Car Maintenance
No law requires winter tyres in Switzerland, but clear rules apply: tread, markings, studded tyres and chains, what summer tyres in snow mean for insurance, and how to check the winter wheels of a used car.
October 27, 2026
Switzerland has no law that requires winter tyres (as of October 2026). Your car must still be roadworthy, though, and you must stay in control of it at all times, snow included. If you cause an accident or seriously hold up traffic on summer tyres, you risk a fine or even losing your driving licence, and your insurer can cut its payout or claim money back from you. Here is what applies to tread, markings, studded tyres and chains, and how to check the winter wheels of a used car.
No. The Federal Roads Office (ASTRA) confirms in its post on winter tyres (available in German, French and Italian) that no law requires them. Nor do the current versions of the Road Traffic Act (SVG), the Traffic Rules Ordinance (VRV) or the Ordinance on the Technical Requirements for Road Vehicles (VTS) contain such a duty.
You are still responsible, though. Three principles in the SVG and the VRV apply in snow as well:
If driving on summer tyres leads to an accident or a significant traffic obstruction, ASTRA says you can be fined or even lose your licence, and the insurer may refuse to pay. It does not give a fixed fine. When roads become unsafe, it advises leaving the car at home, even with winter tyres.
Here is the general mechanism; for your own case, your policy and your insurer have the final word.
The TCS (Touring Club Switzerland) sums it up in its answers to frequent tyre questions (in German): if unsuitable tyres cause an accident, the insurer may pay less or claim money back from you. However, neither ASTRA nor the BFU nor the TCS says that driving on summer tyres in snow automatically counts as gross negligence.
‘O bis O’, as German speakers call it, means winter tyres from October (Oktober) to Easter (Ostern). ASTRA and the TCS present it as a rule of thumb, not a legal deadline. A duty tied to a fixed date would be hard to apply, ASTRA says, because conditions vary so much by region and weather. If you cross mountain passes in autumn or live at altitude, change earlier; if you still drive into the mountains often in spring, switch back later.
The VTS requires every tyre, summer or winter, to have at least 1.6 mm of tread across the whole tread surface (Art. 58 para. 4). ASTRA and the TCS, however, recommend at least 4 mm for winter tyres and 3 mm for summer tyres. According to the TCS, a tyre below 1.6 mm costs a CHF 100 fine, and heavily uneven wear is a breach of roadworthiness that the police or insurers can raise. A 2-franc coin makes a handy gauge: if the base of the Helvetia figure stays hidden in the groove, the TCS says there is still enough tread for the winter season. Other tyre and brake checks are in our used-car buyer checklist.
| Criterion | Legal rule | Recommendation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth | at least 1.6 mm | winter at least 4 mm, summer 3 mm | VTS Art. 58; ASTRA, TCS |
| Marking | none required for winter; snowflake symbol only with a lower speed rating | snowflake symbol; M+S alone proves nothing | VTS Art. 59; TCS |
| Speed rating | must suit the car’s top speed; exception for winter tyres (see below) | ask for the notice stating the top speed | VTS Art. 58 and 59 |
| Age | no legal limit | eight years at most | TCS |
M+S (‘mud and snow’) only signals a coarse tread pattern, also found on off-road and all-season tyres; it tells you nothing about winter performance. The symbol showing three mountain peaks with a snowflake, also called the Alpine symbol, may only be carried by a tyre that reaches a defined minimum level on snow under UNECE Regulation 117. The TCS regards only tyres with this symbol as true winter tyres; the law, however, requires it only in the lower-speed-rating case.
For both the TCS and ASTRA they remain a compromise: what they gain in summer they lose on snow, and vice versa. According to the TCS they suit you if you use your car only in certain conditions and can skip a journey when in doubt; high-mileage drivers and anyone often on snow are better off with two sets.
The last four digits of the DOT code give the production week and year. Example: ‘4217’ means week 42 of 2017, so the tyre is about nine years old in autumn 2026. The TCS advises against using tyres more than eight years old, even with enough tread left, and recommends buying new tyres no more than three years old.
Tyres must suit the car’s maximum design speed (VTS Art. 58 para. 2). On summer tyres the speed rating must therefore cover at least the top speed given in the type approval, the CoC (certificate of conformity) or the vehicle registration document (Fahrzeugausweis), however fast you actually drive. Since 15 January 2017, winter tyres may be rated lower if they carry the snowflake symbol and, on a passenger car, are rated for at least 160 km/h (Art. 59 para. 3). Whoever sells such tyres must then hand over a notice stating their permitted top speed (Art. 59 para. 4): ask for it when you buy a used car on such tyres.
| Point | Studded tyres | Snow chains |
|---|---|---|
| When | 1 November to 30 April; outside that period only in wintry conditions | no general requirement |
| Where | banned on motorways and expressways | compulsory where a sign requires them |
| Speed | 80 km/h maximum, ‘80’ sign at the rear | TCS recommendation: no more than 50 km/h |
| Wheels | all wheels | driven axle; on all-wheel drive ideally all wheels (TCS) |
Studded tyres are allowed on motor vehicles with a total weight of up to 7.5 t, provided every wheel has them (VTS Art. 61 and 62); the 80 km/h limit and the ban on motorways and expressways are set out in the VRV (Art. 5 and 35). Without studs, the ‘80’ sign must be removed or clearly crossed out. Studs on only some wheels, a missing sign, or an uncrossed sign on a car running without studs make it non-compliant (VTS Art. 219), and anyone who drives it like that risks a fine (SVG Art. 93).
Chains are compulsory only where a road sign requires them; in German, the sign is called ‘Schneeketten obligatorisch’. According to the TCS the requirement also applies to all-wheel-drive vehicles unless an additional panel exempts them, and traction aids do not legally count as chains. Chains go on the driven axle unless the owner’s manual says otherwise, ideally on all four wheels of an all-wheel-drive car, and only over winter tyres. Abroad, different rules can apply, so check with the authorities of your destination country before you set off.
Whether a usable winter set comes with the car affects what you will spend after buying it, and so what a fair price is.
If the seller does not know the tyres’ history, the TCS generally advises against buying second-hand tyres. A missing or worn set is a cost to factor into your offer; to price it, see our guide on how to spot a fair used-car deal.
According to the TCS, the approved tyre sizes are listed in the owner’s manual, on the door frame or inside the fuel-filler flap. If in doubt, a garage, the importer, a TCS technical centre or the cantonal road traffic office (Strassenverkehrsamt) can help; if the type-approval field shows an X instead of a number, only the garage or importer can tell you.
Wheels not approved for the vehicle type must be reported by the keeper to the road traffic office, and the car is then re-inspected (VTS Art. 34; passenger cars and light vans are exempt where the wheels differ from a manufacturer variant only in offset, by no more than 5 mm). Special tyres and rim and tyre combinations outside the standards also need a guarantee from the vehicle or tyre manufacturer and an entry in the registration document (Art. 58 para. 6bis).
So compare any non-original rims with the registration document; the procedure can vary from canton to canton. Wheels and tyres are also checked at the MFK, the official periodic vehicle inspection (VTS Art. 33), which our MFK guide for used-car buyers explains.
If the car has a tyre pressure monitoring system that measures directly with sensors in the wheels, parts cost noticeably more, according to the TCS, and a wheel or tyre change can take twice as long. So check whether the winter set has its own sensors; if not, raise it in the negotiation.
‘Winter wheels included’ is not enough. State:
The rest of the contract is covered in our complete buyer checklist. If you cannot judge the tyres and rims yourself, an independent condition assessment before you buy can help. And among the used cars on Autoforsale, check in each listing whether winter wheels are included.
Yes, it is not prohibited. The TCS still advises against it for safety reasons: on dry roads in summer temperatures, braking distances are clearly longer than on summer tyres, and the TCS also lists less stability, louder rolling noise, higher fuel consumption and faster wear.
The VTS requires all tyres to be of the same construction, either all radial or all cross-ply (Art. 58 para. 3); its tyre provisions do not expressly forbid fitting winter tyres to one axle only. The TCS still considers it a mistake, because for stability the rear axle matters even more than the front, and recommends four tyres of the same model and type, with the better pair at the rear.
The law does not require them here either. The TCS stresses, however, that neither ABS nor ESP replaces winter tyres, and nor do chains: in its braking test on snow from 50 to 0 km/h, the car on winter tyres stopped after 24 m, the one on summer tyres with chains only after 34 m.
The authoritative sources are ASTRA and the law texts on Fedlex; for the wheels on your car, your cantonal road traffic office; and for insurance, your policy.
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