Not many are so high any more…at 0.70 they are indeed subsidizing your car. 0.50cts / km in my opinion isnt a bad compromise… remember they need to amortise their car… so they need to make money. Fair is not necessarily what its actually worth if you want to calculate your own rate.
Edit:
Sorry to hear about the bad luck. This is my point about choosing the car not only for resale value but reliability … major breakdowns after 3 years driving is not normal…shouldnt be anyway.
A car usually costs 500-600 CHF per month, all things included (car depreciation, taxes, insurance, gas, price after resale etc).
They are amortizing their investment…they wont stop using the car to rent, just like a taxi wont stop driving until repairs start to be an issues. They are banking on the reliability of the car out lasting its sex appeal so the avg chf/km over the life of the car is below what the offer you. Plus, they arent paying the same for the cars probably either…like mobile homes. Buy 10 get one free. 
The 50-60k will be paid off in a few years (regardless of the km) and they will be able to use the same car 2 years more before selling it for even more profit (even if high km)…remember the car wont mind highway km as much as urban km. 
This i agree with 100% … not worth buying for 1 major trip a year.
Edit: sorry i should reply all at once to avoid too many posts 
Shit happens 
It was a used one but in general in good condition. Sometimes one just has bad luck. What happened is actually a known problem (Wild Motoren is under construction). So be careful if you buy a car with that engine. For me it was an Octavia.
I probably wouldn’t buy from Volkswagen again, but then you can have bad luck with any brand.
I used to have my own car a couple of years ago. They were very cheap, in the 250-1200 CHF range. Always sold them 2 years later when the next MFK check would be.
Now I think it’s just not a frugal thing to have a car at all. I pay 1430 CHF per year for public transport and that’s it.
If I ever buy a car, it would be a Tesla for sure.
I had the same issue with my wife’s Skoda Yeti (1.8 TSI). After 100k kms I had to change the engine, total bill ca. 6k CHF…
Many things are not frugal. Like living alone instead of in a WG, traveling, eating out, having an expensive hobby. But these are the things that bring comfort and joy in life.
We could discuss what would be an acceptable percentage of income/wealth, that could be annually spent on a car. E.g. my net income is over 10k/month (or 100/h) and my NW is nearing 1m. Should I still be looking at Flixbus rides to Poland, used Dacias, or $22 Wizzair flights from Basel (first take a train to Basel, then a bus to Mulhouse, then again a train & bus from Warsaw)?
Only you can and should decide that. My financial situation is similar to yours and I’d look at Flixbus (but would end up flying from Zurich). But that doesn’t mean you should do so too. You are in a frugalist forum, so you get frugal recommendations.
In my opinion, you are fine as long as you are happy with your choices and accept the tradeoffs.
I’m sorry but I can’t respect this logic. The closest Flixbus connection is from Frankfurt, so let’s for a moment imagine Zurich is Frankfurt.
30 hours travel time for 95 EUR and this is frugal to you. You should not only be frugal with your money but also with your time. Going for this option is just bizarre unless you’re broke. But that’s just my opinion 
Frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the consumption of consumable resources such as food, time or money
You are right. I didn’t know that. I actually never used Flixbus. I meant it more as a synonym for “Bus-Company”. When I went to Poland (it’s actually great for rock climbing between Krakow/Katowice) I always took the plane.
There’s actually an MMM-Article related to this: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/13/domestic-outsourcing-practical-or-wussypants/
Not that it changes anything, but Basel should be connected to Warszawa by a few bus lines.
I think that’s oversimplified. The time might not be lost. Maybe you wanted to go for a little walk/bike ride anyway. Also time in a bus is probably not completely lost as you could read a book. When driving a car you can listen to an audiobook.
Sure it is. Naval’s thinking is to be understood in the context of opportunity costs by having your own value in mind, i.e. how much you can earn (not just in money) by not doing a certain activity that might seem like a savings initially.
That’s why I would never clean my house if I could work an extra hour as a freelancer (25chf vs 100chf), or why I never sell clothes for 5chf (tutti or similar) that I would have to picture, add, pack and take to the post, but would rather give them to the red cross (container under my house)
Not really in Switzerland I have the feeling; maybe I exgagerate but I got the feeling with very few exceptions, all cars older than 10 years, or with more than 120k driven are worth CHF 1000 and get exported.
Not exagerated at all. Been there done that with my last car. 10 years is even generous I think in Switzerland, older is the minority …as soon as you reach the residual value you can sell for 1000chf and they export or transition to a taxi (more than insurance will give you if you crash it)
1000% agreed. Even when that decision is to rest, recharge or reward. I would go bonkers to try to save 100chf rather than spend the day with my kids or even like you mentioned, read a book. The value of your time is not only monetary but health. (i.e. I will take a more expensive intercontinental direct flight rather than 1-2 stopovers in a heartbeat…the difference in price would need to be significant not too warrant literally 2x half days lost of my vacation)
I totally agree with what you said after this : “…as you are happy with your choices and accept the tradeoffs…” but I think the best part of this Mustachian forum (not a “frugalist forum”) is not being restricted to a single definition of how to “.…reach financial freedom in order to pursue his/her own aspirations without having to depend on active work to live”.
Being strictly frugal is only one means to accelerate an end which is defined on a ) your personal goals for FIRE b) your current income. Once your savings rate meets your FIRE goals, I personally focus on investing time like @SwissTeslaBull…everyone’s (a) and (b) is unique, but 24hrs in a day for everyone.
(i.e. I’m “frugal” with my car and a lot of other things, but I won’t hesitate to travel and have a separate fund for this budgeted into my FIRE goals…when travel used to be possible that is )
did anyone made a calculation when it is worth getting a car (vs mobility) ? what would be the criteria for the calculation ? (nb of km per year ? age of the car ? nb of ppl using the car ?) - Could you share, if so ? I have a car, with low occupation rate, and seriously wonder if it would not be more cost effective to sell it and use mobility (or equivalent - I live in Geneva) instead. Thank you !
You could do this calculation yourself and share with us to check it. At best keep the number of km as a parameter. Then you can draw a chart and see at which point ownership becomes cheaper.
Thanks. I know I can do it 
I am not fan of reinventing the wheel. If someone has a methodology/example and can share, that will be highly appreciated.