ToDrive vignette checker · September 2026
Swiss vignette 2026: E-Vignette or sticker — do you need one, and which?
The Swiss vignette costs CHF 40 and is valid until 31 January 2027 on motorways and expressways. You have a choice: a sticker on the windscreen, or an E-Vignette — the electronic vignette is tied to the number plate instead of the car. Five questions, and you know whether you need a Swiss motorway vignette and which one.
The ToDrive vignette checker
As of September 2026Yes — E-Vignette recommended
CHF 40 · vignette 2026, valid until 31 January 2027 · tied to the number plate, not the car
Why the E-Vignette: it belongs to the number plate, not the car — nothing to stick on, nothing to scrape off, and if you get new plates it can be transferred.
From 1 December 2026 the 2027 vignette is on sale; the 2026 one runs out on 31 January 2027.
Price and validity according to bazg.admin.ch, as of September 2026.
Rules from the National Highways Charge Act (NSAG) and its ordinance (NSAV), both as of 1 August 2023, and the pages of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG), read on 21 September 2026. This checker states the rule; it is not legal advice. It asks for no number plate and checks no E-Vignette — only the federal shop can do that.
Do you need a vignette? The answer in 100 words
Yes, as soon as you drive on a national road of class I or II — a motorway or an expressway (art. 2 NSAG). The charge is CHF 40 a year, the same for cars, motorcycles and trailers; the 2026 vignette is valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027, that is 14 months. You have a choice: the sticker goes on the inside of the windscreen and then belongs to the car; the E-Vignette registers your number plate with the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG) and counts for every vehicle that legally drives with that plate.
For a first car the E-Vignette is the simpler one: nothing to stick on, nothing to scrape off — and if you change car and keep the plates, it comes along. Campervans over 3.5 tonnes permitted total weight pay the flat-rate heavy vehicle charge instead (BAZG).
Sticker or E-Vignette: the difference in one table
Same price, same period, same roads. The only difference is what the vignette is attached to — and everything else follows from that.
| What matters | Sticker vignette | E-Vignette |
|---|---|---|
| Where it is | Inside the windscreen, stuck directly on the glass | On the number plate — registered with the federal customs office |
| Belongs to | The vehicle — transferred only with the car (art. 7 NSAG) | The number plate — every vehicle that legally drives with it (art. 7a NSAG) |
| Interchangeable plate | Two stickers, one per car | One E-Vignette for both cars |
| New number plates | Void once peeled off; buy a new one | Transfer in the Via portal, once a year, same vehicle and holder |
| New car, same plates | Stays with the old car | Automatically valid for the new car |
| Windscreen replaced | A new sticker is needed; on a Swiss vehicle the motor insurer pays for it, and if no insurer does, the BAZG replaces it against the old sticker and the garage invoice (art. 4 NSAV) | Nothing to do |
| How it is checked | By eye — the sticker must be visible from outside | Camera and plate query, on a sample basis |
| Where to buy | Post offices, most petrol stations and garages, TCS branches and the cantonal road traffic offices | Only at e-vignette.ch, the federal shop |
| Price | CHF 40 | CHF 40 |
The E-Vignette has existed since 1 August 2023 (BAZG). And the sticker has an expiry date written into the law: once fewer than 10 per cent of all vignettes sold are stickers, the sticker is abolished (art. 19a NSAG).
The 2026 motorway vignette: price, validity, what is new
CHF 40, valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027, on sale since 1 December 2025. The price is written into the act itself (art. 6 NSAG); it changes only when parliament changes the act. Nothing is new about the 2026 vignette — what is new since 2023 is the choice between sticker and E-Vignette. If you buy now, the 2026 vignette runs until 31 January 2027; from 1 December 2026 the 2027 vignette is on sale, valid until 31 January 2028.
Where to buy the Swiss vignette — and where better not
The E-Vignette is sold in exactly one place: e-vignette.ch, the federal shop (via.admin.ch) — enter the vehicle category, the country of registration and the number plate, pay, done; it is valid immediately after the purchase. The sticker, according to the BAZG, is sold at post offices, at most petrol stations and garages, at the TCS branches and at the road traffic offices; at the border it is sold at the motorway crossings and at further customs offices designated by the BAZG. Which outlets may sell it is decided by the cantons and the BAZG (art. 2 NSAV).
Where better not: sites that sell you the Swiss vignette with a surcharge. The price is written into the act (art. 6 NSAG); buying through a third party adds that party's handling fee on top. For the E-Vignette the BAZG has no official distribution partners and recommends buying through its own web shop only. That is why this page carries a single purchase link, and it goes to the Confederation.
Is there an app for the E-Vignette?
No. The BAZG sells the E-Vignette through its own web shop only, the Via portal, and has no official distribution partners for it (BAZG). You do not have to carry anything either: the E-Vignette is tied to the number plate, and a check reads the plate — according to the BAZG no receipt has to be carried. Keep the shop's receipt all the same: the BAZG does not send out tickets or receipts after the fact, and without the ticket you need the receipt to apply for a change of number plate.
What happens to last year's vignette?
It lasts longer than most people think. Every vignette is valid from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following one, that is 14 months (art. 8 para. 2 NSAG) — so in December and January two years run side by side. You may only scrape the old sticker off after 31 January 2027; peeling it earlier makes it void (art. 7 para. 4 NSAG). With an E-Vignette there is nothing to do: the old year simply expires.
Rental car, company car, used car: who pays the vignette?
Rental car
The rental company. A car registered in Switzerland has one — otherwise it could not use the motorway. Whether an E-Vignette exists for the plate can be checked in the Via portal, if it was set to «publicly visible» at purchase.
Company car
The holder of the vehicle, that is the company. The E-Vignette is tied to the plate; who drives changes nothing. The charge is owed by the driver and, failing that, by the holder (art. 5 NSAG) — but it is paid once per plate.
A used car you bought
The sticker stays on the windscreen and passes to you with the car (art. 7 para. 3 NSAG) — you need not buy a new one as long as the year is right. An E-Vignette, by contrast, belongs to the seller's plate and does not come along; your own plate needs its own.
The 2027 vignette: from when, and what it costs
From 1 December 2026 the 2027 vignette is on sale, again for CHF 40 — the amount is written into the act and changes only if parliament changes the act. It is then valid until 31 January 2028. If you drive in December you do not need it yet: the 2026 vignette is valid until 31 January 2027. In December and January both years run side by side — only after that do you need the new one.
Checking an E-Vignette: whether your plate has one
Whether a valid E-Vignette exists for a number plate is shown by the query in the federal Via portal: enter country and plate, done — but only if «publicly visible» was chosen at purchase (art. 7b NSAG). Otherwise there is no information: the BAZG and the police can check it only during a check on the road and give no information otherwise (BAZG). So switch visibility on when you buy — then whoever shares the car with you can check too, and nobody buys twice by mistake.
This page checks nothing: it has no access to the BAZG register, and a field that only pretended to would be a deception.
Interchangeable plates: one vignette per plate
A Wechselschild, the Swiss interchangeable plate, moves between two cars — and this is exactly where sticker and E-Vignette part ways. The sticker belongs to the car: two cars, two stickers, CHF 80. The E-Vignette belongs to the plate: the act declares the charge paid for every vehicle that legally drives with the registered plate (art. 7a para. 2 NSAG) — one E-Vignette, CHF 40, for both cars. The BAZG says the same: two cars on one interchangeable plate need two stickers, but only one E-Vignette.
Remember the difference like this: the E-Vignette is not tied to the car but to the number plate.
Trailer, motorcycle, campervan
The trailer needs its own vignette.
The charge applies to motor vehicles and trailers (art. 3 para. 1 NSAG): one vignette for the car, one for the trailer — as an E-Vignette on its own plate, or as a sticker on a part that cannot be swapped. Exempt are rigid trailers, motorbike trailers and motorbike sidecars (art. 4 para. 1 let. i NSAG).
So does the motorcycle.
A sticker would have to go on an easily accessible, non-removable part (art. 3 para. 2 NSAV) — the E-Vignette sits on the plate and spares you that. Veteran vehicles, that is classic cars, need a vignette like any other vehicle, according to the BAZG.
The campervan: up to 3.5 tonnes like a car, above that no vignette.
Above 3.5 tonnes permitted total weight the flat-rate heavy vehicle charge (PSVA) applies instead of the vignette — a different system, also with the BAZG. No vignette is payable for vehicles that are subject to the heavy vehicle charge (art. 3 para. 2 NSAG).
New car, new plates: the transfer
The sticker can only be transferred together with the car (art. 7 para. 3 NSAG); whoever peels it off voids it (para. 4). Sell the car during the year and the vignette goes with it — there is no refund (art. 8 para. 1 NSAG). If the windscreen is replaced, the sticker is replaced free of charge: for Swiss vehicles through the vehicle insurer, and if the insurer does not bear the cost, the BAZG replaces it against the old sticker and the invoice for the glass (art. 4 NSAV).
The E-Vignette stays with the plate. Keep your number plates and it automatically covers the new car — there is nothing to do. If you get new plates, say after moving to another canton or after loss or theft, you transfer it in the Via portal to the new plate once the road traffic licensing authority has replaced the old one (art. 5 NSAV): once a year (BAZG), vehicle and holder must stay the same, and you enclose suitable documents — the old and the new vehicle registration document, for instance. The BAZG checks on a random basis that the requirements are met. A new car and new plates at the same time is a different vehicle — then you buy again.
What else applies to the plate: vehicle registration document; what happens to plate and vignette when the car has to go: deregistering a car.
Caught without a vignette: what it costs
A fine of CHF 200 (art. 14 NSAG) — and you have to buy the vignette on the spot (art. 9 NSAV): CHF 240 in total for a trip that would have cost CHF 40. A sticker lying loose in the car or held on with tape counts as none (art. 3 NSAV and art. 9 NSAV). Checks are made at the border by the BAZG and inside the country by the cantons — by sight and with installations that compare the number plate against the register (art. 11 NSAG).
Fitting the sticker correctly
Undamaged, straight onto the glass, on the inside of the windscreen, at a spot clearly visible from outside (art. 3 NSAV) — where exactly, the ordinance leaves open. No film, no tape, no simply laying it on the dashboard: without its original glue it is void. Motorcycle and trailer: on an easily accessible part that cannot be swapped. And you may only peel it off after 31 January 2027 — a removed sticker is invalid, a new one costs CHF 40.
Your first car
Insurance, vignette, probation
Three things belong to a first car before you set off: third-party liability insurance, without which no motor vehicle may be put into public traffic (art. 63 SVG); the vignette, before the first drive onto the motorway; and the three probationary years — the further training course (WAB) has to be attended within twelve months of the probationary licence being issued (art. 27c VZV). Where each belongs: probationary licence (probation, insurance for new drivers), vehicle registration document (papers and plates), deregistering a car (when it has to go again).
Where these facts come from
Research and rules: Dima Makukha, ToDrive · sources read on
Every figure on this page comes from a federal act, its ordinance or the customs office and appears exactly once in the code — with the article, the version date and the day it was read. If the Confederation changes the charge, one file changes. What this page does not do: check a number plate or give legal advice.
- Law
- Nationalstrassenabgabegesetz (NSAG), SR 741.71, art. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6a, 7, 7a, 7b, 8, 11, 14, 19a — as of 1 August 2023.
- Ordinance
- Nationalstrassenabgabeverordnung (NSAV), SR 741.711, art. 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 — as of 1 August 2023.
- BAZG
- BAZG, FAQ Vignette und E-Vignette.
- Two forms
- BAZG, E-Vignette und Klebevignette.
- Transfer
- BAZG, E-Vignette auf neues Kontrollschild übertragen.
- Plate change
- BAZG, Kontrollschildwechsel Schweiz.
- Over 3.5 t
- BAZG, Pauschale Schwerverkehrsabgabe (PSVA) für Schweizer Fahrzeuge.
- Network
- BAZG, Karte der abgabepflichtigen Nationalstrassen.
- Retail
- BAZG, Richtlinie R 15-01 Nationalstrassenabgabe, 1. März 2025.
- Vignette index
- The ToDrive vignette index — which questions this checker is asked most — appears here once 500 queries have been counted. Counted are only the five answers per query — no address, no cookie, no number plate, no time finer than the day. Until then this page carries no statistic of its own.
Citing this page
Free to use as long as the source is named. Suggested form:
Source: ToDrive vignette checker (todrive.ch) after NSAG/NSAV as of 1 August 2023, retrieved September 2026.
Questions about the sources or found a mistake: via the contact form.
Next step
Buy the vignette: only here
The only place that sells the E-Vignette is the federal shop — e-vignette.ch, no surcharge, valid the moment you pay. Everyone else is a reseller. The sticker is sold at post offices, garages and most petrol stations.
What you read next: what applies during the three probationary years, what the vehicle registration document costs, how to deregister a car, the whole road to your licence, what a Swiss licence costs in total, what else costs a fine — the fine calculator.