Possible move to Switzerland

[CountTracula]

Originally Posted by AgentTripleX

Hey Nick, would hate to see you leave, but if you need suggestions as for shipping let me know. I just shipped a couple cars to Switzerland.

Sweet. Thanks Sorinne. I think I have your email somewhere so I might ping you when the time comes.

[Noisycow]

Lucky!! Man, you don't know how lucky you really are ....

[rnr]

Originally Posted by CountTracula

I am being offered a job in the Zurich area of Switzerland and I am inclined to take it.

WTF? When did San Mateo become part of Switzerland?

[CountTracula]

Originally Posted by rnr

WTF? When did San Mateo become part of Switzerland?

Is that jealousy?!?

[rnr]

Originally Posted by CountTracula

Is that jealousy?!?

Absolutely - especially if you get a road legal 211. I might even have to visit occasionally

[Modern Wedgie]

I moved to Switzerland almost 2 years ago now (frightening where the time goes), and Simon and I are actively looking at buying another Lotus

The goods:

Switzerland is an awesome place to have a sports car.

1. EVERY road is paved, and paved well, even the coolest little ones in the mountains with no one else on them but you and your sweet little baby. So you dont have to worry about a pot hole distroying your rims, or bottoming out on some random road change, etc etc.

2.Most big cities have lots of decent parking, and if you leave your car in a car park, even in a dodgy part of town (if there is such a thing here), you will be in the company of cars worth several Lotus. Zurich is no exception, as there are frightening numbers of high end sports cars about.

3.There are loads of Rallyes. In fact, there is one I'm hoping to watch next weekend about an hour a way from me in one of the valley's of the alps.

4. Lots and lots of car clubs. There will probably be lots of expats in these car clubs as well, so you would fit in easily.

5. In Zurich, everyone speaks English. There are a good percentage of foreigners living there, so you would never feel out of place or the odd one out.

6. Zurich is at low altitude, so you will be able to drive the car the majority of the year. But kiss winter months goodbye, unless you want salt all over your chassis.

7. Quality of life here is better than any place I have ever lived. I have no desire to ever move back to CA. I could see myself living here for a long time. If you like the outdoors and like being active, you will love it here. If you love the social scene, Zurich is one of the best cities in Europe to be in.

8. There are go karting tracks EVERYWHERE. There are far more here, on a density ratio, than in CA. So if you like karting, you wont be dissappointed.


The bads:

Switzerland is a terrible place to have a sports car.

1. The swiss (the real swiss) are not showy with their money. In fact, much of the country feels embarassed about their wealth, which is why they have been caving in recently to EU and US demands. Guilt that their parents made out so well after WW2, or something like that. So real swiss tend to drive simple, non showy cars, even if they could afford a few Bentleys over and over again, they will still drive to work in a VW golf, or maybe an audi wagon if they have kids. Even those that do buy high end sports cars only buy them in silver, black, etc. If you do see a red ferrari about, I guaratee the guy driving it is not Swiss. 30% of the population here is foreign. So if you have a fancy, glitsy sports car you will be assumed to be a foreigner.

2. Kiss ALL of your modifications good bye. The Swiss have a very strict road inspection every couple of years that requires you have a car with ALL original equipment, even down to the tires and wheels. And dont even think about driving around with a loud aftermarket exhaust. Every cop in town will stop you, or your neighbors will report you, etc. (BTW, the swiss LOVE rating out their neighbors, for even the most insignificant little details, like not tying a knot in your garbage bag before putting it in the bin. Complaining about their neighbors is like national sport). So either you say good bye to mods, or say hello to fines.

3. There are speed cameras everywhere! And annoyingly low speed limits in lots of places, just tempting you to set one off. If you are caught going an excessive speed, it can be treated as an offense against the state, and you can be severely fined, if not imprisoned, if its bad enough. So kiss speeding on the wonderfully smooth, incredibly built swiss autoroute system goodbye. Just dont do it. If you like doing 90mph+ regularly, dont move here. At least Germany is near by, and there are still lots of Autobahn's with unlimited speed, if speed is what you crave. On the bright side, the mountains are less equiped, and near me in the canton (county) of Valais, there are no speed cameras. So if you know where to go you can still have some fun. Most of the mountain roads are so tight its difficult to do any "excessive" speeding anyway. They are perfect roads for little sports cars, like the Elise.

4. Fuel is cheaper here than in the rest of Europe. Especially if you have a Lotus, which doesnt drink much. But cheap is still not state side cheap. You'll get used to it, but filling a tank will be twice as much as CA.

5. Autosport is banned! What does that mean? It means that all Swiss tracks were closed down quite a long time ago (somehow, rallye events dont count, as there are loads of these, from classic to current WRC cars). So if you want to do a track day, you will be driving to France or Germany. On the bright side, there are lots of track in France and Germany, and both countries have massive proportions of gear heads, so while no one will care that you drive a Lotus in Switz, in Germany and in France people will give you waves and thumbs up all the time. There are lots of car clubs that run regular events at these tacks, including swiss car clubs. Dijon is a popular track day spot, about 3 hours from Geneva, not sure how far from Zurich, but not much more than that.

6. As far as driving on foreign plates go, you wont want to do it for a year. You have one year from after you move to switzerland to claim any personal property. Once you "claim" your car at the border, you will have about a month to have the technical inspection and give up your foreign plates, so dont do what I did (big error) and claim the car once it arrives unless you are ready. I thought I had a year too once I brought the car in, and that's not quite right. You have a year to claim your goods, so you have a year to ship your car over and claim it. You can drive around on foreign plates as long as registration is valid, but once you export your car you will not be able to renew your redge, so make sure your redge is good for a few months and not due soon after you ship. Also, you will want to switch your car to swiss plates as soon as possible, as trying to get insurance on a foreign car for an extended period of time is very expensive and difficult to find. For me, importing a 35 year old car, it was nearly impossible. I went through Hagerty US, and through their UK offices I was able to get insurance on the car for 4 months. They told me this was the longest policy they had ever written for a foreign car. And this insurance was not good enough for the German port authorities, who made me purchase yet another temporary insurance policy before they would release my car. So be prepared.

6. You would have no need to learn Swiss German (as its only spoken in Switzerland), and useless in Germany. If you learn German, everyone can speak that too in Switzerland, but you still wont understand common talk. So you will kind of feel lost at what language to speak in Zurich. I cant be bothered to try to speak anything there other than english or french, but then again I'm just like all the rest of the french speaking population of Switzerland who dont speak swiss german either.

7. Its a pain in the ass, and very expensive, to own a car in any of the big cities. You will not want to drive around in the big cities anyway, as you will soon see that all the lights are timed to give trollies, buses, and peds the right of way. So you can be stuck at lights for what seems an eternity, for no reason other than, for what I'm convinced, is the government's attempt to try and annoy people out of their cars.

8. Switzerland is EXPENSIVE. Coming from California it wont be such a shock, but you will be surprised by the cost of lots of things, and will be doing like i do, and flying back to the US every now and then to stock up and certain things. But some things you cant avoid, like your food bill, which will be two to three times higher.

9. If you need to do shopping after 7pm, or on a sunday, you will be s.o.l. Although you learn quickly that all shops at train stations and auto route rest areas are open late and on sundays, so its not impossible to find basics during off hours. But kiss 24 access to all things goodbye.


So I have a million other comments to make, if you want to get in touch. But at least now you have a proper perspective on some of the pros and cons of a gear head living here. If I were you, I would RUN to the job in Zurich, and dont look back. CA is far scarier a place.

[iwilson]

Can confirm Modern Wedgie's (wondered where you had got to) opinion of the Swiss mentality regarding all things petrol or otherwise powered. They make the Germans look like a bunch of fun loving hippies in comparison (and they're not). The Brits do a trip to Stelvio each year that normally takes in bits of Swiss, French, Italian and German Alps. In the French and Italian parts of the Alps we're given a warm welcome, the Germans usually ignore us and Swiss phone the Police....



Stelvio - this road was used for some of the early development work on the original Elise and has become somewhat of a shrine ever since.


Lillie, I was in Geneva a couple of months ago, pity I didn't know you were there.

[CountTracula]

Thanks Modern for that long and detailed post! I had some follow up questions but your PM box is full Thanks!

[FunElan]

Here's a car guy in Zurich, well, more of an alfa guy....... Alfa Romeo Zahnd | Oldtimer, Rennautos, Rennwagen, Autoreparaturen, Autoersatzteile, Zürich