D-Day arrived and we were really excited about it! my first kilometres as truck owner, I was constantly checking everything - temp, amps, air pressure, but all was good....relax mark....
We made a first stop near Zurich.
we continued our journey towards Basle for customs declarations. I had arranged all paperwork via Zoll + Logistik GmbH in Basle, I can really recommend them. Very service minded and always friendly and professional. The Swiss customs wanted to have a look at the truck and I had to drive it into the court yard for an inspection...okay....got a bit nervous about that, but all was fine. Stamp here, stamp there, sign here, and goodbye!
Then the German customs....they were a bit "pingelig" as the Germans say, looking at nitty gritty details. So it is a fire truck, asked the (friendly) customs official... yes, it was a fire truck... Hmm, ok, counter close - please sit there. 10 minutes later counter open: Are you living in Germany? yes.... Are you going to sell this truck again? Hell no!, I am going to make an expedition truck out of it ! Aha...said the customs guy, can you prove that? Prove what? shall I prove an intention? hmm, ok counter closed, sit there. Counter open: You have to pay road tax because you use German roads....okay....But the truck is not even registered in Germany, if my brother comes with his Dutch car he doesn't need to pay road tax in Germany, he paid it in the Netherlands as I did in Switzerland this morning....can be, but you are now in Germany and you live in Germany, please pay 161 Euro.
No problem..if 161 Euro is the only problem I encounter, I can take some.. we happily drove onto the A5 direction Stuttgart-Mannheim.
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