Sticky business but there is a method to removing your old Swiss autoroute “vignette”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A reminder to motorists who use the Swiss autoroutes: you must have your new sticker on the car today, correctly displayed and the old one must be removed. The fine for not observing the regulations has doubled to CHF200, and the highway patrol will be checking autoroute exits this week, so don’t take the risk of driving with just your old sticker.
How to remove your old one: the most effective method, according to several car forums in Switzerland (and this driver), appears to be using a hair dryer to dry out the glue, and a plastic window scraper to remove most of the remaining gummy bits. These can then be removed with a bit of gasoline on a rag, used with caution.
The Swiss customs office warns that to be correctly displayed the sticker must be placed on the windscreen, on the inside of the car, near the edge of the windscreen. All old stickers must be removed.
13-year high in car sales in Switzerland in 2010
New cars in Switzerland: December 2011 registrations were all-time record
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Automobile Importers Association has come out firmly against Bern’s announcement last week that the autoroute sticker (road tax) price will jump from CHF40 to 100. Its argument, in aligning itself with truckers associations, is that some of the road tax money will be used to finance the country’s rail system starting in 2030, but the group also argues that the federal coffers have a reserve of 1.7 billion for roads and the tax should not be increased until this falls to CHF0.5 billion.
The rationale for the announced increase is to speed up road improvements that are needed as the number of cars on the road grows quickly. The importers association has just published figures showing that the past two years have seen a significant hike in the number of cars imported into Switzerland, which does not have a major car manufacturing company of its own.
The Swiss Automobile Importers Association notes that in 2011 the country imported and sold 318,958 and by comparison in 2010 the figure was 294,239 cars. The 2011 sales show a 10.6 percent increase in the past two years, with a year-on-year increase of 8.4 percent in 2011 alone.
Last year was the first in a decade when more than 300,000 new cars were registered in Switzerland and the only previous years when sales were higher were 1988, 1989 and 1990. December 2011 is the best sales month that the importers association has ever recorded.
The association points out that new Swiss CO2 reduction regulations for cars go into effect in May 2012 and must be applied to all new cars registered as of 1 July 2012. The change aligns Switzerland with European Union regulations. The one exception is cars brough in from abroad that were registered abroad at least six months before they are imported.
Swiss road tax: stickers show you've paid
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s annual road tax will remain the same price, CHF40, but starting in 2012 the fine for not displaying it will double, to CHF200. Switzerland does not charge road tolls for its autoroutes, but the maintenance costs are covered in part by the road tax.
A sticker, which must be displayed correctly on all vehicles, shows that the tax for the current year is paid. The sticker must be stuck on and can’t be switched between vehicles.
The sticks is valid for all travel during a year, whether you use the autoroutes daily or just once, when passing through the country, in which case it functions more like a toll.
Running a car in Switzerland is about to cost more, but the roads will remain in good shape, says Bern
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland will integrate another 400 km of roads into the federal road system by 2015, but at a cost: the larger network plus growing traffic will cost the Swiss Confederation some CHF275 million francs in maintenance.
The financing solution decided on by the Federal Council is to introduce a two-tiered road tax for the autoroute, the Swiss equivalent of tolls. An annual tax sticker will cost CHF100 rather than today’s CHF40 and a two-month CHF40 sticker, mainly for tourists, will be added.
Bern says it is also considering introducing an electronic tax system, where a license plate is registered in the system and scanned by autoroute cameras.
The two-tiered system will require more surveillance, the council notes.
The package of new measures now goes to interested groups for consultation, since the changes require an amendment to the law.
The roads that will become part of the system are:
- H21 Martigny – Gd. St-Bernard
- H15 Schaffhausen – Thayngen
- H6 Bern/Schönbühl – Biel
- H20 Neuchâtel -Le Locle – Col des Roches
- H223 Spiez – Kandersteg
- H509 Goppenstein – Gampel
- H338 (Hirzel) Baar – Wädenswil
- H394 Mendrisio – Stabio / Gaggiolo
- H406, H13 Bellinzona – Locarno
- H14 Grüneck – Meggenhus
- Semi-autoroute cantonale A53 Brüttisellen – Wetzikon – Rüti
- Semi-autoroute cantonale A53 Rüti ZH – Reichenburg
- H8 St. Gallen – Winkeln – Appenzell
- H18 Delémont Est – Hagnau
- H17 Niederurnen – Glarus
- H2 Pratteln – Liestal – Sissach
- H5 Aarau – Aarau-Ost
- H417, H3 Thusis – Silvaplana
- H10 Thielle – Murten
Switzerland's 2010 autoroute sticker: fines start 1 February!
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Today is the first day when you must have a current autoroute sticker if you take a Swiss motorway, or you risk a CHF100 fine. Police will be checking for them at several autoroute exits. The sticker, which costs CHF40, must be correctly displayed in the left corner of your front windshield. Note that it must be stuck on, to avoid people sharing the sticker between cars, since it is a per car annual highway use road tax.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal government has issued a correction to Swiss media reports this week that said the fine for not having a 2010 autoroute sticker on your car have gone up. The fine remains CHF100, the government says. Parliament has been debating an increase, but if one goes into effect it will not be before 2011.
Anyone who drives on Swiss autoroutes must have a valid sticker, correctly displayed, which costs CHF40. The sticker is an annual road tax; Swiss motorways do not charge tolls.
Drivers have until 31 January to place the sticker on the car. Ed. note: stickers cannot be shared between cars.
Background story, autoroute stickers for 2010, GenevaLunch
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Motorists who fail to have a current year autoroute sticker correctly plastered to their cars risk a fine that will rise to CHF200. The upper house of parliament has approved a measure already passed by the lower house, that will increase fines from the current CHF100. The 6 percent of cars that travel on the highways without the sticker cost the government an estimated CHF20 million a year.
Updated 10:50 Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The last day you can get away with driving on Swiss autoroutes with a 2008 sticker is Saturday, 31 January. The new obligatory autoroute tax stickers, purple with “09″ in yellow, are on sale for CHF40 at Swiss post offices. They are valid until 31 January 2010.
