Buying a car, the most important facts in brief

Buying a car: How does it work?

If you want to buy a car, there are a few things to consider. First of all, you should think about how long you want to drive your car. From a financial point of view, buying a car is usually only worthwhile if it has a useful life of around 6-8 years. This is because depreciation is particularly high in the first few years. In addition to depreciation, it is important to budget for more than just the purchase price when buying a car, because in addition to the purchase price, you also have to pay for everything related to the car. This includes insurance, service and maintenance, cantonal taxes and tyres.

When buying a car, you can choose from an almost unlimited selection and configure it yourself, i.e. find exactly what you are looking for, as long as it fits your budget. However, you are bound by this decision, because if you sell the car after a few years, you often end up with a high depreciation charge. If your needs change, you can sell your car again, but this usually involves a lot of time and money, as the car loses a lot of its value after only a short period of use. In general, the time involved in buying a car should not be neglected, as all administrative tasks from insurance to registration, repairs and tyre changes have to be organised and paid for by yourself.

One advantage of buying a car is that you are the owner. This means that you have the freedom to design and modify your car according to your own wishes. At the same time, you have no kilometre limits or other restrictions, such as driving abroad or whether animals can be taken along, for example. You also save money in the long term. So if you drive your car for 6 years or more, the purchase is worthwhile in most cases. The only thing to bear in mind is that increased mileage or heavy wear and tear will reduce the resale value.

On the other hand, the high purchase costs and high and sometimes uncertain running costs such as insurance, maintenance and repairs are disadvantageous. These costs are spread over the year and are therefore often underestimated or forgotten altogether. In addition to the running costs, the loss in value should not be neglected. This is because you bear the loss in value and thus also the resale risk of the car you have bought yourself. If you want to resell your car at a later date, this can sometimes prove to be very troublesome.