Switzerland license plate: Dealer U

Format, years and the law

Format

LL 999999U (L is any letter, 9 any digit)

The trailing U is the dealer's mark: the plate belongs to a garage's collective vehicle permit and hops between the cars in its care. No official expansion for the letter is recorded, the U itself, issued since 1 July 1977, is simply the trade's badge.

The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued.

Years issued

1977 to today. Still issued.

Vehicle class

Dealer: trade/garage plates bound to a business, not a vehicle. Issued for car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle, moped, trailer, tractor, and machine.

Colours

Characters #000000 Background #FFFFFF

Size

300 × 80 mm · every country's size

• 

  Dealer U 500×110 mm

  dealer · 500 × 110 mm

• 

  Dealer U 300×160 mm

  dealer · 300 × 160 mm

• 

  Dealer U 180×140 mm

  dealer · 180 × 140 mm

• 

  Dealer U 100×140 mm

  dealer · 100 × 140 mm

About this plate

HÄNDLERSCHILDER, the Swiss dealer plate, and the ONLY series in this file with a start date that is a real issuance date rather than an instrument date. VZV Art. 151 Abs. 4 says it in terms: specially-marked plates under Art. 82 Abs. 2 lit. b and c "werden ab 1. The compensating audit trail Germany builds into its 06 plate has a Swiss analogue in VVV Art. 25 Abs. 3: a business that lets a prospective buyer take an unaccompanied test drive must keep a register of those journeys for TWO YEARS and show it to the enforcement authorities on demand.

Who the plate belongs to

A Händlerschild hangs on a KOLLEKTIV- FAHRZEUGAUSWEIS issued to a BUSINESS (VVV Art. 23 Abs. 1) and is fitted to whatever qualifying vehicle the business needs to move, "Der Kollektiv- Fahrzeugausweis berechtigt zum Anbringen der darin genannten Händlerschilder an geprüften und nichtgeprüften ... Fahrzeugen der im Ausweis genannten Art" (Art. 24 Abs. 1).

How numbers are issued

own number space: Art. 84 Abs. 2 splits numbering by SPECIAL MARKING as well as by colour, so the U series counts from 1 independently in each canton

How long it is valid

note: VZV Art. 79 Abs. 1: the Kollektiv-Fahrzeugausweis is valid for an indefinite period, unlike the Tagesausweis and the provisional certificate

Legal basis and sources

1. VZV Art. 82 Abs. 2 lit. c (Händlerschilder carry the letter U); Art. 84 Abs. 2 (separate numbering per special marking); Art. 79 Abs. 1 (indefinite validity); Art. 151 Abs. 4 ('Kontrollschilder mit besonderer... https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1976/2423_2423_2423/de
2. VVV Art. 22 (dealer plates are issued for Motorwagen, Motorräder, Kleinmotorräder, agricultural and forestry motor vehicles, work motor vehicles and trailers, with the cross-use table of Abs. 2 and the towing-vehicle... https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1959/1271_1321_1317/de