what do you know about the swiss highway tax?
 

I will be driving from Gex to Annecy in France and see that the (by far) fastest route is through Switzerland. I've heard that there is a very expensive highway tax. What do you know about it and can you suggest any alternative routes-- I've already checked iti.fr and cwlease.com. Thanks

Hi! <BR>It's only 40 SFR or 24 USD. You buy a decal for your car that is valid for a calendar year. Rental cars usually already have them; there are no other tolls to my knowledge.

...and you only need it on "motorway"- type roads, i.e., any road with a green sign.

As Chris mentioned, a CH "vignette" is required for travel on their green signed highways. The fine for a missing/invalid sticker is CHf140. <BR> <BR>It's been my experience that CH police do not specifically look for out-of-country cars without a vignette but YMMV. <BR> <BR>So if you plan to drive without the vignette and you are pulled over, CH police, like in other European countries, are judge, jury and executioner - you must pay the fine on the spot; so consider having some CHf at the ready. <BR> <BR>As for your rental car already having a valid sticker, that's the luck of the draw. <BR>

If caught, not only do you have to pay the fine, but you also have to buy the ticket also. We were stopped at the border and motioned to the station to buy the vignette.

So tourists pay 100 times the rate to use the road....no wonder everyone says the Swiss are bankers.

Thank you, Frank. It's just one of the reasons I have not had a very favorable impression of CH. I supose it sounds like I'm a cheapskate to resent $24, but it's aprticularly annoying to return a French car, coming from points south - - there ARE car rental return facilities, located "in France" at Geneva airport (thus avoiding the drop charge of another country), but you have to drive on a stretch of about 5 miles of (Swiss) highway to get to them. And you have to stop and buy the vignette to use this tiny stretch of road. GRRR!