- What Is Leasing?
- Leasing With or Without a Down Payment – What’s the Difference?
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Leasing Without a Down Payment
- Total Costs: What Expenses Are Added to the Leasing Instalment?
- Comparison: Leasing With vs. Without a Down Payment
- Car Subscription: Your Alternative to Leasing
- Conclusion
Are you currently looking for a new car and wondering whether leasing without a down payment might be right for you? Perhaps you are unsure whether you want to make an upfront payment at the start of the lease or prefer to avoid a one-off initial contribution.
In this article, you will find a comprehensive overview of what leasing without a down payment means in Switzerland, how it works, and the advantages and disadvantages of this option.
We also compare leasing with and without a down payment and show how both variants affect the monthly instalment and the total costs.
What Is Leasing?
Before deciding whether to lease a car with or without a down payment, it is helpful to understand what leasing actually is and how it works. You can find all essential information about leasing and what to consider here.
Leasing With or Without a Down Payment – What’s the Difference?
Leasing With a Down Payment
With leasing with a down payment, you make a one-off upfront payment at the beginning of the contract, often referred to as a special payment. This reduces the amount that needs to be financed, which in turn lowers the monthly leasing instalments. The down payment is often defined as a percentage of the car’s value.
Leasing with a down payment is usually cheaper overall, as you are borrowing less money. The smaller the financed amount, the lower the total interest costs.
Example:
Car value: CHF 30,000
Lease term: 36 months
Without a down payment: You finance the full CHF 30,000. Interest is calculated on the entire amount, resulting in higher monthly instalments.
With a down payment of CHF 6,000: You only finance CHF 24,000. This leads to lower monthly instalments and less total interest, as the financed amount is smaller.
As this shows, a down payment reduces not only the monthly instalment, but also the overall cost.
Leasing Without a Down Payment
With leasing without a down payment, no upfront payment is required when the contract begins. The total cost is spread across the entire lease term, which results in higher monthly instalments. In return, you do not need to provide a large amount of money at the outset.
This option is particularly attractive for people with a limited starting budget or temporary liquidity constraints. In some cases, however, a down payment may still be required – for example, for high-value cars or as a security deposit.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Leasing Without a Down Payment
Advantages
No capital commitment: You do not need to tie up a large sum of money at the start of the lease.
Greater flexibility: Your available budget remains free for other purposes.
Liquidity-friendly: Ideal if maintaining cash flow is important to you.
Disadvantages
Higher monthly instalments: As no down payment is made, the full amount is spread across the monthly payments.
Higher total costs: The financed amount is larger, which increases the interest component (unless a 0% leasing offer applies).
Greater interest burden: Particularly relevant for finance leases, where interest can significantly increase total costs.
Total Costs: What Expenses Are Added to the Leasing Instalment?
In addition to the monthly leasing instalment, there are further ongoing costs – regardless of whether you choose leasing with or without a down payment:
Fully comprehensive insurance
Registration and taxes
Tyres and tyre changes
Service, maintenance, and repairs
Potential return costs (e.g. damage charges)
These costs vary depending on the car model and equipment. Insurance costs, in particular, can differ significantly between new and used cars.
You can find out how to calculate the total cost of leasing and what to watch out for here.
Comparison: Leasing With vs. Without a Down Payment
When making your decision, it is worth carefully comparing personal liquidity, interest rates, and the overall financial burden.
Car Subscription: Your Alternative to Leasing
While leasing is one way to drive a new or used car, Carvolution offers an even more flexible and transparent alternative with its car subscription.
With a car subscription, you can decide whether you want to include a down payment or not, entirely based on your personal preferences. As with leasing, making a down payment can reduce the total cost.
The key difference is that with traditional leasing, many additional costs are charged separately – including insurance, registration and taxes, tyres, maintenance, and servicing. With a car subscription, all these services are already included in the monthly rate. This gives you full cost transparency and allows for reliable budgeting without hidden fees.
You can also easily compare the total monthly costs of a car subscription with those of a leasing contract. Simply choose your preferred car, configure your subscription, and receive a clear and transparent cost overview – so you can make a well-informed decision at any time.
Conclusion
Whether leasing without a down payment is right for you depends on your budget and desired financial flexibility. If you prefer not to invest a large amount at the start, this option offers clear advantages – although it comes with higher monthly costs.
A detailed comparison of total costs, included services, and alternatives such as car subscriptions will help you find the solution that suits you best. In Switzerland, factors such as choosing a new or used car, the contract duration, and the annual mileage can significantly influence the monthly instalment. With a car subscription, however, you always have full cost visibility.
Carvolution is happy to support you with no-obligation advice.
Sale
Benefit from attractive discounts on selected vehicles. Everything is included in the subscription, and a buyout is possible at the end!
