hi all, so had the following question. I live in Switzerland and have a Swiss car here.
I want to buy myself a second car and there is much more choice in France. I am buying an investment property across the border in France a 5 minute car ride from my house....
I would be able to get the car licensed in France and likely insured in France using my future French flat. I would likely park it in Switzerland. I don't really see any issues per se with my "scheme", but wanted to make sure my insurance could not somehow be invalidated
Seems people would do that a lot more if it was that easy to do, so wondering what I am missing here
I'll partially reply to my own question, but seems that there could be a case where I can do this otherwise they would not open the door for me to go and ask the border guards about it.
From the Geneva state website:
Puis-je rouler en Suisse avec une voiture immatriculée à l'étranger ?
En principe non. En effet, dans son propre pays de domicile, il n'est pas autorisé de circuler avec un véhicule immatriculé à l'étranger (règle douanière). Pour plus de détail, renseignez-vous directement auprès de la direction générale des douanes de votre pays.
As a Swiss resident you are not allowed to drive a foreign registered car here unless you import it and pay any needed taxes/fees. In which case you would need to change to Swiss licence plates after a year of importing it and have Swiss insurance for it.
Quid if the car is registered to my company in France? And I am then driving a company car given I cross the border all the time and talk to the border guards at least monthly that would have to be an iron clad solution, not a "kind of playing with the law".
This would actually be to buy a truck to do construction on the French property so genuinely for work. It would just be parked in Geneva
You can't rent a French car and drive it here, it doesn't matter who owns it.
And this is the weird part: where parking a truck in Geneva is cheaper than France.
If you are not actually resident in France it is tax evasion as the car should have been imported into Switzerland. The revenue authorities are well aware of this game and are on the watch out for it. So expect some serious fines if you are caught.
The Swiss (and the French) monitor the border a lot closer than you think. They will soon know what you are doing. There are license cameras both visible and hidden, even at smallest crossings. And they share this info.
In particular the French are looking for tax dodgers, the commune of your investment property may want your taxes as you may look like you reside there.
Be careful out there.
Did not think of the last part.
Looks like I'll go through the hard slog of importing the car. The one I have in mind is in Annemasse, fortunately there is a million posts on this forum detailing the process of import
Thanks all for the comments
Ask the dealer to do it. I suspect they’ve done it a million times.
They even monitor the kids being dropped off at the schools and note the plate registrations. I know of two cases in about the last 15 years where people got caught dropping kids off with the wrong plates!!!
another aspect is the insurance.
Actually, both cases are exceptions to the rules , and both are explicitly allowed.
Here is some official guidance, in English even : https://www.bazg.admin.ch/bazg/en/ho…-benutzen.html
- Company car with French plates, if you work for that company : OK (although has to be declared in your swiss tax form and taxable)
- Rental car : OK for 8 days max
- You are even allowed to bring your foreign car in-and-out 12 times per year (max 3 days each), eg if you have an antique car that you use rarely or some specialized machinery, but you have to stop at the border at each entry-exit and get the booklet stamped.
So looked it all up and talked to a friend at our village party today. Paid the deposit this morning, 14% of VAT on the car to pay at the border (having the seller drop the car here in Geneva, then I'll sneak it out of the country and back in to get it registered, I can get a day of insurance to do this).
Then I'll fix the truck over the next 2 months (front breaks are more or less gone) and my friend mentioned all in would cost an additional CHF 1k to get it to technical control etc...
Am buying the truck for a little over CHF 7k - but post body work on the beast it should be worth 15k so the 2k in tax etc... It's not the end of the world. It's a Toyota Hilux and they are extremely hard to get, and their second hand prices in Swissland are just mega expensive.
I also learned in the process my brother has a car under his company registered in another country (he does not live in Switzerland), and has had it under his company for 6 years+ with no problem. Given I'll likely use it for fun as well and skiing I'll just put it under my name and import it - but the company thing is definitely something doable.
Now my biggest concern is making sure am not buying a stolen car, so the stress is there. Check the VIN with the license plate and the carte grise etc... The guy is a wheeler dealer supposedly selling cars in Annemasse who gives me as much confidence as a drug dealer...
Isn't the 12 month rule only for cars imported as personal effects during a change of residency?
Also be aware that the registration papers will highlight that the vehicle has been imported. That will make it more difficult to sell within Switzerland at a later time.
I am currently refusing to buy the car without a control technique from the seller (even if some things fail, at least I'll be able to show what failed and what I fixed) . So currently having him fix the front breaks and take it to the control technique (I'll pay extra, but peace of mind is worth it). Idea was that I'd be able to show the control technique paperwork from France and its past controls as well, then show the technical control from Switzerland to show the full history of the car the day I sell. But makes sense how an import might not be so sought after, I would imagine I'd be limited to the French side of Switzerland for the resell to someone who understands how to read a French car's history I guess
It's less around the French history, and more around the difference of controls. In theory, one could tamper the odometer in France, import it here, and no-one would be the wiser.
Swiss car checkups are anal. My car failed for a dirty engine (seriously), and brake disks which were drilled... keeping in mind that these are OEM from the manufacturer; but not on my model (on the sporty model of the same car).
I have a grey-import car that I got from a dealer in Sweden (only place to get it, new, with under a year wait). My (corporate) leasing company was ok with it, but assumed a 15% reduction in value after 4 years vs the exact same car but ordered from a Swiss dealer. I don't care too much as I intend to hold on to the car for as long as I can get petrol.... but it's something to keep in mind.