Swiss German translator needed please

[MPETT]

I've found my folks old car for sale near Zurich and I want to buy it and bring it back to the uk where I now live.
Only problem is that the garage doesn't speak anything but Swiss German. I've been using google translate, but it doesn't handle Swiss German well at all. Anyone willing to do a bit of basic translating for me please?
Cheers,
Martin

[eyebeebe]

Swiss German isn't a written language. If you are communicating via email use standard German. If a (German) Swiss can't read standard German, they can't read at all!

I would also be amazed if they can't speak it either. They may prefer not to, but they will be able to.

[MPETT]

Interesting and helpful. Thanks.
I've been using google translate to go from English to German and then using it to translate their response. Some of the translations have been odd. A friend of mine that speaks and reads German has had problems understanding what they have written down. Here's their latest email. Can you tell I it's bad grammar or just poor written German?

Thanks for your thoughts/help.

Cheers,

Martin

Guten morgen Martin,

Sorry dass wir uns so lange nicht gemeldet haben. Wir verkaufen das Fahrzeug für eine Drittperson und mussten zuerst
Diverse Abklärungen treffen.

Wie im Inserat zu sehen, hat das Fahrzeug seit 1988 den gleichen Besitzer.
Das Fahrzeug stammt tatsächlich aus der Region Genf aber nicht aus Genthod.

Folgende Neuteile hat das Fahrzeug
Antriebswellenmanchetten
Bremsklötze vorne
Auspuffanlage
Batterie und Reifen

Zudem wurde ein Service gemacht.

Betreff dem Export nach UK können Sie sich an einen Profi oder eine Speditionsforma wenden.

Falls Sie Kopien es Ausweises benötigen, melden Sie sich bei uns.
Sobald das Geld bei uns ist. Werden wir Ihnen die Papiere aushändigen

Mit freundlichen grüssen

AUTO LÜTHI GELTERKINDEN

[KernowSwiss]

Translation as I see it - FYI it's not written in Swiss German.
...hope it helps!


Good morning Martin,

Sorry it took us so long to get back to you. We are selling the vehicle for a third party and first had to clarify a few things.

The vehicle has the same owner since 1988.
The vehicle is actually from Geneva region not from Genthod (a small village near to Geneva)

The car has the following new parts:

Drive shaft boots
Front brake pads
Exhaust
Battery and tyres

In addition, a service has been made.

For to export to UK, we suggest you contact a shipping company.

If you need copies of the car papers, please let us know.
Once the money is with us. We can supply all the paperwork.

With best regards

[MPETT]

Thanks for that. Google translate struggled with drive shaft boots and shipping company! Makes a lot more sense now!

Cheers,

Martin

[MPETT]

So following on from that email, a question to my fellow Swiss PH'ers.

If I buy a car in Switzerland and want to export it to the UK, if there a typically Swiss bureaucratic process that needs to be undertaken. In the UK, you simply tick a box to say the car is exported on the vehicle's log book/paper work and sent it into the DVLA. The buyer can then simply drive off, cross the channel and do as they please with the car.

I'm waiting for the paperwork from the DVLA to find out how much tax I need to pay for a 1988 car and if I need to do a Single Vehicle Approval test.

Any advice or experience on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Martin Pett

[UltimaCH]

Have you checked the previous thread?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Schnellmann]

Unless you are bringing in a car to the UK when you move I would have thought that UK VAT at 20% would be payable (I once sold a Porsche I owned in Switzerland to a friend of a friend in the UK and he didn't check the rules and was not pleased when he had to pay the 20% VAT to get it registered there).

[crypto]

Hi Martin,

did you buy the car in the meantime ? I know the thread is a while ago but I sold an Aston Martin and the chap took it back to the UK. The car was imported by myself 30 Years ago and when he re-imported it to the UK he only paid 5% VAT (classic car tax). (depending on how it was exported from the uk you might not pay anything at all)

Cheers Peter