I have decided that I want to take a hassle-free (or as hassle free as possible) approach to buying a used car in Zurich. As such, I was pretty set on just heading to my local AMAG to view a couple of cars I have seen on their website that are within my budget. My budget is around CHF12,500. I will be paying for the car outright.


A few people have mentioned that you pay a significantly inflated price at AMAG which, from my research, looks to be true. Any recommendations for other 'dealerships' or mainstream companies with more reasonable prices than AMAG? I am not too concerned about a specific model, though small used VW (i.e. polo) / Seat (i.e. Ibiza) seems realistic for my budget.


I am not looking to buy privately as I don't fully understand the system or speak German. I have visited a few 'used car lots' on the outskirts and haven't had great experiences.


I am basically looking for a reliable place where I can turn up with the money, select a car, have somebody do most of the paperwork and I diver away shortly after. I acknowledge that I will of course pay a premium for this convenience.


Thanks!

So you'll be doing this is the middle of the week then!

It crossed my mind to re-word that. Realistically go on a Saturday to buy the car, pick it up the following weekend. Something like that.

1) Not all garages are open on Saturday
2) Use Autoscout to find cars you are interested HINT: You can filter by location
3) Visit those cars
4) Choose one - agree to buy it
5) Collect the following week

I have done this, for weeks and in quite a bit of detail. So I know they searching system fairly well. When I find something however, I tend to turn up and don't get a good feeling about the place, or the car is a dog.


Any recommendations on where I'm less likely to get ripped off by a used car salesman as an 'auslander' or should I just head to AMAG and pay what they're asking?

This topic has been done numerous times before!

Main Dealers: eg AMAG. Expensive but reassuring
Dealers: Cheaper and vary from good to terribly flakey
Mechanics: Cheaper, excellent service, very limited stock

Post up ones you like - we'll tell you how good/bad the dealer is

I'd NEVER buy from AMAG.
And I would quite likely never buy any 2nd car from any Swiss dealer/garage.

Why? I know too much and I saw how it works...

I'd rather buy from Germany, even if it can also be "technical problems", at least their prices are lower, their choice larger, and I have more trust there.

I'd look for 2nd hand car out of leasing in Germany, so far did not have big issues.

Really? That's quite a broad statement. I have been told that generally speaking the used cars sold here are expensive (compared to surrounding countries) but better spec'd and in better condition.


Buying from Germany isn't an option for me as I don't speak German and don't want to introduce even more hassle for the sake of a few thousand francs.

See is this is still available:
Hyundai i30 (2016 model) - Nidwalden

I am looking to buy from a dealership / garage.

Fortuantely for you there is usually somebody in the main German garages who payed attention during their language classes and can speak English.

I agree for a Chf 12.5k car/budget, it's probably not worth going to Germany to buy a car, but once you get over Chf 60-70k, it really does begin to make sense.

Agreed, if its that type of budget, not worse all the hassles. My 4 years ago estimations were that it's not worth it financially for less than 16K minimum.

And true, they were all speaking perfect English there.

Simply put: A garage expects to earn 5k per sale on a car, otherwise it's not worth their time. For a budget of 12.5 will you therefore be in the absolute bottom bracket for their business... if you understand that you'll also get why the sales guy might - if you are lucky - act professionally, but honestly doesn't care much about you. You'll find out latest when you'll want them to get the papers done or anything else - you won't have priority.

I'd buy privately for this budget as you will get 30% more for your money. The same 5k only make 10% on a 50k car, so there it makes sense to buy from a shop for the added safety of a much more expensive car.

But if you insist on a dealer do you have to search for the "right" car and hunt it down on autoscout.

the garages trade these cars in. if they think there is no business, then they sell them to some exporter/reseller. otherwise, they advertise them and are happy to sell.

They are also happy to wait for a year till the right idiot comes along... cause the profit is big compared to the capital invested.

That's peanuts compared to some EF members! If you want to avoid AMAG you'll want to do the same for cars on EF.

What do you know and how does that work?
Many people just give general statements without any examples or arguments.

just do a bit of research on autoscout.... it can't be that difficult. You'll understand quickly if Amag is more expensive.

Four years ago, I bought my 2nd hand car here. Friendly people, professional and quick service (I talked to Mr. Zoller at the time) - if I remember correctly I could pick up the keys less than a week after signing the papers. They were happy to do all the paperwork (I guess it's standard though...) and were hassle-free. I negotiated the price of the car and ended up paying approximately 20% less than any equivalent car on Autoscout.

No problem taking the car on a testdrive, and I even did two test drives as I wanted to have TCS looking at the car up as well (look up occasions-test on TCS). They had no problem handing over the keys twice (compared to a few horror stories on EF...).

I even got a Quality1-warranty for one year for free (not bad for a 6 year old car), and have been extending it since then on a yearly basis for a (until now) reasonable price. Not sure if I'll keep extending it this year though as the car is 10 years old. This warranty has nothing to do with this particular garage, but I can highly recommend it - I've used it a few times and they have never been picky about paying the bills.

Anyways, those were my two cents - good luck hunting and I hope this is of any help!

OP wrote: "I have visited a few 'used car lots' on the outskirts and haven't had great experiences."

Exactly my experience. Also, my budget was like yours when we bought a car last year, also paid cash. And buying something for 12.5k is not the same deal as buying something for 60k.

My recommendation: Just go to AMAG. You'll pay a premium, but it is worth is and it is totally hassle-free. (And yes, bummer, it won't be pay and drive off, you'll have to wait several days for them to register and get tags for you.)