Vehicle registration document: what it costs in each canton

The Fahrzeugausweis is the grey document that belongs to the car, not to you. It has to be carried at all times while you drive (Art. 10 para. 4 SVG), and your cantonal road traffic office handles it when you move, lose it or sell the vehicle. What a replacement costs is decided by your canton alone: from free in Aargau to CHF 60 in Appenzell Ausserrhoden — the same sheet of paper, the same federal law behind it. Changing your address within your canton is free in 16 of the 26, by our own survey. All 26 are in the table below.

What the vehicle registration document costs in each canton

On 16 and 17 September 2026 we looked up all 26 road traffic offices one by one — in the cantonal fee ordinances and on the offices' own pages. Twenty-one of them publish a figure; five publish nothing at all, and those cells say so rather than carrying a guess.

The «change of address» column means a move within the same canton. Moving to a different canton is a separate matter: the vehicle is registered again in the new canton, which charges its own fee — Basel-Stadt, for instance, CHF 52 for the registration document plus a CHF 20 hire fee per number plate (Motorfahrzeugkontrolle Basel-Stadt), while moving within the city is free. «Time» appears only where the office states it itself.

You have 14 days after moving

That is federal law, not a cantonal house rule. Article 74 paragraph 5 of the Ordinance on the Admission of Road Users (VZV) puts it like this: holders must report to the authority, producing the registration document, «within 14 days any fact that requires the document to be amended or replaced». A new address is such a fact.

Register with your new municipality first: several road traffic offices require it, and Basel-Stadt says so in as many words (Motorfahrzeugkontrolle Basel-Stadt). Then send the document in, or hand it over at the counter: the address is changed on the document itself, which is why Zürich asks for all documents «in the original, by post» (Strassenverkehrsamt Zürich). Zürich quotes five to ten working days for that, Aargau one to two.

In most cantons you pay nothing for it: in 16 of the 26 the change of address is free, by our own survey. The two that charge are Lucerne and Vaud; the remaining eight publish nothing about it, which means unknown, not free. Vaud started on 1 January 2026 — the Council of State records that the office will bill registration documents issued after a change of address «as it does for any other change» (decision of the Vaud Council of State).

And the detail that costs the most when it is missed: a move to another canton needs a new registration document. The law says so — «if a vehicle is transferred to another canton …, a new registration document must be obtained» (Art. 11 para. 3 SVG). The old document and the old plates go back to the previous canton of location (Art. 120 VZV), so the vehicle tax and the insurance premium are recalculated as well. A move within the same canton leaves the number untouched. New plates also mean: an E-Vignette belongs to the plate, not the car — how to transfer it to the new plate is on the Swiss vignette page.

Lost or stolen

You may not drive without the vehicle registration document. It must be carried at all times (Art. 10 para. 4 SVG), and being stopped without it costs CHF 20 — item 100.3 of fine list 1 in Annex 1 to the Ordinance on Fixed Penalties — even when the car itself is properly registered.

What the replacement costs is your canton's decision, and the gap is wider than most people expect: free in Aargau, CHF 60 in Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Aargau abolished the fee entirely on 1 July 2024 — the duplicate cost Fr. 30 until 30 June 2024 and has been «kostenlos», free of charge, since (Canton of Aargau, fee reduction as of 1 July 2024). Zug put a new fee ordinance into force on 1 January 2026, which reads «Duplikat von Ausweisen: Fr. 20.–» (Canton of Zug, VO GS, item 1.2). The table above has your canton.

Federal law wants the loss in writing: a duplicate «may be issued only where the loss of the original has been confirmed in writing» (Art. 150 para. 4 VZV), and every office has its own form for it. It goes through the holder, because the document is issued to the holder (Art. 74 para. 1 VZV) — that is why the process rarely works without a signature: otherwise the document would be enough to re-register someone else's car. Solothurn quotes two to three working days, Geneva six, Zürich ten. Bern is the only canton in our survey that also rewards the digital route in the price: CHF 25 online or by post against CHF 35 at the counter (Strassenverkehrs- und Schifffahrtsamt Bern).

If the original turns up again, it must go back to the office: the holder is obliged to «return the duplicate to the authority within 14 days of finding the original» (Art. 150 para. 4 VZV). Missing that deadline can be fined up to CHF 100 (Art. 143 no. 3 VZV).

Two things you notice doing this and find written nowhere. Bern's e-service makes you identify yourself before it will even take the request — without a login you never reach the form. And in Schwyz, Zug, Graubünden and Thurgau the amount is not on a web page at all: it sits in a PDF fee ordinance or in the cantonal collection of laws. To learn what your duplicate costs there, you have to open an ordinance and find the right paragraph. That is what the table above is for.

Code 178 has nothing to do with automatic transmission

This is the confusion worth clearing up. Code 178 sits in the vehicle registration document and means «change of holder prohibited»: the car is leased or financed, and the holder may not transfer it without the lessor's consent. Two cantonal fee tariffs say so in as many words. Graubünden charges CHF 30 in article 8 paragraph 3 «for the entry change of holder prohibited (processing code 178)», and Neuchâtel lists the item «Inscription du chiffre 178 leasing, radiation comprise» at 20 francs — there, deletion is included in the price.

It gets mixed up with code 78, which is somewhere else entirely: in the driving licence, where it means «vehicles with automatic transmission only» (Strassenverkehrsamt Lucerne, conditions and additional entries). It is no longer given out: code 78 «has not been entered in the driving licence since 1 February 2019», and anyone still carrying it from an earlier test can ask to have it lifted (Canton of Aargau). Two documents, two numbers, two completely different things. What the automatic entry means in practice is explained on manual or automatic — what the licence allows.

Which number are you actually looking at? This is the question behind most searches for a "code list": three separate numbering systems sit on and around this document and have nothing to do with each other. The small digits beside the boxes are field numbers (18 is the Stammnummer, 24 the type approval, 31/33/35 the three weights). 178 is not a field number at all but an entry — "change of holder prohibited". And 78 is not on this document: it is the automatic-only restriction on the driving licence. Body-type codes are a list of their own again; we do not reprint their individual values here, because we have not seen the official list ourselves.

What entering and removing code 178 costs. Zurich charges CHF 20 when the leasing company sets it electronically and CHF 30 for a manual application. Removal is free in both cases — but not everyone may ask for it: for leased vehicles the leasing company releases it electronically, and a manual entry can only be removed by whoever applied for it (Strassenverkehrsamt Zürich). So if you buy a car carrying code 178, you cannot clear it yourself.

Three more fields people ask about. The Stammnummer is the number of the vehicle, not of the plate; it is the one the office asks for, and it sits «in field number 18 of the vehicle registration document» (Strassenverkehrsamt Thurgau). Field 24 carries the type approval number, the number under which the model is admitted in Switzerland; vehicles with an EC certificate of conformity carry an «X» there instead of a number (Strassenverkehrsamt Zürich, guidance on towing hitches). The three weights sit in three different fields and get mixed up constantly: field 31 is what the trailer alone may weigh, field 33 what the car itself may weigh laden — the figure Zürich bills the trailer tax on (Canton of Zürich) — and field 35 what car and trailer may weigh together, the figure that decides whether your caravan may legally be hitched up. Not every vehicle has an entry in field 35 (Strassenverkehrsamt Thurgau).

What it is called in French, Italian and English

The first three are official. The ordinance that governs the document is issued in all three national languages, and each version has its own name for it: in French «permis de circulation», in Italian «licenza di circolazione». Dealing with an office in Romandy or Ticino, those are the words you need.

For English there is no official version: federal law is enacted in German, French and Italian, and no English name appears in it. «Vehicle registration document» is simply the usual translation, nothing more. If you need something official in front of an authority, give the French or the Italian name rather than a translation of your own.

Deregistering, selling, cancelling

Deregistering means the plates and the document go back to the office and the document is cancelled. From that moment the vehicle may not be driven — not even for the single trip to the buyer: a motor vehicle may «be put into circulation only with a registration document and number plates» (Art. 10 para. 1 SVG), and whoever does it anyway is fined (Art. 96 para. 1 SVG).

Two things do not end by themselves: the insurance and the vehicle tax. How the tax is settled after a deregistration is each canton's own rule — the office listed for your canton in the table above will tell you.

When selling, there are two clean routes: deregister and let the buyer register the car in their own name, or run it as a change of holder with a transfer of plates. If code 178 is in your document, neither works without the lessor's consent — that is exactly what the entry is for.

Common questions

Do I need a wallet for it?

None is prescribed. The law asks only that you carry the document and produce it on request (Art. 10 para. 4 SVG); it says nothing about a wallet. One is sensible all the same — the paper spends years in a glovebox and has to stay legible. Do not laminate it: changes such as a new address are entered on the document itself.

What does the moped version cost?

Usually less than for a car — the tariffs list it separately. Three examples, each from the canton's own official tariff: Graubünden charges CHF 20 instead of 40 for issuing or duplicating a moped registration document (article 8 paragraph 1), Neuchâtel CHF 20 instead of 40 for the duplicate (item 4.2 against item 4.1 of the same tariff), and Basel-Stadt CHF 20 instead of 52 for registering the vehicle. The figures in the main table are for cars; for a moped, the linked source for your canton is worth opening.

What does "umschreiben" mean?

Not the same as a duplicate. Umschreiben means the vehicle stays but something about it changes — a new holder, a different canton, a different insurer. For a change of holder and a change of canton the law requires a new registration document (Art. 11 para. 3 SVG). In some cantons it costs the same as a duplicate, because the tariff puts both on one line — Neuchâtel, for instance, bills «Duplicata, changement de nom, d’assurance …» at a single amount (tariff of the canton of Neuchâtel). A duplicate merely replaces a lost sheet; nothing about the vehicle or the holder changes.

Do I always have to carry it?

Yes. «The licences must be carried at all times and shown to the control authorities on request» (Art. 10 para. 4 SVG). The law means the document itself, not a copy of it.

What if I miss the 14 days?

In law it is a breach of the duty to report: whoever «fails to report in due time facts which require these documents to be amended or replaced» is fined up to CHF 100 (Art. 143 no. 3 VZV). It gets more unpleasant in the event of a claim — when your insurer holds an address you no longer live at.

What does it cost to drive without it?

It depends on what is missing, and the three cases are startlingly far apart. Simply forgetting the document while the car is properly registered is a fixed penalty of CHF 20 — item 100.3 of fine list 1 in Annex 1 to the Ordinance on Fixed Penalties, the same amount as for a forgotten driving licence (item 100.1). Driving a vehicle that is not admitted at all, or whose document has been cancelled, is no longer a fixed penalty but an offence under Art. 96 para. 1 let. a SVG, with the amount set in proceedings rather than at the roadside. And driving while knowing, or being able to know with due care, that there is no liability insurance carries up to three years' imprisonment or a monetary penalty (Art. 96 para. 2) — the same threat applying to the holder who allows it (para. 3).

Is there an international vehicle registration document?

That is not what the paper is called. What exists is the international registration certificate (Internationaler Zulassungsschein), and the cantonal road traffic offices issue it for a fee — Zug lists it at Fr. 40 under item 4.6 of its tariff (VO GS of the canton of Zug). Whether your destination asks for one is a question for that office or for the country's representation. Not to be confused with the international driving permit: that one belongs to you, not to the car.

What is the difference between this and a driving licence?

The vehicle registration document belongs to the car and says the car is admitted to traffic. The driving licence belongs to you and says you may drive. Both must be with you when you drive. If you are still at the beginning of that road, our guide to the Swiss driving licence walks through every stage, and driving schools near you with their prices are listed on todrive.ch.

Where these figures come from

Research and data collection: Dima Makukha, ToDrive · as of 16/17 September 2026

The table is our own work. On 16 and 17 September 2026 we looked up all 26 road traffic offices individually: the cantonal fee ordinance where one exists, otherwise the office's own page for that procedure. Every cell carries its source; nothing is taken from another comparison site. Where a canton publishes no figure, the cell says «not published» rather than carrying an average — an invented number would be worse than an empty cell.

We saw on day one how fast a table like this goes stale. The Uri page that read «Fr. 30.–» in the morning of 16 September 2026 answered «invalid address» by the afternoon of the same survey. That is why no amount is listed for Uri: a figure nobody can look up is not a source. A program now re-checks all 37 addresses regularly and reports which have vanished or changed.

What the table is not: binding. Binding is always the office of your canton of residence. Fees change — in the last two years alone Aargau abolished its fee, Zug put a new fee ordinance into force and Vaud started charging for the change of address. We re-check the table every six months; if you find a wrong value, tell us.

Published by ToDrive (todrive.ch), Switzerland. The figures are free to use as long as the source is named.