Motorhome in Switzerland: vignette or heavy vehicle charge?

Yes. Motorhomes with a permissible total weight of up to 3.5 t require a vignette, just like a car.

You need the vignette as soon as you use a motorway or expressway. It is valid from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following year; details in the guide Vignette validity. As an e-vignette, it is registered to the number plate; as a vignette sticker, it is stuck on the inside of the windscreen.

Use the weight check above to see whether the vignette or the PSVA applies to your vehicle.

They do not need a vignette. Instead, the lump-sum heavy vehicle charge (PSVA) is due, on the entire public road network.

The PSVA is not a motorway toll. It is payable for every day you spend in Switzerland, even if the motorhome is just parked at a campsite. This is stated in information sheet Form. 15.94 of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS).

For motorhomes registered abroad, the PSVA is paid via the FOCBS Via application. You can choose 1 to 30 consecutive days, 1 to 11 consecutive months or a calendar year. The rates depend on the total weight and the charge period and are shown in the Via portal; the minimum amount per payment is CHF 25.

For individual days, the calendar day counts: the PSVA is valid from payment until 11.59 pm the same day, or until 11.59 pm the following day if you pay after 7 pm. For Swiss motorhomes, the cantonal road traffic office collects the PSVA as an annual charge.

If you drive a vehicle subject to the PSVA without valid proof of payment, you must pay the charge owed plus a CHF 100 fine (information sheet Form. 15.94).

According to the FOCBS, what counts is the total weight entered in the vehicle registration document. For the PSVA, the Via application generally takes the weight from field F.2 of the registration certificate, according to the FOCBS.

The registration certificate Part I, as issued in the EU, shows two total masses: field F.1 contains the technically permissible maximum laden mass, field F.2 the permissible maximum laden mass in the country of registration.

Under Swiss law, what counts is the total weight relevant for registration (Art. 7(4) VTS), not the technically permissible guaranteed weight (Art. 7(3) VTS, corresponding to field F.1). The FOCBS generally records field F.2 in Via. If F.1 and F.2 fall on different sides of the 3.5 t limit, clarify your case with the FOCBS before you travel.

Yes. The FOCBS refunds vignettes bought by mistake for a vehicle that does not require one, such as a motorhome over 3.5 t, free of charge. This also applies to vignette stickers that have already been stuck on.

The basis for this is FOCBS Regulation R 15-01, section 7.5. Otherwise, the FOCBS only refunds the vignette for a proven duplicate purchase and, for foreign vehicles, after a broken windscreen (section 7.4). Contact the FOCBS for the refund.

If you had the e-vignette registered through us, please contact support.

Behind a motorhome up to 3.5 t, a trailer up to 3.5 t needs its own vignette. Trailers over 3.5 t are subject to the PSVA instead of the vignette.

A motorhome up to 3.5 t with a trailer up to 3.5 t therefore needs two vignettes. If neither vehicle has a vignette, the CHF 200 fine is charged twice. Everything else is covered in the guide Trailers and caravans.

If you tow a trailer up to 3.5 t with a motorhome over 3.5 t, the motorhome pays the PSVA and the trailer needs its own vignette. Only trailers over 3.5 t are subject to the heavy vehicle charge (Art. 1 SVAV).