# Swiss vignette



## brianamelia

HI

I have hired a car in the French side of Geneva airport as it is considerably cheaper than the Swiss side .However I got hit for £40 for a vignette last year, at the customs checkpoint when I used a Swiss motorway.Does anyone know if you can pre buy them cheaper locally or before you go.
Bri


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## Rapide561

*CAr*

Hi

My friend hired a car in Northern Italy and requested if possible it already had the tax/vignette sticker attached.

The price is 40 CHF come hell or high water.

Russell


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## brianamelia

Thanks Russell 

Its still cheaper as it cost me £70 less to start with, so worth doing
Bri


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## DTPCHEMICALS

Not in the EU but the Swiss screw us just to pass thro.
Foreign trucks over here do not even have to purchase diesel to get home.
Dave p


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## steco1958

DTPCHEMICALS said:


> Not in the EU but the Swiss screw us just to pass thro.
> Foreign trucks over here do not even have to purchase diesel to get home.
> Dave p


Can't see how the Swiss screw us, The charge is up front you have a choice, do you go, do you not go?

As for the foreign truckers coming over to the UK, you will be saying, "They are taking or jobs" next.


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## Zozzer

steco1958 said:


> DTPCHEMICALS said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not in the EU but the Swiss screw us just to pass thro.
> Foreign trucks over here do not even have to purchase diesel to get home.
> Dave p
> 
> 
> 
> Can't see how the Swiss screw us, The charge is up front you have a choice, do you go, do you not go?
> 
> As for the foreign truckers coming over to the UK, you will be saying, "They are taking or jobs" next.
Click to expand...

They are.

And that's not to mention the UK company's setting up little offices in porta cabins in mainland european countries to avoid paying UK road tax on their fleet of trucks.

Personally all freight trucks should be fitted with GO Box in EVERY EU country


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## skiboycey

If you ever do hire a car at Geneva Airport from the French side you can avoid the vignette charge just by driving to the border on non-motorway roads.

Either drive out the French side and you are directly in France if you are heading North. If you are heading to a ski resort as 95% of Brits who come to Geneva are then you re-enter Switzerland on a minor road and then go through the outskirts of Geneva aiming for St Julien-en-Genevois where you go through the border check and come out into France again. You then join the motorway heading for Annecy.

Or you can just go back into Switzerland on the minor road, get on the motorway at the airport and then come off just before the border (where the customs guys do a roaring trade in nicking people for not having a vignette) at St Julen and go through the same border check.

Going to the airport is the same - go through the border at St Julien, get on the motroway to the airport and get off there. I've never heard of anyone getting done for not having the vignette on this short stretch though it probably happens. The vignette lasts from the 1st Jan to the 31st December so you may find some other poor unfortunate got collared for the sticker if you hire a French car and the sticker is already there. Once stuck on it's impossible to get off unless you put some cling film on the back of it then you can swap it to different cars (oops let out a trade secret there!)

Don't forget that if you have a motorhome above 3.5t you are classed as an HGV and have the delight of getting fitted with some kind of electronic box if you enter Switzerland. Knowing the Swiss I suspect the fines are astronomical if you don't do this.

Cheers, Mark


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## scouter

*Swiss Vignette*

 Sorry but if you're over 3.5 tonnes you can buy a 10 day pass for swiss roads, you simply tick off each day you're in Switzerland. Last year we used 3 going thro S'land going to Italy and then used some more of the 10 days 5 weeks later when we came back. And its cheaper than buying a car vignette. But they did insist on my log book to confirm we were over 3.5t. They seemed to think we should have had twin rear wheels to be over 3.5t.

The electronic Go Box applies to Austria and we haven't been back since we changed up to a 3.8t camper,

cheers alan


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## brianamelia

*switzerland*

Weve just got back and got lucky I can only presume because of the bad weather we didnt get stopped once and so didnt get charged
Bri


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## Rosbotham

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel uncomfortable with some of the views on this thread? There's a thread elsewhere on the forum about whether it's morally necessary to comply with laws if you don't agree with them and nobody comes to any harm...personally I side with the view of the law being the law, and so campaign to get it changed if you don't like it.

However this is more so when overseas. It seems to me at the least impolite, and at worst downright rude to visit a country and deliberately evade their taxes, even if one can get away with it. In this context I'd consider not buying a Vignette and using the Swiss motorway system equivalent to foreigners coming to the UK and not buying parking tickets, confident that the UK authorities won't pursue them. We'd get P'd off at that attitude, and I'm sure the Swiss would similarly consider it an abuse of their hospitality.

To the OP, pre-purchasing is useful really only for convenience, as the price is the same either way. I always purchase in advance, but given you're hiring a car, I wouldn't do so because of the possibility (probability according to time of year) that a previous hirer's already bought one.


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## ardgour

The 3.5t rule - is that plated weight, unladen weight or something else?
We may be going up through Switzerland in the near future so will need to sort out the vignette or whatever.
In many situations we seem to fall in to a no mans land with this one as our MH is plated to 3.9t but official unladen is under 3.5t so it depends how local officials view us.

Chris


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## eddied

*Vignette or not?*

 Ciao ardgour, the border official will want to see what you're plated at, and what's on the logbook. They should both be the same. If they are not then no doubt you will be charged as HGV if one of the two shows over 3,500 Kgs.
saluti,
eddied


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## Rapide561

*Tolls*

I personally feel the Swiss toll system is excellent. For van sunder 3500 kg, one payment of 40 SFR (£24) and you can travel for upto 1 year without further payments, no toll gates to stop at and encounter a delay etc.

For vans over 3500kg, the price is effectively 3.25 SFR per day irrespective of mileage - see other threads in the Swiss touring section for more info about this.

My usual journey in Switzerland is about 170 miles each way, and a journey of similar distance in France for a tag axle would cost about £90.00! (class 4). In France, I would have to stop at the toll booth, rummage for money etc, no doubt get stuck behind someone who has forgotten their money etc. Of the tolls collected in France, how much actually is needed to pay for the cost of the toll booth, the staff, the heating and lighting there within etc... This is minimal in Switzerland.

The Swiss system is efficiency at it's best.

Russell


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## flyman

Hi, New camper this year over 3.5 so can any tell me if there is a web site to prepay Swiss road tax ? seen the queue for the HGVs at the border last year.


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## camper69

flyman said:


> Hi, New camper this year over 3.5 so can any tell me if there is a web site to prepay Swiss road tax ? seen the queue for the HGVs at the border last year.


No website you have to pay at the border. We crossed on a Sunday last year when HGV's cannot move.

Derek


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## Waggy

You can do it at My Switzerland Link on right hand side of page

Graham


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## camper69

Waggy said:


> You can do it at My Switzerland Link on right hand side of page
> 
> Graham


That's only for vehicles under 3500 Kgs. Over 3500Kgs you have to do at the border.

Derek


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## Waggy

camper69 said:


> Waggy said:
> 
> 
> 
> You can do it at My Switzerland Link on right hand side of page
> 
> Graham
> 
> 
> 
> That's only for vehicles under 3500 Kgs. Over 3500Kgs you have to do at the border.
> 
> Derek
Click to expand...

Whoops. Sorry


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## SpeedyDux

The Swiss vignette is a bit of a bargain. You can imagine the massive investment that the Swiss have made in their motorways and road tunnels. It's not much to expect to pay in order to drive through / across the Alps from France to Italy in about 3 hours (and back again). 

Alternatively you can try the minor roads and passes, assuming it hasn't been snowing too much. :roll: 

SD


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## ob1

SpeedyDux said:


> Alternatively you can try the minor roads and passes, assuming it hasn't been snowing too much. :roll:
> 
> SD


Yes - but not if you are over 3500kg. The Heavy Vehicle Tax/Toll for vehicles over 3500kg applies to all Swiss roads.

Have a look at http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-62626.html for easy to understand info.

Ron


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## Rapide561

*Swiss*

Hi

On approach to Basle for example, from France, the lorries are to the right. If you keep left you will keep moving. You do not need to go in the truck lane. As you approach the frontier, you will be told where to park and to proceed to the office etc.

Russell


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## skiboycey

Regarding what I wrote about the vignette around Geneva which seemed to upset one of the other posters as it advocated 'evasion of Swiss Taxes' I was only giving a way to avoid being charged 40 SFr for 10km of motorway to get from the airport to France. For all other trips to Switzerland pay the vignette - it's a bargain compared to France where I live.

The only time the system is a bit of a pain is when tourists don't realise you have to pay the vignette and get caught at the border for it in a hire car which in effect makes them pay the toll for all the other people who will use the car for the rest of the year!

The easy way to avoid this if you are in the 'sheep' club who always obeys every law no matter how badly drafted, how unfair or how abusive that law is it to simply drive to the border on the minor roads and you'll have no problem.

If you're in the 'wolf' club who broadly obey laws but don't have much time for fatuous politicians, bad laws or the lackeys who blindly enforce them you might want to risk driving the 10km of motorway to the border and then go across said border on a minor road at the risk of getting a fine if you get caught.

If the Swiss Authorities were that bothered about this flagrant and common abuse of their laws surely they could sell a vignette to all the Ski Transfer companies and broke season workers who may only need to go to the airport once a year at a reduced rate? As others have pointed out they do a daily vignette for vehicles over 3.5t which seems an excellent idea for transitory traffic. Why not for cars and sub-3.5t vehicles as well?

If they are not minded to do this then, as with many other petty laws, they have only themselves to blame when large numbers of people for whom 40 SFr is a lot of money to travel 10km ignore it.

And anyway, if nobody was ever a thorn on the side of authority laws would never get changed for the better...

Regards, Mark


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## Carl_n_Flo

Oh bother!!!!!! TWICE!!!!

I will explain: This New Years Day, Flo and I had to cross Switzerland from St. Gallen in the north-east to Geneva, to get to Macon in France. We needed to do this in ONE DAY (no choice).

Now, last year we bought a vignette - a nice coloured one with'09' prominently displayed. We are OVER 3.5 therefore should have gone down the xxCHF per day route, but we didnt know any different at the time and the border staff didnt say anything (we are 3.8 - so it isnt obvious).

This year, as I said, we crossed on January 1 2010 - I was under the impression that our 09 vignette had expired so needed to get another for '10'. At this point I still was unaware of the 'over 3.5 rule'....

Forked out 40CHF....no problem, willing to pay....

BUT

I DIDNT NEED TO!!!!!!!!

On reading the pamplet given with last years vignette (when tidying up the van after getting home), it stated that the 09 vignette was valid until the end of January 2010!!!!!!!!!!

SO.......Not only did I pay 30CHF last year (when I could have saved a bit if I was aware of the HGV rate) but I also contributed 40CHF this year to the 'tunnel & motorway maintenance fund, when 1) I already HAD a 'valid' vignette and 2) could have saved a packet by 'being aware' of the HGV rate.

OK - we 'broke the law' by not paying the HGV rate, but I think Switzerland got the better end of the bargain to the tune of 60CHF over the 2 years - I was only in Switzerland for 1 day each time, and have no plans to visit again before next year!!!!!!!

We live and learn............
Carl & Flo


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## jhelm

I'm another one who thinks the Swiss charge for under 3,5 is a good deal. Just drive through France for a day and you pay more or two days in Italy. Also if you put some bar soap on your windshield before you put on the sticker you can take it off and use it on another vehicle. As far as I understand it their law does not prevent this. And since you can only use it on one vehicle at a time you are not doing anything wrong and you are also using the Swiss roads a lot less than the typical Swiss resident.


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