The export of used vehicles from Switzerland is a million-dollar business, and cars registered in that country are bought all over the world, and in 2023, the proportionally largest number of them ended up in Serbia, according to research by the Swiss radio-television SRF.
Last year, around 136,000 cars were exported from Switzerland, with a total value of 642 million Swiss francs. The vehicles were exported to as many as 147 countries, according to Beta.
The first on the list is Serbia, to which as many as 25,440 used vehicles from Switzerland were exported. Followed by Poland with 17,334, Bulgaria with 12,146 and France with 11,271 imported used cars.
Among the top ten countries on whose roads Swiss used cars end up are Ukraine, Libya, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Albania, North Macedonia and Greece.
By way of comparison, in 2013 the Swiss sold 125,000 cars abroad for a total of just under 330 million francs.
SRF writes that all other attempts to get in touch with a used car seller have been unsuccessful, as they usually just leave a business card under the car windshield with a message to buy and a phone number.
The Swiss customs said that such an export with the correct documentation is completely legal. Purchases are very often made in cash, so the competent services closely monitor these transactions due to the suspicion that it could be money laundering or organized crime.
In the end, SRF journalists managed to get in touch with a trader in Serbia, who wanted to remain anonymous. He said that Swiss used cars are particularly popular because they hardly have any serious mileage. “We hardly import from Germany, because theirs have already traveled too many kilometers,” said that reseller.
However, according to him, the business has recently become less and less profitable, since customers no longer need visas, so they go abroad to buy a car on their own.
Auto-mechanic workshops and Swiss dealers of used vehicles cooperate with dealers, who sell used cars to foreign dealers when they no longer meet Swiss traffic standards or the repair is not worth it.
“We always work with the same sellers. Then we get offers for the price in some country, or the sellers arrange it themselves,” said the owner of a used vehicle store in eastern Switzerland, adding that he usually doesn’t know where the car will end up.
According to him, cars that would be scrapped in Switzerland are still being driven for a long time in other places.
Source:
Krstarica.com / Beta.rs
Photo: Archive Autoblog.rs / Ford
Source: autoblog.rs
