Cracking down on it is recent.
Tom
It's been the case since the '50s, it is NOT recent!
I believe the problem was where EU resident drivers couldn’t drive Swiss licensed cars in the EU .i.e. EU tourists picking up rental cars at Geneva airport and driving them to French ski resorts. Of course they could drive Swiss cars in Switzerland. Some of the rental agents got around this by renting EU registered cars to these tourists.
This has always been the case, it just wasn't enforced until a few years ago.
Tom
I have been aware of this rule for awhile but don't quite understand the logic behind it. Would love it if someone could explain.
I understand that as a Swiss permanent resident, if I transport any item above a certain value across a border into Switzerland I am liable to pay customs. If I import an expensive watch or a certain amount of meat, I might need to pay customs/duties/various fees as these are for personal use. Also, if I purchased a car abroad to import for my personal use I would also need to fill out the appropriate paperwork and pay the appropriate fees, as the car would be my personal property and the end use would be in Switzerland.
But in my mind rental cars are different. For rental cars a company legally owns the car, and I have signed a contract saying that I will return it after my rental contract expires. Customs agents can easily check this. I cannot imagine any scenario where one could abuse this system to secretly import a car into CH: surely for all imported cars one must eventually show proof of having paid all the appropriate import-related fees. I can imagine that if I drove a non-CH registered rental car across the border without declaring anything, and then afterwards tried to purchase it, as soon as I went to register it they'd ask for proof of importation, and they'd want to make sure the appropriate fees had been paid. Is there some loophole that I don't see? I genuinely don't understand why is it not permitted for me to drive a rented car from a foreign country in Switzerland, nor why Dutch tourists are not able to drive a CH registered rental car from GVA to Chamonix...
Good question as the EU seemingly now does allow it w/o any paperwork or special formalities. But in the end which most customs related stuff, it is also about protectionism. In case of the EU the potential countries were a rental car comes from is quite limited, while in case of Switzerland it is pretty easy to get a rental across the border. All those cars would not pay any Swiss road tax. While most Swiss rentals are registered in Appenzell Innerrhoden or Vaud, the share of road tax of those rental cars s distributed amongst all cantons https://www.blick.ch/auto/service/ge...d16370398.html
Renting a car across the border is not always worth the time and the hassle. You can often find discounted car rental deals in Switzerland if you shop around.
It's worth if you want to travel somewhere in the EU. My cousin in Allaman (near Nyon) always rents a car from the French sector of GVA Cointrin airport when he is traveling to France on holidays. The Swiss customs (at least around Lake Geneva) allows you to drive a French rental car in Switzerland for up to 3 hours; enough time to get home, unload the bags and return the car; no need to fill out any form
If you want to rent a car from SIXT Lörrach make sure to check if the car has a Swiss vignette sticker. If not, you must buy one yourself and affix it to the windshield. Not sure about SIXT at Badischer Bahnhof. It's a German train station on Swiss territory.