Swiss vignettes no longer required? Forums

pamal

Having started this thread which seems to have been met with some disbelief, it may help if I spell out exactly what we did. We had been in Germany for a week or so and went into Austria at a small border post just west of Innsbruck. No border guards and nothing to tell us what to do but we had already gathered that we did not need to pay for a permit provided that we kept off the motorways which we did. In due course we left Austria and entered Leichtenstein and from there entered Switzerland and were waved through by the border guards, just short of Junction 8 on the A13/E43 which we used until south of Chur when it ran out as a motorway. We followed the E43 to Splugern where our TomTom took us over the fantastic Splugen Pass (hairpins in groups of 8,9 and 10 at a time.) At the top of the Splugen pass in heavy rain we crossed the border into Italy. Again we were waved through so on we went to Menaggio on Lake Como. Next day we went over the top of the ridge to Lugano and re-entered Switzerland just outside Lugano. The border post was in a tunnel. Again we were waved on urgently and when we tried to stop to ask about vignettes the border guard got a bit upset so off we went. Our aim was Baveno in Italy and we left Switzerland at the north of Lake Maggiore and again, we might as well not have existed.
Stayed in Baveno for a few days and then had to head home, so we went back into Switzerland through the border post where we had entered. No interest in us so off we wen up the motorway, the St Gotthard tunnel and the Sustenpass to Interlaken where we stayed for two nights.
We went by motorway to Basel and passed out into France at the big border post there. We were treated as if we were Swiss or non-existent.
We had not wish to avoid paying the toll but we were left with the feeling that it did not seem to matter.
We have a new Geist low profile motorhome 6 metres long. We do not have any windscreen material other than out Road Fund Licence and the Caravan Club badge.
Maybe we got away with it because we looked so unthreatening to the stability and security of the Swiss Nation.
Pamal

bognormike · Moderator

Hi Pamal, that sounded like fun! You must just have been lucky..
It reminds me our trip round lake Geneva (Leman) in our first motorhome - Autocruise Starfire. We didn't have a vignette, and made sure we didn't go on the Swiss autoroutes. We entered from France on the edge of Geneva, and had a few pleasant nights in the site on the south of the lake. We then tried to get up onto the mountain on the south side of Geneva, which is in France; we'd seen the people hang gliding from the top & it looked a good place to go to see across the lake & beyond. We had a hell of a job finding the road up, and managed to do 5 border crossings before finding the road up, including 3 crossings at one control point - the guard looked a bit bemused when we kept going through! The views at the top were superb - north across Geneva and south to the Alps. Cool

eddied

I too can confirm that the vignette is alive and well.
The confusion may arise when you are using a border crossing that is not on a motorway. In this case the vignette may not be on sale. If you are crossing at a motorway border point, you will almost certainly have to stop and pay up.
Be warned that if you are then stopped on a Swiss motorway without the vignette displayed, you will face a very heavy fine. Happened to me using the St.Louis/Basel crossing point at dead of night. Not a vignette to be seen - carried on to Gothard, and climbing up to Northern end of tunnel, a road block. No end of arguing the point that the vignette wasn't available at the border, told I should have stopped at first service area and bought one. The on the spot fine was in the region of Sfr.450
Don't try the trick of not sticking it to the windscreen either - same reult, although the policeman will give you the chance of sticking it on in front of him (if he's in a good mood that is!). Tried that last year, and was pulled over at entrance to Seelisbergtunnel.
Final point, have successfully transferred from one vehicle to another, you just have to peel off with extreme care, using a hairdryer.
saluti,
eddied

mgray

Can anyone tell me which figure the Swiss/Austrians use for GVW - having an American RV (Safari Trek) that weighs in at 7.48 tonnes on the plaque but the british logbook has it as a 3500kg Private Goods Vehicle - do I just present the logbook (or whatever they call the registration document these days) and smile??
Also anyone done the Gotthard and Brenner passes recently on the old (free) roads? If so how are the gradients (I don't like to heat up me brakes too much!)

Thanks