Car loan calculator Switzerland

Hi. I am looking for a tool for calculating car loans. Is there a tool like this in Switzerland?

Hi there,

Swiss lenders generally do not differentiate between car loans and other personal loans. You can easily find and compare personal loans based on your criteria using the moneyland.ch personal loan comparison.

Important: Only loans between CHF 500 and CHF 80,000 are regulated by Swiss consumer credit laws which stipulate a maximum interest rate of 10% and guarantee the right to early settlement without penalties. If you borrow more than CHF 80,000 using a single loan, you should pay careful attention to interest rates, terms and conditions.

Best regards from Moneyguru

More on this topic:
Personal loans: Eligibility requirements
Personal loans: Useful tips
Personal loans: Tax deductions
Personal loans: Mistakes to avoid

What is your take on Carvolution? Can getting a car this way be cheaper than buying or getting a car loan?

Good question. My initial assumption is that a long-term car rental (even when branded as a car plan) would be more expensive than buying in cash. This question got me thinking, so I decided to do the math and

Carvolution charges 499 francs per month for a Seat Ibiza. Seat recommends 20,950 francs as the cash price for the Ibiza.

So you are paying around 2.4% of the car's purchase price per month to rent it. That isn't a bad rate for a rental, but at that rate you would buy the car in 42 months. That's 3-and-a-half years.

If you bought the car instead, you would repay your investment in relation to renting in 3-and-a-half years. After that, you could sell the car for around 40% of its value, pessimistically assuming a 20% annual value loss. That's around 8,300 francs that you get back.

So you only pay 12,650 francs to have the car those 3-and-a-half years as opposed to over 20,950 francs with the Carvolution plan.

BUT, Carvolution also covers insurance and road taxes, and even delivers the car for longer-term rentals. That saves you money and time.

A full car insurance for that car with 0 deductible for liability and comprehensive and 1,000 francs deductible for collision (the same conditions you get with Carvolution) cost around 1,000 francs per year. So that's 3,500 francs you have to minus from the 8,300 francs saved by buying the car in cash, taking the benefit down to 4,800 francs.

Road taxes for that car are around 140 francs per year (in canton Zürich), plus another 50 for the highway sticker. So that's 190 francs per year or 665 francs total over the 3-and-a-half-years. So that takes the buying advantage down to 4,135 francs.

A major car service cost around 400 francs. If you do one every year that's 1,600 francs. So the buying advantage is down to 2,535 francs.

Then as an owner you have the cost of winter tyres, including changing them each season. At the best price around, a set of winter tyres will cost you around 300 francs. Changing tyres will cost you around 80 francs in the best case, so 320 francs for 4 seasonal changes. That knocks another 620 francs off your cash purchase advantage, bringing it down to 1,915 francs.

So yes, buying the car straight out in cash does work out cheaper, if you have the cash. Almost 2,000 francs cheaper!

If you do not have the cash and need to get a loan, the loan will cost you around 1,850 francs in the best case, according to this: https://www.moneyland.ch/en/personal-loan-comparison

So if you don't have the cash to buy straight out, you actually come out just as cheap with Carvolution, from my calculations. And you have a lot less hassles. I certainly wouldn't have thought. Not at all bad for what amounts to a car rental service.

If I got my math mixed up or missed something, feel free to ball me out here.