The car should be bought and exported confirming to EU specs.

Otherwise it will be very expensive and take a lot of time.

From what I can gather, the import rules are different for 18.44 imports (household effects).  The people who sailed through the process with little fuss were doing 18.44 imports.

The horror stories that we read about, on the other hand, are from people trying to do straight-up imports.  There are companies that sell pre-converted US cars in CH for those who want one badly enough.  It's not cheap.

it can be done of course... however the car (as Haegar said) needs to be conforming to EU specs... so the dash needs to be changed for sure etc...

Then you have import tax when crossing the border here in Switzerland, and will then need to have a full inspection here at a Gov't controlled testing site, then you will get the "carte gris" and plates  (assuming it passes spec).

If you are playing the CHF/USD cross rate to get a cheaper car, its worth doing the maths first on all the work that is involved...you may find the hassle only wins you a thousand or two..

There are probably also companies/dealers that will do this all for you, for a price...

Not really worth the efforts unless its a vintage car and for which there are very few restrictions (ie for a Austin Healey, Jaguar MKII, etc).

As for a new car, don't even bother as the time you will spend will not be worth the savings, in spite of which - "why would you want to import a US car when there are plenty of European cars of superior quality" - and if its price, just buy your EU car outside Switzerland for a 20-25% saving due to the current favourable exchange rate.

A friend of mine imported a new car from the US and saved a fortune. The only issue he had was the absence of official guarantee - but he did not care, as this was a reliable manufacturer.

@Rusian K

You may well be right, also with the dollar being so low in value.  But the caviat is to make sure the car has already been imported into Switzerland (fiche technique already exists for the homologation) and there are no major changes to be made (ie buying a model already sold here). 

I suppose a Corvette would be a real winner as the price here is outrageous compared to the US price list.  But would you want all that plastic ?

Hello,

I actually recently moved to the US for work and I am thinking of buying a new car and then taking it back with me at the end of my assignment (so it wouldn't be a new car per se when I move back).

How do I know if a car meets EU specifications? any CH specific specs?

The price difference is very interesting (Audi A4).

Thanks for the advice.

If the car is less than six months old, customs duty must be paid.

Here is a link to the swiss page on it in English

http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_privat/00417/00419/index.html?lang=en#sprungmarke3_1

Depending on the make of a car you can save a considerable amount of money.  I recently looked at a jeep for 42,000 chf, and 21,000 usd in the US.

The car will stay in the US with me longer than 6 months; import duties are not really my concern.

What I am concerned however is what work needs to be done on the car to make it comform with EU specs. I would like more information on that if you have.

I'm looking at Audi and yes, the price difference is amazing; at least according to list prices.

What I am concerned however is what work needs to be done on the car to make it comform with EU specs.

It's a difficult question to answer.  It seems that people who import their cars as part of their household effects via customs form 18.44 tend to have a good experience with the process.  Existing Swiss residents who try to import a car themselves (without using a professional Swiss importer) are the ones posting the horror stories here and on EF.  I suspect that the standards and requirements are more lenient for 18.44 imports.  When you return to Switzerland, will you qualify for a household effects import?  I understand that there are limits on how often a person can perform these.

I bought a car from US 1 year ago, its not a problem and very easy.

I did all import issue via Classica Motors in Carouge, they are very good and dont charge you a lot of money for that.

I bring car here via Germany, after that it cost you about 1,500CHF with truck to bring it here, then you have to passed homoligation in Swiss and then you get your plate once you paid tax around 12%. Talk with peole in Classica Motors can can do all this things for you.