Toyota Sienna Minivan

Transportation, Travel and Trips
1
Hi,

I am moving to Basel in June from Canada and I am thinking about bring my Toyota Sienna minivan with me.

I am wondering if Toyota dealers provide full service for Sienna. Would I be able to get this Sienna service?

Does it make sense to bring this minivan with me to Basel?

Regards,

Dennison Noel

2
Only if it's already fitted with moose bars.

3
I think somebody in my town (a bit outside Zurich) has one.

I get overtaken by it sometimes on the way to work (I commute by bicycle).

It's a really big car, for Swiss standards.

I see that it's not sold in Switzerland or Germany either, so I'd best check with a local dealer.

There are various specialized US-car-importers who have the spare-parts in stock (or claim to have).

Do you need the 8 seats?

4

I am a very big guy, 6'5" and about 250 lbs. I will have to sit literallyin the back seat in order to drive/ fit in a small car with no one sittingbehind me. The next best thing is a SUVand those vehicles are very expensive in Switzerland compared to Canada. It is too late to buy a SUV since it is withinthe six months window before we moved. Anda big car will put me in the same boat as the Sienna.

Also, I only brought it less than two year ago so I may have a big loss onit.

I want to bring it since it is four of us in my family and it will be verygood when I have guests/ family over. Iplan to do a lot of driving in Europe so I need a comfortable vehicle.

I sent an email to a Toyota Dealer in Basel about servicing today. I have not heard back as yet.

5

I understand that - I'm leaning towards a VW Sharan for my next car - but hope you get a big parking-space, too.

I have a VW Lupo and the guy opposite my parking-space has a VW T5 (which you could also look into). Their 2nd car is a Fiat 500, so it has enough space on the sides - but the car is very long and there's not much space to maneuver...

I think I will have to ask for a different slot once I get a bigger car ;-)

6
We brought our VW Routan over as we found out we were moving 2 months after we bought it, the dealer didn't want it back, and the same car over here would have been 2x as expesive (the Euro then was $1.54).

It has been good and bad. As it isn't really a VW but a Chrysler covered to look like a VW, we take it to a Chrysler dealer to get serviced. They have been helpful. VW not so much!

We even had a "fender bender" where someone hit me in a parking lot (while I was parked and shopping...) and the bumper needed replacing. We ordered the part from the US and had it shipped over...so, all is possible

Then there are the car tourists taking a picture of us on the Autobahn or asking about it as the car isn't available over here. I was devastated to learn the people were taking so much interest in our car and not me

7
Hi,

By the way, how is car insurance? Do I pay more if your car is not availablein Switzerland? Should I just take third party insurance or full comprehensive?

Dennison

8
I believe it is just based on the value of the car, so it doesn't matter if it is available here or not. I think some of it goes by what motor you have as well. But I have seen a few Siennas on the road, so yours wouldn't be the only one...

Not sure what the differences are on the insurances. People here like to be over insured, however...so probably full comprehensive

9
No, it's based on the risk the insurance company takes with you as main driver, plus if it is difficult to get repaired, ie they need to import bits to mend it when it gets bent this will be reflected in the premium.

If the car is not imported in to Switzeland or EU, the premiun will be correspondingly higher than for a similar car already in Switzerland or EU

10
Well our car is not available here in CH and my insurance isn't over the top expensive

11
Actually there are different considerations:

1) Import issues

2) Insurance premiums

For the later, it is about the insurer rather than any legal issue.

For the former, you can run into a lot of problems if you are importing a car that is not "standard" here or it can sail through with an inspection and thumbs up. Given that you have a near new car, I think it should be OK, although certain parts may need to be adapted to meet CH laws. The flip side is that if you get an officious customs bloke, they could be insisting that the car be stripped down, inspected and then modified as required... all at your cost.

There's a couple of threads on the topic (that I recall), so search would be a good starting point.

12
We did import to Germany and not CH but they are sticklers, too

They had to change our turn signals to be orange colored, in the US they were red (I don't understand why they do that, orange seems safer). To do so, they used the reverse light spot. So, they had to put a fog light and the reverse light attached to the bottom of the bumper.

I think it cost us 1500€ - usually it isn't that much, but since they couldn't get a "cassette" for the lights and had to do all that wiring, it was a special case

At the time, I cursed myself that we brought the car over as it was a bit of a hassle - we had to deal with all the paperwork as it wasn't covered by the company for the move. Then, the German customs wanted a copy of our purchase contract, which was in our ship container... luckily I was able to contact the dealer and they e-mailed us a copy. But there were things like that which were annoying.

The shipping itself wasn't too bad or expensive, maybe $800 - but then there was the insurance for the transport ($600 or so) and all the other fees and what not, it was probably $2000 for that as well. So $4000 in total to bring over...

Just to let you know as when you look at it, the shipping costs don't seem that high, but there are "hidden" costs.

ps - I think the Sienna will already have the orange turn signals, as I think all Japanese cars do, so that shouldn't be a problem for you.

13
Thanks for the information.

Yes, the Sienna has the orange turn signals. I always look for a car that have them. I hate the red turn signals.

In term of shipping cost, the company is paying for it as we are allow to bring one car but I need to find out what fees I have to pay in order to register and license it. Can someone break down and let me know what fees I have to pay?

Before shipping the Sienna, I plan to carry the sienna back to the dealer for servicing. I know about the CO2 emission test. However, are there any specific things I need to get done or modify in order to bring it to Switzerland? What additional requirements the sienna will have to meet? Does anyone know about the requirements for the canton of Basel? The Swiss embassy in Canada provided me with a link to the canton of Basel website but there is no English option page.

In term of servicing, a large Toyota dealer in Basel indicated that they are able to provide servicing for the sienna. It should not be an issue.

By the way, I heard the page work is a killer when you are moving to Switzerland. I have started to receive the forms to fill.

Dennison

14
Can you update re: your experience in importing your Toyota Sienna from the US to Basel? We are considering a move/job in Basel and the company said that they would pay for the import. Having a car...has it been useful in Basel or has it been a pain?

Someone mentioned that it is a big car by Swiss standards. How hard was it to find a parking spot for it? How much per month?

Need as much info as I can get before taking over such a large item overseas! Thanks so much!

15
Dennison last posted a year ago, so don't expect a qick answer. Try sending him an e-mail, maybe that will reach him.

Importing a vehicle from Canada

16
I own a Sienna 2014 model which I bought from a dealer in Embrach that specializes in this model, I find no problem parking etc. in CH, the car is big comfortable and very reliable.

I got 10 years free servicing/guarantee and am very happy with it, I believe a Toyota dealer in Meilen is now importing too but only the XLE model, I think the Limited is better but each to his own.