Plan your move

Moving always costs money. But there are also ways to save:

• Friends as removal helpers: Maybe you can motivate four or five friends to help you move with the offer of a tasty pizza. And your parents or siblings may also be willing to help. If you don't hire a removal company, you can save several hundred francs. But be careful: If your friends help you move, they are only liable to a limited extent if they break something during the move.
• Transport vehicle: See if your friends or acquaintances can help with a transport vehicle. You can certainly get this cheaper than from a removal company. However, make sure you are properly insured. Borrowed car insurance protects you in the event of an accident.
  Sell things: Instead of throwing things away, you can sell some of your furniture, clothes or books. Place a classified ad on the Internet or sell your things through social media channels.
• Sell things: Instead of throwing things away, you can sell some of your furniture, clothes or books. Place a classified ad on the Internet or sell your things through social media channels. 
• Buy used furniture: Can you take over a bed, a wardrobe or another piece of furniture from the previous tenant? This not only saves you money, but also the time needed to dismantle and reassemble the furniture.
• Used moving boxes: You don't necessarily have to buy new moving boxes. Used cardboard boxes that are in good condition can be used again. So keep an eye out among friends and acquaintances for used moving boxes.

Moving boxes play an important role when moving home. Because you transport your belongings from your old home to your new four walls in them. To ensure that your belongings arrive at their new destination undamaged, you should pay attention to the following properties when choosing a box:

• Handles or grips: Get boxes with handles or grips. Otherwise, the boxes may become difficult to handle during transport.
• Stability: Make sure the moving boxes are sturdy and stable. For heavy items, use boxes made of double-wall cardboard instead of single-wall, with a reinforced bottom.
• Size: Be careful not to use boxes that are too big. Because big boxes get very heavy very quickly. However, most adults can carry around 30 kilograms without any problems.
• Uniform shape: So that you can stack the boxes well, you should get as many moving boxes as possible in the same size.
• Labeling: To make it easy to keep an overview in the jungle of boxes, make sure you have ones that can be written on. You should therefore have boxes with text fields.

Tips for a "sustainable" move: You don't necessarily have to buy new moving boxes. Plastic rental boxes offer an environmentally friendly alternative to the ordinary cardboard box. You can rent such boxes for your move and then return them afterward. Used cardboard boxes that are in good condition can be used again. So keep an eye out among friends and acquaintances for used moving boxes, before buying new ones.

There is no general answer to this question. This is because the premium amount for household contents insurance and personal liability insurance depends on various factors.

For example:

• Place of residence
• Type of building
• Sum insured for contents
• Any desired additional insurance
• Other individual factors

Use our premium calculator to calculate the premium for your individual living situation.

A discount is available in the following cases:

• Combination discount: combined discount of 10 percent on household contents insurance (excluding damage caused by natural hazards) and personal liability insurance if you have taken out motor third party liability insurance or life insurance with Zurich.
• Young person's discount: discount of 20 percent on your household contents insurance and 30 percent on your personal liability insurance if you are between 18 and 25 years old.
• Newcomer discount: discount of 10 percent on your household contents insurance and 20 percent on your personal liability insurance (excluding damage caused by natural hazards) if you are between 26 and 30 years old.

If you move home, you must report your new address to the following institutions and companies:

• public authorities (residential community, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Office, etc.)
• Insurance company (health insurance, household contents insurance, etc.)
• Energy suppliers (electricity, water, gas, etc.)
• Telecommunications service provider (Internet, telephone, etc.)

To ensure no one is forgotten, it's best to read our change of address checklist.

If your friends damage something while helping you to move, their liability will be limited as they were acting out of courtesy by helping you. In this case your friends' liability insurance will likely only cover a portion of the damages. If you make use of a removal company, you should look at their general terms and conditions (GT&Cs) before entering into an agreement. Take a look at the amount for which the removal company is liable, because they may limit their liability. Find out whether there are certain damages they cannot be held liable for. In any case, it is worth taking out special transport insurance.

You could combine your household contents and personal liability insurance and save money. The Relax Assistance travel insurance can also be shared so that you benefit from a lower premium.

Moving home can quickly become stressful. To ensure that everything runs smoothly and nothing important is forgotten, you can download a practical moving checklist as a PDF here.

For more tips on planning your move and information on which insurance will pay in the event of a claim, see our advice article

Moving boxes play an important role when moving home. Because you transport your belongings from your old home to your new four walls in such boxes. To ensure that your belongings arrive at their new destination undamaged, you should pay attention to the following properties when choosing a box:

• Handles or grips: Obtain boxes with handles or grips. Otherwise, the boxes may become difficult to handle during transport.
• Stability: Make sure the moving boxes are sturdy and stable. For heavy items, use boxes made of double-wall cardboard instead of single-wall, and which have a reinforced bottom.
• Size: Be careful not to use boxes that are too big. Because big boxes get very heavy very quickly. However, most adults can carry around 30 kilograms without any problems.
• Uniform shape: To ensure boxes can be stacked well, you should get as many moving boxes as possible in the same size.
• Labeling: To make it easy to keep an overview in the jungle of boxes, make sure you have ones that can be written on. You should therefore have boxes with text fields.

Tips for a "sustainable" move: You don't always have to buy new moving boxes. Plastic rental boxes offer an environmentally friendly alternative to the ordinary cardboard box. You can rent such boxes for your move and then return them afterwards. You can also reuse old boxes that are in good condition. So keep an eye out among friends and acquaintances for used moving boxes before buying new ones.

At a minimum, you should take out household contents insurance and personal liability insurance. During your move, take the opportunity to check the sum insured for your household contents insurance. Does the sum insured still correspond to the value of your household contents? Always insure the replacement value. The replacement value is the value that you would have to pay today to purchase a specific replacement item brand new.

For example: you own a designer sofa for which you paid CHF 3,000 five years ago. Today you would have to pay CHF 5,000 to replace the sofa. You should increase your sum insured accordingly.

If you own any particularly valuable items, it is worth taking out insurance of valuables. This could be, for example, jewelry, camera equipment or expensive musical instruments.

It is possible, as a shared apartment, to take out joint personal liability cover and household contents insurance. However, this is inadvisable for two reasons:

• since roommates in a shared apartment often change, the insurance must be continuously adjusted with each change. In addition, those leaving the apartment lose their insurance coverage.
• In a joint insurance policy, all roommates have equal coverage. However, it is possible that not all roommates require the same insurance coverage. For example, if one of your roommates only has a little furniture or another owns an expensive musical instrument.

We therefore recommend that each roommate takes out their own personal liability and household contents insurance.

Good to know: damages caused by roommates to one another are usually not covered by personal liability insurance.

The sum insured corresponds to the total value of your home contents. But can anybody tell you the value you of their home contents at the drop of a hat? This is why you shouldn't just blindly rely on the standard values given by the online calculator. Because the tool doesn't know that you have a valuable mountain bike, 2,000 books or an expensive sound system. 

But be careful. If you set the sum too low, you run the risk that the insurance will only cover part of the damage if worst comes to worst. If you are unsure, we recommend that you go through the apartment with a notepad and compile all the values or use our inventory data sheet to determine the sum insured.

Governmental, occupational and private retirement schemes are regulated differently:

Governmental retirement provision

If you leave Switzerland, you will not receive any benefits from the old-age and survivors' insurance (OASI). As an employee, you have automatically paid into the OASI scheme with your salary. This is not a personally saved retirement capital, however. Nevertheless, if you have paid OASI contributions for one year, then you are entitled to a pension when you retire. It does not matter whether you live in Switzerland or abroad at that time.

Occupational retirement provision

Any credit balance from an occupational retirement provision scheme belongs to you, and is part of your personally saved retirement capital. This means: You will receive this money when you leave Switzerland. However, a distinction is made between the mandatory and the super-mandatory part, and also whether or not you move to an EU or EFTA country.

Moving to an EU or EFTA country

• mandatory part: The credit balance is transferred to a Vested benefits account.
• super-mandatory part: The credit balance is paid out when you move

Moving to a non-EU or non-EFTA country

• Credit balance is paid out

Personal retirement provision

Your funds in the 3rd pillar will be paid out to you when you leave Switzerland. It does not matter which country you move to. Note that you have to pay withholding tax on the credit balance that is paid out.

No, you should always adapt your household insurance to the new living conditions. Household insurance refers to household contents and personal liability insurance.

The personal liability insurance and the household contents insurance remain in force for the policyholder. The persons who no longer live with the policyholder must seek new insurance coverage. 

If no other persons, such as children, are involved, we recommend converting from family to individual personal liability insurance. As for the household contents insurance, the policyholder can probably reduce the sum insured. 

To check your insurance coverage, it is best to contact your Customer Consultant.

Depending on the condition of your belongings, you can either give them away, sell them or dispose of them.

Give away / donate

• Friends: Do you have useful items that you know are in good hands with a friend? Ask your friends or acquaintances. Perhaps a grateful customer will soon be found.
• Brockenhaus: Whether furniture, crockery or decorative items: You can bring undamaged, clean goods to Brockenhäuser. However, there is no guarantee that a second-hand shop will accept your belongings. On the ZEWO website you can see which thrift stores and convenience stores accept which goods.
• Caritas: Would you like to do something good for people in need? Well-preserved clothes and shoes, children's or baby clothes can be donated to Caritas, for example. You can find more information on the caritas.ch website. 
• Swiss Red Cross (SRK): Give furniture, clothes, toys or books a second life. The SRK Bern will be happy to accept your goods in their second-hand shops. You can find more information on the website srk-bern.ch.

To sell

Don't need your TV anymore? Would you also like to get rid of the bookshelf and the ironing board for a fee? Then place a classified ad in an online portal or in social networks. Depending on the price, you can get rid of your goods quickly. Also state in the advertisement whether you will be sending the goods or whether the buyer will have to collect the goods from you.

Tip: Add meaningful pictures to your advertisements and describe the items as precisely as possible – including defects.

Dispose

• Recycling: Whether books, electronics or textiles: In many recycling centers you can recycle items free of charge.
• Bulky waste: The old mattress, the wobbly table: shabby or broken objects are best taken to the bulky waste. The disposal fees depend on the weight of your goods. In some cities, for example in Zurich, you can dispose of bulky waste free of charge with disposal coupons.

Good to know: Old electronic devices can be handed in at any point of sale free of charge.

Around the moving date, preferably before the move. Check the insurance coverage and the sums insured. This way you can be sure that everything is appropriate to the new situation. Report to your insurance company no later than 30 days after the move.

Household insurance is not compulsory. However, we recommend that you take one out. This usually includes household contents and personal liability insurance. Personal liability insurance is often required by landlords in order to rent a flat.

Even in a retirement home, you will have your own household effects, and maybe even valuables. We therefore recommend that you keep your household contents insurance and adapt the policy to the new situation. When you move into a retirement home, you will most likely reduce your household effects. You can therefore also reduce the sum insured of your household contents insurance accordingly. This way you will pay less in premiums. 

We also recommend that you keep your personal liability insurance. Because things can go wrong, even in a retirement home. For example, you are liable if you damage something belonging to a fellow resident.

In principle, we recommend checking the scope of coverage of all your insurances. It may be that certain additional insurances are no longer necessary. For example, travel insurance or insurance for damage to motor vehicles used.

Moving home can quickly become stressful. To ensure that everything runs smoothly and nothing important is forgotten, you can download a practical moving checklist as a PDF here.

For more tips on planning your move and information on which insurance will pay in the event of a claim, see our advice article

In this case, we distinguish between whether the policyholder or the coinsured person dies.

The policyholder dies:

• Household contents insurance: The personal belongings and thus also the household contents insurance pass to the heirs. They can cancel the household contents insurance.
• Personal liability insurance: The insurance expires and the coinsured person must take out a new policy. If the policyholder was married to the coinsured person, the policy is transferred to the surviving spouse , who may reject it. 

The coinsured person dies:

• Household contents insurance: If the household contents of the coinsured person are inherited by people who do not live in the joint household, these items are no longer insured. 
• Personal liability insurance: The policyholder can have the joint insurance converted into an individual insurance.

You do not have to actively cancel household contents and personal liability insurance. The household contents insurance is automatically transferred to the heirs upon the death of the policyholder. They can reject the transfer of the policy, whereupon the insurance will expire. The policyholder's personal liability insurance expires when he or she dies.

To import your household goods, pets and/or car duty-free into Switzerland, you will need certain documents. You should therefore do the following things before moving:

• Fill in form "18.44 Household effects". You can find the form on the Website of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security. 
• Prepare an inventory list of your household goods. You can simply do this using a sheet of paper. Rough details are sufficient. Example: 2 boxes of books, 5 boxes of clothes, 2 boxes of dishes, etc. List valuables or larger appliances separately. You can find an example list  on the website of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security . 

There are, however, goods that you have to pay duty on. These include alcoholic beverages or weapons. You must note such items on your inventory list as well. It's best to create a "Goods to be cleared" section for this purpose. 

You do not have to register your move in advance to a customs office. However, if you send your documents to the appropriate customs office two days before the move, things will go more quickly on moving day.

No, not for the most part. You can import most of your belongings as well as your pets and car duty free. To do this, you must enter the country during the opening hours of a customs office for commercial goods and meet the following requirements:

• You can prove that you are moving your place of residence to Switzerland. For this purpose, a rental agreement or an employment contract and confirmation that you have deregistered in your country is sufficient. You do not need a confirmation of residence for customs. 
• You are from one of the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden or the United Kingdom.
• You have been using your household goods for at least six months. You plan to continue using your belongings.

Good to know: Students do not have to meet these requirements. They can import their furniture, personal belongings and educational materials even if they do not move their place of residence to Switzerland.

You can find further information on the following pages:

• Moving to Switzerland
• Move (Household effects)
• FAQ Personal effects
• Crossing the border, customs offices, opening hours

Do you come from an EU/EFTA country and will you be working in Switzerland for longer than three months? Then register with your residential community no later than 14 days after your arrival in Switzerland, where you can apply for a residence permit. To do this, you will need a valid identity card or passport and your employment contract. You will be issued a residence permit based on the duration of the employment relationship:

• Permit L: if you stay in Switzerland for less than one year.
• Permit B: if you are staying in Switzerland for longer than one year or for an indefinite period of time.

For further information, please visit the website of the State Secretariat for Migration SEM.

In Switzerland, motor vehicle liability insurance (car insurance), health insurance and accident insurance are mandatory.

• Car insurance: The car insurance covers damage to other people's vehicles, persons or property that you cause with your car. Without this insurance, your vehicle cannot be registered. In our guide article "Importing a car into Switzerland", you can find out how to import your vehicle correctly into Switzerland.
• Health insurance: Every person living in Switzerland must have basic health insurance with a Swiss health insurance company. The benefits provided in the basic insurance are the same from every health insurance company. You can also take out supplementary insurance, such as dental insurance, on a voluntary basis. 
• Accident insurance: If you work more than eight hours per week for the same employer, you are insured through them. If not, then you must purchase accident insurance through your health insurance company.

Tip: It pays to compare: Both with car and health insurance. The best way to find the right car insurance is to use our free insurance comparison.

We strongly recommend that you take out the following types of insurance:

• Personal liability insurance: A Personal liability insurance pays out if you cause harm to people or their property. A broken vase, a crack in the sink: Accidents can happen quickly. Some landlords require their tenants to take out personal liability insurance. And in some communities in Switzerland, dog owners must also take out personal liability insurance. Find out in our guide article "Reasons for personal liability insurance", whether personal liability insurance is worthwhile for you. 
• Household contents insurance: Household contents insurance protects your property in the event of house fires, water damage or natural hazards as well as theft. 

With Zurich, you can take out personal liability insurance and contents insurance together as household insurance. Find out more in our guide article "Household insurance – comprehensively protected at home".

We also recommend taking out a Disability Insurance. Because anyone can become ill. In Switzerland, living costs are relatively high. Could you get by on just 60 percent of your current salary if you were ill?

What's more, the following types of insurance may also be worthwhile for you:

• Insurance of valuables: The Insurance of Valuables All-Risk coverage will pay out if your favorite items are lost, damaged or even destroyed. Would you like to insure your precious wedding ring or your treasured musical instrument? Find out whether valuables insurance makes sense for you in our guide article.
• Bicycle insurance: With the[Zurich Bike Insurance, your beloved bike or e-bike is comprehensively protected: in the event of theft, damage or destruction.

Swiss social insurances include the following types of insurance:

• Health insurance
• Accident insurance (UVG)
• Unemployment insurance (ALV)
• Retirement provision (AHV)
• Family allowances

You are responsible for your own health insurance. You must be covered by a basic health insurance policy no later than three months after you move to Switzerland. The benefits provided in the basic insurance are the same everywhere. However, costs may vary from health insurance company to health insurance company. It's therefore worth comparing premiums.

You must include accident insurance in your health insurance if you work less than eight hours a week for the same employer. If you work more than eight hours a week for the same employer, they will pay your accident insurance.

Contributions to unemployment insurance (ALV) and retirement provision (AHV) are paid equally by you and your employer. The ALV and AHV contributions are deducted directly from your salary. Contributions to family allowances are paid exclusively by your employer.