Best way to sell your car in Switzerland

As the number one car service provider for expats in Switzerland, we often hear from expats who are leaving Switzerland and enquire whether we can sell their cars. Because we sell with re-sale in mind, cars originally sold by us sell quickly. But most regular dealers sell "unsellable" cars. Allow us to explain.

The key for a good resale is to buy the right car in the first place

This is why our experts at Autociel wisely select the cars on offer. Many people buy cheap and end up reselling very cheap, making the overall deal a bad one. Unlike Autociel, the majority of car dealers in Switzerland don't have the specific objective of selling cars that will resell quickly and hold their value. Their business model is to sell their brands and the cars they have in stock, which is understandable. Yet most cars that are in stock are hard to resell.

Consider the residual value

Autociel uses realistic residual values on leased cars, allowing a smooth return of the car, in most cases even if the car has to be returned a few months before the term of the lease. Again, most car dealers have a very different approach, with very high residual values that do not work if you leave the country when you return the car – leaving you with very high penalties to pay.

But if you're reading this, you might have bought your car already… so what about its resale now?

You can, of course, try to resell the car privately, if you have the time and energy to do so. Some cars go quickly, but most require several weeks (if not months) to sell while you have to answer people's questions, requests for viewings and test drives etc. Once you've found a buyer, you need to trust him enough to give him the car title without having received any money – or he needs to trust you enough to pay the car before he gets anything.

Timing also needs to work for both of you as he might need the car before you can give it.

So yes, it is feasible but most of the time it takes a lot of effort and most people end up selling at the same price as we would have offered for a direct purchase of their car, or lower. If your car is very recent and still worth good money, then it will be more difficult to sell privately – mostly because buyers will need financing.

Best way to sell a car

Here is what we at Autociel can do for you to make sure you re-sell your car without any hassle and at a fair price. 

• We offer the consignment sale service: we pick up your car, put it on sale, take care of all the de-registration and other admin, arrange viewings and test drives and arrange financing.

• Once the car sells, we wire the money back to you – wherever you are around the globe.

• As a professional car dealer, Autociel can also resell a bit higher than you can manage privately. This way you are not under time pressure and you can re-sell the car at the right price.

Not actually interested in selling your car?

Autociel can help buy or lease a car or import your car, if that's the case. Have a look at these services as well: 

Buy or lease a car

Import my car