Buying a car in Switzerland

[rathur]

Hi, I am trying to buy a Ferrari 612 , private sale in Switzerland, they guy is quoting 71k euro, but the guy is saying I have to pay VAT to bring it back into UK as it's a non EU car ? Plus any import duty? Is this all true? Cheers

[garlof]

In short yes you will have to pay some tax on the import

Just moved from Switzerland to Germany and only if you have owned the car for more than 6 months can you avoid paying tax

If you want to find out more you can call the swiss authorities (should be able to find someone who speeks english) google STVA and the Kanton this is the local version of the DVLA and look for "Kontakt"

Generally Swiss cars are very well maintaned and apart from the tax worth a look as everything is available especially the more exotic cars

[Chris944_S2]

Switzerland is outside the EU so you will have to pay VAT on import.

Same as buying from the US or Japan, and regardless of it being private or a trader. However if you buy from a Swiss trader you can remove the Swiss VAT from the purchase price.

[rathur]

cheers... think i will buy in UK!!

[Gixer]

Chris944_S2 said:

Switzerland is outside the EU so you will have to pay VAT on import.

Same as buying from the US or Japan, and regardless of it being private or a trader. However if you buy from a Swiss trader you can remove the Swiss VAT from the purchase price.

Not quite right. You have to pay duty on the import. And then you pay Vat on the total of the import + duty. Another nice UK tax rip off. Vat on tax. Tossers.

So make sre you do the Maths as the price soon adds up. It's 10% duty on the landed price of vehicle (obviously that's more relevant if shipping from the US or Japan as you add the cost of the shipping and insurance etc). It's then 20% vat on that total. Also remember customs and excise will value it using their current exchange rate of the month (you can find it on their site) that will probably not be the same exchange rate you used.

[FisiP1]

Gixer said:

Not quite right. You have to pay duty on the import. And then you pay Vat on the total of the import + duty. Another nice UK tax rip off. Vat on tax. Tossers.

This.

I have bad luck with imports too, always had my cars damaged during import, which even when insured is not fun to sort out because its a liability minefield.