Luther
I will move with my family from England to Lausanne area by the end of Next April. One need is a new car, at this stage the new X5 is my preferred choice.I was keen to buy but now I am reconsidering leasing. Any opinion/experience? Thanks
On the whole the Swiss lease cars a lot. Due to the low interest, (From 0% to about 4.5%) Leasing does not cost much more than hire purchase, just with lower monthly payments, but a balloon payment at the end. Leasing in Switzerland does not include insurance etc.
I am currently leasing two BMWs, an X5 and an M2 and am very happy with the arrangements. Do check with the company that you are joining as many companies have fleet discounts with car companies. My discount is between 20-30% on most of the luxury brands, which makes a huge difference. Even if this is not the case, that level of discount could be had with in stock cars. (I often see that with the stock at my local BMW dealership)
So in short, there is not much difference in buying as opposed to leasing, apart from your personal liquidity.
Now I know why there's so much traffic here.
I would only lease if you are sure that you are in Switzerland until the end of the lease.
If the reason for leasing is not being able or willing to put up all the money at once you should also look into taking a normal bank loan for the purchase. Depending on the situation this might be the cheaper solution and it allows more freedom as of day one.
And avoid such financial obligations as long as you are in your trial period (if any)
When getting a new car even if asked, discuss nothing but price first.
Only after final price has been determined, then negotiate how it will be payed for.
Normally leasing affects the final sales price.
But this can vary greatly or not even vary depending on dealer, make and or model.
Small point, insurance for a leased car is more expensive.
Much more expensive. You need full insurance for the whole duration of the leasing.
As a special bonus you get the Swiss prices for the car you lease, which is around 2x what you would pay in a neighboring country.
Skoda is about the same, or slightly cheaper in CH like for like
And if he buys directly instead of leasing he does not need a Swiss insurance???
If you own the car you only need the compulsory insurance, which is I would say one third or less from the cost of the full insurance. The technical inspection and oil change can also be done in a non-dealer service, ideally just across the border.
Still a Swiss insurance
However I'd say it is smart to insure a car which is new for its actual replacement value in case of theft and such instead of only for damages caused to others which in such case makes no diff compared to what the leasing company would demand. However if OP has the money to spare and could live with the loss of the car due to an accident or theft and not getting a dime back for it than he could take the minimum insurance.
More like 1/10th or less.
Oil change can be done anywhere, leased or not.
Technical inspection must be done at the cantonal inspection station, or sometimes at TCS, but NEVER across the border!
Tom
I knew it is expensive, but no so expensive.
With the inspection I mean the periodical maintenance, not the cantonal thing.
Interested to hear what the EF community thinks of this.
(not the ad but the concept)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...t-buy-this-car
Seems to almost make sense, given it's a brand new car, with all the services, insurances, and even tyre changes covered.
What's your take on it?
It's hassle free for you, but hassle free always comes with a price. I fail to see how this would be cheaper than just paying for the car yourself.
€498,- a month sounds nice if you can prescribe for only a short period, but I have the feeling this is the cheapest price so to be expected for the longest possible subscription period (and I expect a limit on the km's). The article does not mention it, but if this would be for example 5 yrs you paid €29.880,- for the base model XC40 and in the end have nothing left to sell. This is slightly less than the cheapest new XC40 available here.
It looks similar to leasing. A kind of leasing plus. As we know the "plus" comes at a cost.
I do agree with you, however just putting some current numbers of mine down:
My 2015 Mazda3's costs (with 3000 downpayment and pretty low leasing rate), including road tax, full kasko insurance, tyre changes etc. sum up to cca. 440CHF.
And I still do not own it either after 3 years leasing.
Thus since this would be a brand new vehicle with all things covered, for cca. 500€ (cheapest model/trim though), it might come out as a viable option for "no-ownership-obligatory" younger generations.
That's without reading all the fine print for now.
@EdwinNL: Good point, I agree, lowest price probably stated as for the longest subscription period (as usual in marketing).
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I was more aiming to discuss on the strategy rather than actual prices.
Currently only Volvo seems to offer this model (or at least marketing it this way) - I wonder if it's going to live or flop, to see if other manufacturers start with it too.