Buying a used car in Switzerland and driving it home to UK
Discussion
Hi everyone -
Firstly I hope I've put this in the right section. I'm really hoping someone can shed some light on this matter as there seems to be so many conflicting opinions.
Basically I want to buy a Ferrari in Switzerland (Basel) get in the car and drive it back home to London. I'm aware it's not that simple, but I don't believe it's that hard..
It's over 10 years old (if that makes a difference) I understand that you have to pay 20% vat when you get to the UK but do you have to pay 10% import duty as well? Also there is a mention on the swiss charging taxes on the exit of the vehicle from the country, is this true?
Lastly, (I think) I'm aware that you can't drive off with the plates that are on the car - can you get transit plates as a non swiss resident? If so how is this done and any idea on cost and how long they last?
Also FYI, it's from a dealer but he's completely clueless on how to export a car. If anyone could simplify how to do this for me, I would really appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
Firstly I hope I've put this in the right section. I'm really hoping someone can shed some light on this matter as there seems to be so many conflicting opinions.
Basically I want to buy a Ferrari in Switzerland (Basel) get in the car and drive it back home to London. I'm aware it's not that simple, but I don't believe it's that hard..
It's over 10 years old (if that makes a difference) I understand that you have to pay 20% vat when you get to the UK but do you have to pay 10% import duty as well? Also there is a mention on the swiss charging taxes on the exit of the vehicle from the country, is this true?
Lastly, (I think) I'm aware that you can't drive off with the plates that are on the car - can you get transit plates as a non swiss resident? If so how is this done and any idea on cost and how long they last?
Also FYI, it's from a dealer but he's completely clueless on how to export a car. If anyone could simplify how to do this for me, I would really appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
I cant help much but one thing I know is that here in Switzerland the plates don't belong to the car like in England, they belong to the person. Hence any used car has no plates, so when I buy a car I bring my plates with me.
A dealer uses "U" plates but again thy belong to the dealer, but this may be possible for them to allow you to drive to England on their plates - but this I don't know.
Also insurance is linked to the car not the person.
Would it not be simpler to get it transported back?
A dealer uses "U" plates but again thy belong to the dealer, but this may be possible for them to allow you to drive to England on their plates - but this I don't know.
Also insurance is linked to the car not the person.
Would it not be simpler to get it transported back?
Carmo99 said:
I cant help much but one thing I know is that here in Switzerland the plates don't belong to the car like in England, they belong to the person. Hence any used car has no plates, so when I buy a car I bring my plates with me.
A dealer uses "U" plates but again thy belong to the dealer, but this may be possible for them to allow you to drive to England on their plates - but this I don't know.
Also insurance is linked to the car not the person.
Would it not be simpler to get it transported back?
Forget "U" plates, they are already widely abused by garages and dealers.A dealer uses "U" plates but again thy belong to the dealer, but this may be possible for them to allow you to drive to England on their plates - but this I don't know.
Also insurance is linked to the car not the person.
Would it not be simpler to get it transported back?
You cannot go abroad on a U plate, never mind the fact that technically you could not even drive around with a U plate.
You can drive a vehicle from Switzerland to the UK, for permanent exportation, with normal Swiss plates.
Actually what you want are temporary plates.
So basically you need to:
- buy the vehicle
- have the current "grey card" (our vehicle registration document) stamped with the "invalid" mark in your hands
- get the vehicle insured
- get temporary plates and a new registration document
- go to a commercial customs office at the border (small border offices do not count)
- do some ancient magic with the officers there
- get to the UK... and I have no idea.
It would be massively simpler to have the car transported to the UK through and car export agency that will deal with everything.
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followed by.... Well repeat until completed. There's an import treaty between CH and UK so one of the taxes is not charged - I think import duty - leaving you only VAT to pay. HMRC has some pages about this on its website.
One issue you may have is getting it insured for the drive home, as it's Swiss registered so I expect can only be insured by a Swiss insurance company, which only insure you if you are registered to live in CH.
On the face of it, transporting the car might be easiest but of course that would get in the way of the initial pleasure of driving home - especially as you'd probably be getting onto a German autobahn just as the oil gets up to temperature! Perhaps the dealer has some suggestions, as many Ferraris have been exported out of CH in recent years.
Good luck with it.
One issue you may have is getting it insured for the drive home, as it's Swiss registered so I expect can only be insured by a Swiss insurance company, which only insure you if you are registered to live in CH.
On the face of it, transporting the car might be easiest but of course that would get in the way of the initial pleasure of driving home - especially as you'd probably be getting onto a German autobahn just as the oil gets up to temperature! Perhaps the dealer has some suggestions, as many Ferraris have been exported out of CH in recent years.
Good luck with it.
Actually I found out that the process to get out of Switzerland is more straightforward than it seems.
The vehicle is insured under a "collective insurance" policy that the canton of origin has with an insurance company.
For example, Zürich has one with ALLIANZ.
When you go to get your temporary plates, you actually pay everything in advance there on the spot:
- the new authorization
- the new plates
- the insurance international green card
- the usual car tax, calculated for the days of validity of the authorization
- the insurance, until the end of the month (or the following month if four or less days remain)
- the "heavy traffic" tax
It can be quite the total, depending on the car
It will help quite a bit if you already have a cancelled grey card and a recent MOT check done (both should happen anyway if the seller knows what he's doing).
The vehicle is insured under a "collective insurance" policy that the canton of origin has with an insurance company.
For example, Zürich has one with ALLIANZ.
When you go to get your temporary plates, you actually pay everything in advance there on the spot:
- the new authorization
- the new plates
- the insurance international green card
- the usual car tax, calculated for the days of validity of the authorization
- the insurance, until the end of the month (or the following month if four or less days remain)
- the "heavy traffic" tax
It can be quite the total, depending on the car
It will help quite a bit if you already have a cancelled grey card and a recent MOT check done (both should happen anyway if the seller knows what he's doing).
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