cheaper in France ... but depends on convenince... if your car has to stay in to have something fixed it may be a nightmare getting back and forth... unless they offer a replacement car (most Swiss garages do if you ask).... as with anything to do with the car.."parts" are often the cheapest piece of any invoice.

Its worth calling a couple of garages in GVA and a couple in France and asking how much for a standard service.. then you'll get a true price comparison.

Also make it clear that any extra work or extra parts required need to authorised by you.

Hello Sarah,

How did you solve this in the end?

I just got back from meeting with AMAG in Lausanne for a quote on a full service for my 6 year old VW Golf Plus. They told me that the car is now worth about CHF 7k and offered me a full service for nearly CHF 4k... (bloody cheek!)

So I'm wondering if going across the border to France (Annecy) is a good alternative idea..?

Thanks Mark V.

Yes, I'm at that stage - new timingbelt, etc...

Cheers

/M

If you do your services in France you can claim the VAT back for spare parts by getting your bill stamped at the CH customs then going to the appropriate plce in France ( the garage will tell you where dependant where you are.. probably some part of the town hall admin of the town you get your car serviced it. .. where they will stamp it too.I can't remember if they the pay you there  or you go back to the garage to be reimboursed as it is a while ago that I did this now.

To add to the above:

You will of course have to pay the CH VAT  of 8% when you have your bill stamped at the CH custms

Hi Sarah

If you decide to go for Geneva, check out Pitstop Garage in Paquis.  I had some work done there earlier this year and was really impressed by the service.  The price was also much lower that I was expecting.

Hi there,

Since I wrote the original post have moved back to Zurich - but do come to GE from time to time so will def look at Pitstop.

In the meantime have had some horror stories with AMAG - car had a leak, they charged me CHF1400 to fix it - within weeks it was damp again.  They wanted another CHF600 to fix it again (claimed it was a new leak) but my neighbour intervened and they "checked" it again for free - but in the meantime the boot had rusted shut so I had to pay CHF500 for them to fix that.  But end result is that car still leaks and the CHF1400 was for nothing - will never buy another golf again as I never want to deal with an AMAG dealer every again.

Any tips on good car dealerships where I can do a trade in?  Either GE or ZH?

Thanks for all the tips everyone

Sarah