One benefit of being an expatriate in Switzerland is having a rented car for free on the first month of the expatriation. This is of course based on my wife's Company, I wouldn't know with other company. For the 3 weeks we had the rented car, we also looked for our future family car. With just 3 to 4 weeks to look, we visited garages near and around Vevey, asked colleagues of my wife, and scoured the internet. At the same time, we were trying to find out which car suited the needs of our family. We wanted something big, that could fit 7 persons, a reliable brand, something fit for long and frequent travels...etc., the list goes on. Finally, we decided on a Volvo SUV. It didn't come cheap. However, I did manage to find our exact type of car within our set budget, but I had to look for it outside and far from Vevey, Switzerland. Our search led me to Spreitenbach, Switzerland. They say, the farther you search outside the city, the cheaper the car gets, for used cars in this case. I have no idea if prices of brand new cars vary per canton or city.
How did we go about it...
SPACE
1) We visited nearby garages while we were still deciding on our preferred car model 2) After deciding on the brand, we plotted on a map the locations of garages that sold our preferred car model 3) We arranged one set date to visit all the garages 4) I test-drived all the cars we saw 5) By gut-feel, I chose our car.
Who were my references....
1. Comparis.ch 2. Auto Scout 24 3. Nearby Garages
Which garage did we buy from AUTOCENTER-AGhttp://www.autocenter-ag.ch/home.htmlGuterstrasse 11 8957 Spreitenbach 0564015056
Searching Tip...
1. Decide on the car you want. 2. Never settle for anything less than what you want. 3. Search 4. Test Drive