Dear all,
My family and I will be moving to Zurich in March 2009 from London.
We are currently in the process of sellng our UK family saloon in anticipation of our move because it is rather old, is right hand drive and of course there will be burdens on importing it into Switzerland.
Therefore, as soon as we have sold it, we will need a new car and one idea was to purchase a second hand car from Switzerland as soon as our existing car is sold.
What I would like advice on is whether this would be possible without us having actually moved yet? i.e. will I need a Swiss address to register the car and if so, are there any temporary measures I could follow until March 2009 when we move to Zurich?
Full advice on this would be much appreciated.
Many thanks ad kind regards,
EH
You are not allowed to buy a car and get Swiss Number plates until you have your permit.
If you search the forum there are several threads regarding this matter.
if you don't mind paying a years swiss roadtax and insurance in advance as well as buying the car then it should be possible. used to be anyway, but they might've changed that. they love re-inventing regulations here.
cantons may well vary (as they do) but i have my (written) information from BE. FR was the same a couple of years ago. you would get plates with a red stripe expiring on the year and month which is on the plates.
So, based on the above, I'm not sure what the conclusion is? Can I buy from a particular canton even if I don't have a residence permit?
I'd recommend you wait until you are here and evaluate if you really need a car. The majority of people in Zurich get to work by public transport. I really don't see any benefit in buying a car in advance.
Thanks Craig - Yes, I've made that cost-benefit consideration about owning a car in Zurich already and have decided that, given my personal circumstances, a car is definately necessary, particularly for weekend excusrions. So, any thoughts on whether I'd be able to purchase from Switz, whilst UK resident, would be very welcome indeed.
Thx,
EH
drop me a line with what sort of car you want, price idea and date you would want it for and i'll let you have some concrete facts.
Hi Eaglehead!
We had a similar problem when we landed here from Australia. Here is a link to the thread Mr Kadie started which may help fill in some gaps.
Mr Kadie is Swiss, and he mistakenly thought it may make buying a car a little easier than what ultimately turned out to be the case. In the end, the process made sense, it's just that we were getting mixed messages and different stories from everyone we spoke to!
He was advised by other EF'ers that you can certainly buy a car in Switzerland, but you can't actually register it to drive on the road without being a resident.
In order to be considered a resident you will need to register at your local gemeinde (town hall) and you will also need a permit of some kind. Of course, this means you will need to live in Switzerland.
There is also apparently a way of getting around the residency requirement. This "way" was suggested to us when Mr Kadie was trying to register his car. A particular Swiss authority (or it may have been the insurer, I forget which) suggested (and this has been raised by ayemmibe) paying car insurance, registration and road taxes in advance. In our experience (in Kanton St Gallen) we were told that this method was an old way of doing things and that it was no longer possible due to recent changes to the law.
So, in summary, it seems possible that you will be able to buy a car here in Switzerland. This may necessitate you coming to an agreement with the garage to hold on to it for you (for a small fee perhaps) until you get here and get the car registered. And remember, you can only register it once you are officially a resident.
Cheers,
kadie
as i mentioned, cantons vary and the regulations are not national. my offer stands, i'll be going to the stva soon anyway on other business and i'm curious myself as to how things stand these days.
The Swiss are excelent at rules as you will discover.
I would just wait until you get here, I'm sure a few weeks without a car isn't fatal, then you'll have no worries at all.
You could, as you have plenty of time consider buying a left hooker in the UK, in your wifes name. You come over get your accom' permit's etc sorted, then your wife comes over with the car you've had for for more than 6 months, so you can bring it over with no tax implication, and if your getting a relocation package ensure the movers take care of the paperwork for the car and you should be laughing.
Me I'd just wait.