Transiting Swiss is fairly easy, provided your paperwork is correct.
Your boss will tell you which agent to use. Because we ship out through the Humber ports we use a customs agent in Hull. T-forms for Swiss very rarely cause any problems for us.
T-forms have a bar code on them now. The docks scan them on your way out of UK, Swiss customs scan them on the way in and on the way out. Italian customs scan them on your way in.
You also need to pay Swiss road tax, it’s charged by the km. If your wagon has been into Swiss at any time in the past it’ll have an orange card with a chip and a small red shield with a white cross on the front and your reg on it. If not you’ll have to get one. The best place for this is, imo, the St Louis border.
Park up on the parking area. Take a note of your present milage. Take all your vehicle docs with you, log book, mot and authorisation in particular. And take your t-forms, company phone and fuel cards. Go to the Swiss customs. As you go in the door you’ll see a row of windows, go to the right hand one, hand over your vehicle docs. The customs will then process your vehicle particulars and issue you with a card. Turn around and you’ll see an orange maschine behind you with a screen. You’ll know it’s the right maschine because it has a sign on its right side which reads “this maschine has no brian, use your own”.
From here, this is the same every time you come into Swiss.
Insert your orange card into the maschine. The screen will display your vehicle particulars, if it’s all correct press ok on the keypad. It’ll then ask for your milage, put that in using the keypad, press ok. It’ll then ask again about weight, press appropriate number; with or without trailer, press appropriate number; method of payment (of road tax), press appropriate number. The most common method is through a fuel card account, if that’s the method you are going to use your orange card will be spat out, you then insert your fuel card. It’ll read it, then check it’s read it correctly, click ok on the keypad. It’ll spit your fuel card out, then print off your tax slip. Take that and your t-forms to one of the other windows labelled transit. Hand over t-forms and tax slip. They’ll scan the bar codes on everything, make a note of how many t-forms on one and stamp them all up, then hand it all back. Go back to your truck, drive round to one of two booths, hand over t-forms and tax, it’ll be checked to ensure everythings in order, barrier lifts, away ya go job done.
On Monday evenings when I get there, it’s usually quiet. I can normally get my tax and bunch of t-forms scanned, stamped and be on my way again in under 15 minutes. But I’m delivering into Swiss , I’ve been there many times, I can speak a bit of German and I’ve seem most of them many times. I know them, they know me, they know my company, my paperwork is almost always 100% correct, so it’s no bother.
You’re on your first trip, there may be a few hiccups because you don’t really know the system.
I haven’t transited Swiss to Italy since before bar codes came in, so I can’t help you with that end at all.
As has been mentioned, you might use an agent while on route to Swiss.
The customs agent on the Belge/Lux border is right on the border where the E411 crosses into Lux.
There’s a canopy over the motorway, if that’s the agent you’re using, don’t go under that canopy. You’ll have to park on the parking area right on the border. You can’t miss it, honest.
