Buying Car in Switzerland

Transportation, Travel and Trips
1
Hi all,

Question about buying a car here.

- Is there any negotiation on the price if we are going to a dealer? Are there any optional extras that he can chip in to close a deal - like in other countries? So far, the dealer we went to was not having any of this as an option. Is that the way it is here?

- What are the good brands to re-sell here, looking at VW Passat Combi, Peugeot 407(appreciate comments from anybody who drives it) or a bmw 118i. What do you think of these models in terms of depreciation etc.

- What are the benefits of taking leasing? What are the catches?

Thanks for your valuable replies in advance..

Ciao

2
You can negotiate lots, especially if you go to a showroom clearout and dont choose the colour, or its options etc

Think about, free winter tyres, wheels, free service, reduction in price, trade in your old car. Get them to agree to put in your own stereo, for example.

Any new car will depreciate big time.

3
Hi

Try this company, they are a car broker and will find you really good deals. Cars from the german side of CH are generally alot cheaper than here. They will collect the car for you , do all the paper work, find you finance etc etc. Their fee comes from the garage its self, maybe a few extra costs (i dont know all the details sorry the husband dealt with this all being car stuff and all) We got our car from them and we had no problems and it was all sooooo easy.

www.autociel.ch

4
I do not agree. While you can negotiate a bit, you are generally expected to pay what the tag says (you might get some goodies extra). In other European countries I would never pay more than 80-90% of the price tag.

From my experience, which is only in the German speaking part of Switzerland, negotiating hard is unusual and culturally not really accepted. I would try to ask for an extra set of weels, or anything else you might want. If it is a new car, you can often make "service deals" as free services and maintenance...

On the value: All new cars will depreciate a lot, but (depending a bit on the color, engine, extras) in general the VWs are very stable, BMWs worse and Peugeots much worse.

5
Hi,

Thanks for your replies.

sorry I missed one point. I was looking at buying a used car from a dealer, not new one.

Is negotiation an option for used car prices(with dealers)?

Thanks,

6
So far I have bought 2 used cars from car dealerships in Switzerland (VD).

The first one: the asking price was fair (compared to other cars for sale on various websites), the dealer was not willing to reduce the price any further, but agreed to have their body shop do some work on the car to make it look as new (remove several small dents and scratches) -- it would probably have cost me approx. 1500 CHF if I would have had to pay for the body work myself.

The second one (different dealer, very recent transaction): the asking price was fair (compared to other cars for sale on various websites), they agreed to reduce to price by a further 5% + after some negotiation gave me a very fair deal on my trade-in.

In both cases, the car was fully serviced prior to delivery (in the first case they even replaced the brake discs), and was delivered with a full tank of gasoline, vignette, etc. Both came with 12 months (20k km) warranty.

So, my experience is that you can negotiate some but not a whole lot on used cars. All in all, I think I got a fair deal in both cases. It does pay to do some research and know the fair value of the used car you are interested in buying.

7
I can second the 5% on the published price of a used car (plus a service, new MFK, airco-refill, better rims and a somewhat ok price for my trade-in)... but I did not consider this really "a lot of negotiating".

8
Have a look at this thread for information about negotiating when buying a car:

Haggling in Switzerland

There's more if you search the Transportation/Driving area...

9
Thanks for all the replies.

I am also contemplating leasing instead of buying. But not sure if there are any catches involved, what a good rate is etc. Any thoughts on this would be helpful.

Cheers

10
VW and BMW are what I suggest to take French cars are fragile and never was as reliable as german. However, Passat could be expensive in maintenance because of complex construction of valvetrain. The BMW usually are more expensive just because this is BMW

Which years are you considering?

11
Mantha, What a great link, many thanks for this, just what I was looking for.

12
I have to say, having looked at the Autociel website when looking at buying a car from Germany into Switzerland, they are bl00dy expensive! You can get official Swiss cars for less, meaning a lot less hassle at insurance and MFK time.

If I were you I'd take a look on Autoscout.ch and compare prices first...

13
Thought about buying a car in one of the neighboring countries, e.g. Germany? There is more liquidity and more choice there, because the market is bigger. You can claim back the VAT (ok, only difference to the Swiss VAT) and you generally get a better price.

Besides you should care about the maintenance costs (service, spare parts, insurance, tax, fuel, parking, etc.), which is where you money would go in the long run. You can find statistics on the TCS or ADAC websites, but I wouldn't trust them too much. There is too much bias towards some car manufacturers.

14
If you buy from somewhere else I saw you have 7% charges?!!

Importing taxes or something!

15
I have had numerous BMWs. All suffered problems which meant I was always having to visit the garage. In fact my last BMW (beautiful 6-cylinder engine, 192BHP/PS, Combi/Estate) was in the garage 6 times in 2 years. All under warantee thank god.

I became so disenchanted, I sold it and - because my wife has driven them for years without any problems - bought a little Citroen Automatic (68BHP/PS). I go to work on the bike or train, so I don't drive long distances every day.

Apart from the perhaps image loss (doesn't bother me in the slightest driving a "girlies car"), the car drives simply beautifully. Not very powerful at the top end, but I rarely drive over 130kms in CH anyway - too many radars. Low end, plenty of toque out of the diesel, warms up quickly too.

The standard equipment (air conditioning, electric EVERYTHING, automatic, tiptronic, navi, cruise control, steering wheel from Star Trek) is fantastic value for money - cost far less than half of what my BMW did and has more buttons to press.

Running costs are low. It runs on less than 5L Diesel, gives out 118g co2, so fairly eco friendly. Inspection is not expensive either. I spend my last holidays in Geneve and the south of France, the car fitted in so well.

BTW. French cars are not flimsy either. On the way home last night, someone drove into back of me. Their car front (Ford) was a total write off. The citroen has been damaged, but not excessively. I was able to drive home at full speed.

I'm afraid BMW will not be on my christmas list this year, although I am toying with the idea of buying a VW GOLF though, but I just can't bare to part with my little Citroen. I've become so attached to it.

It's funny. I've never been emotionally attached to a car before. Am I sick?

16
Harry, can you please guide me with annual maintenance cost for a BMW for 3 series roughly?

I want to see whether it is affordable to buy one or not. (prices are not too much but main thing is maintenance costs i believe).

I believe u can assist me with yr past BMW experience..

Tks in advance.

Brgds

17
If you buy a new one in Switzerland, they currently have free service for 10 years or 100 000 km's ...

18
Don't be silly, it's not free, you pay up front for the servicing in the purchase price. Usually liquids (oil, etc) are charged extra, read the contract.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.....

19
Of course there isn't a free lunch... I did read the contract and yes, the liquids are charged - but calculating the service costs I had on my previous car I think it was still a good deal especially comparing prices a bit between different countries where this offer is not at hand. (and yes I know you cannot compare straight off)

20

its also an excellent way for bmw to keep your car in there dealer network, most people take there car elsewhere for servicing etc once the warantee runs out, which is just when those expensive parts main dealers love to overcharge for start to wear out. So yes the service is 'free' but any repairs arn't and that will be main dealer repair prices and main dealer hourly rates.

As for fluids, Smart charged us over £50 per litre for mobil 1 at its service, not a bad mark up when you can get it at halfords for about £10 a litre.