And if you do buy in AMAG add few more hundreds for "Ablieferungpauschale", the cost of preparing the car for you and doing all the registration work. I tried to negotiate the price down in my case (which was 500CHF) but with no luck. Maybe I have poor negotiation skills.

The garage in your link is in canton Aargau. I also know of several garages in this canton where I have and would recommend buying a used car and where English is spoken. I do not know of any garages in Zurich to recommend. Buying a car in one canton and registering it in another canton is not that difficult.

Exactly. It's not far from the closest train station and I had no problem at all registering in in canton ZH even though the car at the time was in AG.

Now that you mentioned it, the car seller did not speak English, but we managed in a mix of German and English to handle things.

That was intended. Because that's my own conclusions after years of observations, enough experiences and many many days with numerous car dealers and mechanics in Switzerland, and abroad.

As I usually say, "blessed are the ignorants", if you are happy to part with 12K Chf and have confidence in your generously overinflated priced car, then everything is ok. I was unfortunate enough to know how it works and i'm not interested.

In the end the advice for a car is:
1) How comfortable/safe/nice is it
2) How much it costs (which implies duration, fuel consumption, devaluation and nb of repairS + cost in the time you want to keep it).

I found amag had a terrible 2), imho.

Also I hate their seller's attitude, the arrogance and dumb things I heard from them to justify their inflated price. Having said that they are not exclusive with that in Switzerland, I found in Germany some of them were less inventing, more knowledgeable and their prices better compare to market.

By the way you should see how easy it is to make a car in bad state look new with 1-2 hours of products, "smell like new spray", and the likes.
So unless you are mechanically capable of inspecting a car, it's easy to get fooled.

I'm really not trying to convince you out, it's your money, your time, your choice. I know what I would do, and probably I would never listened myself without having been burned a few times, that's how it is...

That's the type of things also which makes me mad, you pay a "service" for basics (Mind you, nobody is forcing you to accept, it's just I find almost inappropriate to offer such a crappy action at such an inflated price).

My colleague accepted dumbly to have them "prepare" the car which was the fuel tank + the plates for several hundreds francs. Something which costs much less and is rather easy to do especially when already registered in automobile office.

He accepted because they insisted, and it even delayed taking back the car by almost 10 days. That's the type of things I'd never do.

In the end they did not even clean the car well, left dirt in the boot and below the boot carpet was some leaking liquid, he had to bring it back.

Few weeks later, he had to repair the exhaust abroad because it almost felt out. Luckily abroad does not cost an arm to repair a basic part.

When asked, the seller was inventing functionalities that the car did not even have.
(BTW it's is a 2nd hand car, paid for 18K)
Funny I had been to the same seller, and I asked it that was the latest model of the car, he told me it was. Of course I know it was not, so I told him back and I left the place after checking the cars I wanted.

Bottom line, like I said, unless you are ready to be ignorant and part with money, you must be knowledgeable or come with someone who is.

An alternative is to buy new:

Just two gray importers with lower than usual prices
http://www.neueautos.ch/
http://www.hesoauto.ch/
There are many mores.

PS: At least the later has no "Ablieferungpauschale". On the other hand the tank is nearly empty. If requested they deliver it on a truck anywhere in Switzerland for just CHF 300.

Some people, evidently, are no knowledgeable in every subject or may not know somebody who is. Therefore it looks like I will have to be "ignorant and part with money".


It must be an easy life being perfect!

It is always like this in life. Even for simple things: Do not know how to hang up a lamp? Pay for it. Or learn it.

You learn the best from your own mistakes. Also good is to learn from other people's mistake. It is much less stressful but not always as rememberable as your very own experiences. So either be prepared for this mistakes or simply do not care. It is not a simple life to be perfect because the way to perfection is through a series of disgusts. On the other hand ignorance is bliss but bliss comes with a price tag.

__________________
"Okay, I just hope we don't wake up on Mars or something surrounded by millions of little squashy guys."

It's that sort of attitude which leads to the withdrawal of help.

I bought mine here: http://www.auto-schiess.ch/
Hassle free with very competetive prices (they have lods of improrts). It's a big dealer they have 100's of cars on their 'platz'

The long and short of buying a used car from a dealer is you 'lose' about CHF6k in the first year, which is 4k dealer markup and 2k depreciation.
So the 12k car has a value of maybe chf6-7k this time next year, if it's sold.

I had this happen to me once when i was buying a big Mercedes, well over Chf 140k and i saw Chf 490.-- on the invoice given with the contract and asked about it.

The guy said it was for a full tank, highway sticker and cleaning, so i said, ok for Chf 100 for petrol, Chf 40 for the sticker but why the other Chf 350.-- ? He replied it was for cleaning to which i said, well, the car is new so why should i pay to have it cleaned ?

He insisted it was normal and everybody did this and punters paid up.....

I took the contract (unsigned and with full understanding on both sides only a written signed contract was binding) and tore it up saying he would have plenty of time to reflect about a paltry Chf 350.-- cleaning cost on an expensive car.

Just to add salt, i used to fill up a BMW M5 that i subsequently bought every week at his garage and i used to make sure i saw him at least once per month.

Funny or what

Assuming an E60/1, I have fixed your statement

I told my seller that I would like to take the registration and admin stuff on my own and I'd like him to lower the price. He said that the price will stay the same regardless of what I do. I wasn't prepared enough to fight with that.

That http://www.auto-schiess.ch/ has a few cars sub 12k.
Punto, Fiesta and Fiat 500.
For that kind of dosh I'd go new and get the warranty rather than a 2 year old from AMAG.

I don't speak German either, but it's surprising how well I am understood when I'm spending money.

Why bother ? Tell him the price you willing to pay for the car and the level of service required and take it from their.

Walk away, plenty of used cars sub Chf 12k in Switzerland, buy a Dacia they are around this price i believe.

I heard of a 90BHP VW Polo, new being sold in Geneva today at about Chf 15k from Arcasia or something similar, sounded like a VW dealer anyway.

I'm not the OP. I already bought my car and learned my lesson the hard way

From the way the post is written I'm guessing the OP isn't a car nut so I totally agree with the above statement. There are currently loads of imported Puntos around at under 9k, and even a Fiat dealer will sell you one for a fraction over 10k. They're spacious, reasonable to drive and fairly well equipped so that's where my money would go.

We looked and looked on Autoscout for months, ended up going to Amag. That 350 chuffs, not negotiable it seems. While I wouldnt describe the service as overly friendly, it was ruthlessly effecient and the price was the price. What was a plus was the good finance terms, very low kilometers on the car and a set of brand new summer tyres (without rims) thrown in as a after thought. Also peace of mind with full guarantee on everything, with a possibility of extending it beyond 12 months. We looked at Schiess, same prices but they didn't have the model we wanted with higher interest rates. But if you are paying cash for a car then I guess it is a different story.

New cars right now are really cheap, used cars are quite expensive, and garages charge a lot for servicing and repair. For that reason I'd buy a new car with a 12.5k budget unless your specific needs mean that nothing in that price range is suitable.

Below are a few I'd consider, there are smaller cars too but these are all a useful size, with the exception of the Fiat 500 which is a more interesting choice if you don't need the space. You could also look at a Hyundai i10, Citroen C1 or VW Up. In fact the only ones I'd actively avoid are the Mitsubishi Space Star and Nissan Micra, both of which are Asian market budget cars and even compared to the 11 year old design of the Punto feel cheap and nasty.

http://www.adu.ch/Fiat_Punto_12_Street.v94580.html

http://www.adu.ch/Fiat_500_12_Lounge.v94353.html

www.autoscout24.ch/4338933 - cheaper Punto

www.autoscout24.ch/4522905 - nice spec Dacia Sandero

www.autoscout24.ch/4533983 - Fiesta

www.autoscout24.ch/4393867 - Hyundai i20

www.autoscout24.ch/4552112 - Dacia Logan estate (if you need more space)

I'd struggle to look past the Punto given how cheap it is but otherwise it'd be the Fiesta or 500 for me.