Registering and licensing a car from Switzerland

Customs and origin verification

For this country the registration fee alone is not the whole picture, because it does not include the customs procedure. In a dutiable case the burden is 39.7% (customs duty and VAT together), and the official fee for origin verification is 14.715 Ft. The fee for the customs procedure depends on the details of the case; we can go through it precisely by phone.

We handle the customs quickly. The lead time is extended by the origin verification, while the foreign authority replies — 30–60 nap. That is not up to us.

Why Switzerland is a good source country

The Swiss car market offers two things you can rarely get together in Europe: carefully maintained, well-documented vehicles and strict, regular technical inspection. Service books are usually complete, mileage can be verified, and the vehicles’ equipment is matched to the European market.

A Swiss car is, moreover, a European version, so the technical registration itself is routine — no conversion, no routing through another EU country. The complication is not in the vehicle but in the fact that Switzerland is not an EU member and not EU customs territory.

Not a returning resident? Then customs duty and import VAT

If the import is not linked to a change of residence, the vehicle arrives as an ordinary import: both duty and import VAT arise. That is the rule, not the exception — most Swiss cases fall here.

For a used passenger car the duty rate is, as a main rule, 10% and import VAT 27%. In a simplified example the two together give a burden of around 39.7% — but that is an example, not a price list.

Swiss origin — a customs allowance may apply

The 10% duty rate is not automatic. If the vehicle’s preferential origin is proven by the right document, a reduced rate — even 0% — may apply.

A car bought in Switzerland is not thereby of Swiss origin. This sentence carries the whole duty-relief logic: origin is a customs concept telling you where the vehicle was produced, not where it was last registered. A German car bought in Switzerland is not of Swiss customs origin — for the relief, origin must be documented.

How the customs value is determined

As a main rule the customs value is the transaction value actually paid for the vehicle. If that cannot be used — because the transaction is not at arm’s length, say, or the price cannot be evidenced — the customs authority uses another valuation method.

For a used vehicle, the make, model, year, mileage, equipment, technical condition, damage, past accidents and market value can all count. The authority may also use Eurotax or another professional valuation database.

A damaged car? The condition must be documented

If the vehicle is damaged or faulty and therefore cheaper than the market average, this must be documented — otherwise the customs authority may start from the market value of an undamaged example, and the customs value will exceed the price actually paid.

• photos of the damage from several angles
• damage documentation (assessment report, if any)
• condition survey
• repair estimate
• independent valuation

Where customs clearance can take place

Customs clearance can take place in the EU member state of entry or in Hungary. In practice clearing in Hungary is simpler, because the same authority acts as the one that knows the further Hungarian procedures, and the documents move in one language, in one workflow.

If the vehicle arrives already cleared in another member state, the customs decision and the related documents must also be handed over for the Hungarian procedure.

A Swiss car requires origin verification

Part of the Hungarian registration procedure is official origin verification: the Hungarian authority contacts the foreign register and checks that the vehicle is not stolen, not wanted, and that the documents are genuine. Its official fee is 14.715 Ft and its lead time 30–60 nap, because it depends on how quickly the foreign authority replies.

There is no general Euro 6b lower limit

For a Swiss vehicle there is no general rule that only vehicles from a given emission class may be imported. An older, lower-class vehicle can come too.

The class still matters — but on the side of the registration tax and the Hungarian classification, not of importability. If the environmental data cannot be evidenced by a suitable document, the vehicle may be given a less favourable class.

Which vehicle categories can be imported

Not just passenger cars. Motorcycles, motorhomes, caravans, trailers and semi-trailers can also be imported from Switzerland — under the ordinary import rules the same logic applies to all of them: duty, import VAT, origin verification, Hungarian registration.

The returning-resident customs exemption is a different matter: it applies to personal property and not to trucks or commercial transport equipment.

Does a Swiss car need modification?

Usually not. Vehicles registered in Switzerland are European versions: left-hand drive, km/h dial, European lighting, European type approval. So Hungarian registration generally requires no technical conversion.

There is one exception: if the vehicle was originally imported from the USA into that country, the specification of that particular example must be checked separately. What matters then is not where it reaches us from, but which market it was built for.

Which documents are needed

• Fahrzeugausweis — the Swiss registration certificate, which also serves as the vehicle title
• sales contract or original invoice
• documents supporting the customs value (proof of payment, bank transfer)
• for a damaged vehicle, the damage documentation and the valuation
• CoC, if available — for a Swiss European-spec car it can usually be replaced
• the owner’s personal documents; for a company, a company extract and specimen signature

Returning resident from Switzerland

Anyone moving home from Switzerland may, under certain conditions, import their own vehicle free of duty and VAT. This is an entirely different track from normal import — different conditions, different documents.

The whole process — two routes

A Swiss case splits at the very first question: returning resident or not. From there it takes two different routes.

STANDARD IMPORT               RETURNING RESIDENT

purchase in Switzerland    purchase / your own vehicle
   ↓                                 ↓
transport                  proof of the conditions
   ↓                                 ↓
clearance         clearance free of duty and VAT
customs duty + import VAT            ↓
   ↓                      origin verification
origin verification                  ↓
   ↓                            registration
registration                         ↓
   ↓            Hungarian registration + plate
Hungarian registration + plate   (not transferable for 12 months)

Before buying a Swiss car — the total cost of getting it on the road

The advertised price is not the Hungarian total. This is the most common source of disappointment. Next to the Swiss price you have to put everything that comes on top here:

  Swiss purchase price
+ transport
+ customs duty, if payable
+ import VAT
+ customs procedure
+ origin verification
+ registration
+ registration tax, if payable
+ Hungarian registration
─────────────────────────────────
= total cost of getting it on the road in Hungary

Our calculator works out the basic official fees. The duty, import VAT and the customs procedure fee depend on the vehicle data — we quote for those once we have the documents.

Send us the VIN and the documents — before you buy

From the 17-character VIN and photos of the papers we can tell you before you buy what lies ahead: whether duty is payable, whether conversion is needed, and what the expected total cost of getting it on the road in Hungary is. Asked afterwards, it is a far more expensive question.