elemental
Member Since: 03 Jul 2009
Location: Deepest Aargau
Posts: 91
  
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The link says the weight tax is only if the car has no EC certificate of conformity, so no problem from Germany anymore, as you mention above. He just pays the taxes listed in the box at the bottom. German MwSt has to be paid up front and the dealer is responsible for paying it back to you, and is not legally obliged to do so... The guy also states that he had to arrange insurance separately to drive it over the border.
I imported a bike from the UK to Switzerland (actually from Oz to UK to CH in the space of 3 months) but this was my own bike in Oz and wasn't new when I bought it. The biggest b*gger about was the insurance. The Swiss will stop you on the border of course if you roll up in an UK export-only plated Disco. Bring your plastic! using arm rest more than rear diff
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 19th Mar 2010 2:02 pm |
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MogulBoy
Member Since: 07 Feb 2010
Location: Devon
Posts: 140
 
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It had occurred to me that the Swiss might theoretically spot an X prefixed car at the border but there are plenty of un-manned border crossings  And in any case, I could just be a tourist!
Seriously... I had considered this, especially if I end up driving across the border in the car laden with other goods that might require to be declared!
I'll be happy (  ) to pay the 11.6% total import duty if I haven't had to pay Gordon 17.5%!
I'll have to work on the insurance issues but I'm not worried about resale - as that would hopefully be a long way off and the delta narrows.
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| 19th Mar 2010 2:49 pm |
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itisrich
Member Since: 12 Aug 2008
Location: Geneva
Posts: 40
 
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Resale of imported cars in Swits i m told sell for 10-15% less than non imported cars of the same spec.
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| 19th Mar 2010 8:34 pm |
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elemental
Member Since: 03 Jul 2009
Location: Deepest Aargau
Posts: 91
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If they don't 'catch' you at an unmanned border they will when you have to 'show it' at the vehicle authorities for the Swiss papers/plate eventually. You won't escape the import duty one way or the other and it might be worth being upfront and hitting a major crossing at Basel/Genf at an off peak time to get it sorted from the start. Legally you can drive around on non-CH plates (not export plates) as a resident for a year though. Swiss insurance cos are much more obliging (and cheaper) than UK ones and I would also get that sorted up front with your local rep in advance. You may well have to show that the car is insured for you as a resident if you do get stopped on, after or away from the border. On export plates and claiming to be a tourist you would have to show a carnet de passage anyway, on top of the insurance, to prove that you are not importing it to sell it, and this would include your legal residential address (OK I guess if you are UK domiciled).
I know I am being very boring and Swiss about it (I'm a Brit) but the Swiss don't mess about and it will become expensive in 'admin' costs if you try to pull a fast one and get caught. The easiest way to avoid a lot of hassle is to get a parallel import firm to do it for you. Haggle the price for sure, but having  about doing this type of thing before (and I wasn't working so didn't have anything better to do than stand around at shipping firms/ports/borders/vehicle testing stations for a few weeks) it is worth a few grand not to have to get involved. If you can live with the X 'typenschein' and dealers looking down their noses at you charging full whack on every squeak and fart the car makes, but enjoying the significant savings vs. the Emil Frey importers racket, then go for it. With the pound being worth about the same as a rupee, I can certainly see why it's very tempting. using arm rest more than rear diff
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| 26th Mar 2010 9:03 pm |
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