THE PLATE THAT SMILES

There are moments in life when you realise just how differently countries operate. Take car licence plates, for instance. Here are some facts about Swiss number plates that may surprise you.

🏷️ 1. Licence Plates for Life – Like Marriage, But More Binding

In most countries, plates belong to the car. Easy. Logical. Efficient. Predictable. Switzerland looked at that idea and said: “Nein. Too easy.”

In Switzerland, your plates belong to you. Forever. You don't just register a vehicle – you enter into a lifelong relationship with two pieces of metal.

Change cars? The plates come with you. Buy a second car? You can swap the plates back and forth like a teenager deciding which outfit matches their mood.

And when you finally hang up your car keys, you can bequeath your plates to a family member, passing them down like a treasured heirloom.

I can already imagine family feuds: “He got the chalet and the Rolex, but I got the plates. Who’s the real winner now, huh?”

🕵️‍♂️ 2. Everyone Can Look You Up – And They Will

In Switzerland, privacy is sacred – unless you want to know who owns that Porsche that parked badly.

Then you simply go online, pay CHF 1, and voilà: the owner's name and hometown. It’s like a polite, digital version of knocking on someone’s door and saying,“Excuse me, sir, your parallel parking is an affront to democracy.”

Some cantons are stricter than others. Ticino says no, Fribourg says "Sure, help yourself," and Bern says "Pay a franc and keep it civil." It's the most Swiss version of public shaming ever invented.

🐮 3. Why Every Rental Car Pretends to Be From Appenzell

Appenzell. A tiny canton with more cows than people. And more licence plates than… also people.

That's because most Swiss rental cars are registered there. Low taxes, easy paperwork – it's a bureaucratic paradise.

So next time you spot an "AI" plate, don't imagine a local farmer off to milk his cows. It's probably a tourist in a panic, desperately trying to reprogram the GPS before accidentally driving into a meadow.

🧀 4. Swiss Plates: Secure Like a Cheese Grater

Despite Switzerland being the land of fortified vaults and impossible-to-crack safes, its licence plates… are basically printable.

They haven’t changed since 1971 and fakes ones can easily be ordered from abroad via the internet. The government says there’s no significant risk, but according to a spokesperson for the leading plate manufacturer in the country, when it comes to security of number plates, the Swiss are in prehistoric times.

💰 5. Number Plate Auctions: The World's Most Expensive Rectangles

In Switzerland, people spend absurd sums on “special” numbers.“ZH 24” sold for CHF 299,000 (USD 370,000). That's nearly a house. Or two, if you’re in Appenzell.

Meanwhile in Japan, special plates also exist, and they often represent lucky numbers.

Which brings me to… our car story.

🚗 Our Japanese “Lucky Plate” Moment

When we recently bought a new car, we had one simple request: please, let us keep our number – 25-25.

Why? Because 2-5-2-5 can be read as ni-ko ni-ko, which means “smile.” Our car was basically radiating good vibes every time it hit the road.

Naturally, we wanted to keep it. So, we politely requested the dealer to retain our precious Niko-Niko identity.

The big day came to pick up our new chariot. The new car gleamed in the car dealer's car park… and there it was – still wearing 25-25! What sorcery was this? Did they unscrew our old plates and reattach them in the seconds it took us to get out of our old car and walk towards the showroom? Ninja magic perhaps?

Not quite. They had simply reissued a new plate – same number, same prefecture, but a change of some other elements. Because in Japan, "keeping the number" doesn't mean keeping the plate like in Switzerland. In other words: same smile, different face.

But hey – at least no one in Japan can look me up online if I ever park slightly diagonally or block someone's driveway.