Getting inspired 
How much do you pay for an oil and oil filter change?
Okay, going to lead by example. I ended up paying 266 after getting quotes from about 4 shops.
No idea if thatâs high or low, though it seems high to me considering the cost of materials and the time it supposedly takes.
I mean in general small jobs are expensive, since it isnât worth the service providers time, so the quoted price will be higher. Maybe they also have to let the car/oil cool down, resulting in waiting time. To me, 266 seems on the expensive side, but depends on the garage (official dealers, independent etc.). Some garages also only use expensive oil recommended by the manufacturer so that can add to the cost.
I would expect a price in the range of 150 to 300. As a reference, a simple tyre change costs around 100, with a range of 75 to 150 I would say.
In Germany you pay like 100⏠
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The olâ geo-arbitrage as @Wolverine put it
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I do all car maintenance in Spain where I spend much time. Switzerland is factor 10-20 more expensive, I donât understand exactly why, because the hourly rate is only 5 times higher in Switzerland (30 Euro compared with CHF 150). But then the mechanic is a friend of mine. He often does not charge me at all for smaller things, then I pay the âalmuerzoâ (but then the next time he paysâŠ).
My car, a Seat, is 21 years old and runs like new. In Switzerland I would pay way too much for maintenance, no wonder everybody drives new cars here. It is normal that after more than two decades there are some parts that need changing, did the brakes a few years ago and the electronics (central unit, sensors, ventilators) this winter. In Switzerland the costs would be like 5 times the value of the car, in Spain I paid EUR 400, including new parts with two years of warranty.
Just drove 1600 km from Spain to Switzerland. The new electronics do their job, never spent less diesel than this time. The car has only 210â000 km and the mechanic says it will go to a million. And if I want to sell it I should sell it to him. (Not a good idea because of the import tax to Spain from non-EU countries).
BTW: only drove to Switzerland for ITV (Strassenverkehrsamt). Now, adding the costs of this travel it is still way cheaper than to do maintenance in Switzerland and usually I take a few days for culinary stops in France. The inspections are like 16 months later than mandatory now, too much work and they call cars that were sold/bought first.
So for example if something (from car maintenance perspective) in Switzerland costs 1000 CHF, in Spain it would cost 50 - 100 Euro?
That sounds weird.
Sounds weird and is weird. But then you have to see the minimum wage in Spain is < EUR 1200 and half of the workforce makes exactly that. Even professionals with very high salary often donât make more than 1800 per month. After tax there is almost nothing left, Spain is a tax hell.
So I suppose it is a mix of acquisition power and lower wages, lower rents and so on. They charge what people can pay. And of course I am lucky to have a friend in this fieldâŠ
50-100 Euros compared with CHF 1â000 may be accurate in some situations, especially if you have a car that is common in Spain. 100 Euros compared with CHF 500 for the same job is normal.
If you move away a bit from tourist destinations Spain is dirt cheap. The hard part is to find a professional with some knowhow. Switzerland is unique in this aspect with the apprenticeship system.
Which is only possible since the labor costs seem super low. Quality spareparts (including oil) for automotive have comparable prices in all of Europe (buying price, not customer price).
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Actually I think I got only charged the parts. My friend the mechanic said it was his fault to not find the problem last time (which is nonsense). With the defective central unit the computer analysis (yes that car from 2004 has that) did not work correctly.
I paid the almuerzo, 2 hours of eat and drink for another Euro 30 for both of us.
That. My annual car service (2020 car) cost 150EUR in Greece, and itâs ~CHF450-500 in CH.
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I used to do this in Switzerland; now, with my current car, I drive to France. Itâs half the price (yes, Emil Frey, I am writing about the CHF 750 you charged me for an oil change, new filters and brake fluid). Itâs not even a mechanic; itâs the car brand dealership, and I can still keep the warranty.
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I have a VW Tiguan (2019) and recently did an oil change close to the border in Germany. It cost about 160 euros including labour and oil. I have an impression that the prices in Germany close to the Swiss border are inflated due to the Swiss customers.
Of course they are.
But still more or less half of what the same service costs in CH.
(I do my car stuff across the border too, and side-use the trip to meetup with friends alongside it, so less of a hassle 1-2 times/year)
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Well, all these answers involve either going abroad or asking a mechanic friend to do it cheaply. Returning to the topic, the cheapest option is to do it yourself. There are many car lifts for rent in the Zurich area, so you wonât need to lift the car manually with a jack. Changing the oil, oil filter and air filter is very easy. Rent-a-car-lift shops offer all the necessary tools included in the hourly rental price.
Even brakes, cabin filters (depending on the car model, these are not very easy to access), auxiliary belts, water pumps or alternators (basically anything that can be done without opening the engine) can be done in a day or less if an experienced mechanic friend can help you.
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I do it myself. And buy the oil abroad or online. Parts are not mega expensive in Switzerland but shipping is usually 20-30 CHF at least. There is no competition in this market (by the way autodoc is doing an ipo). Consumables like Oil and Batteries are crazy expensive in Switzerland if you are not careful.
I do less and less myself as my family complains about it although it really doesnt take much time).
A radiator that would have cost me 50chf and 1 or 2 hours cost me 1000 chf at the garage.
Sometimes I also let the garage do small jobs like change wheels, change fluids etc. because of lack of time.
But regular maintenance (oil, filters and spark plugs) i do myself.
I havenât done anything abroad in >10 years.
Any tips for tires ? not really willing to drive abroad for this. It only seems to be 2x the price for tires online ? and probably 2x as well for mounting them
Actually not true: I went to Feu Vert in France 5 years ago and got robbed (they did not install the parts that I gave them but charged me for it. It created huge MFK issues thereafter. It was quite difficult to get a garage to install parts bought online in France so I would advise against it. It seems easier in Switzerland although the mark up they have on parts is even higher!)
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reifendirekt.ch
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pneuwirbel.ch (for me last 3 orders no issues and cheap, next day delivered)
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Big surprise for me yesterday: Nissan pickup big service with belts, all filters and clima etc. 550⏠in Italy. Last time in CH 890chf for the small service. I planned for 1000 or so.
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By the way, a nice thing about doing the service in Italy (not sure how it works in other countries, might be similar) is that you can avoid paying Italian VAT directly, without the usual hoops of invoices, stamps and reimbursement - the fact that the car has a non-EU plate is sufficient to assume that it will be exported outside of EU.
And remember the total cost of repairs, both labor and raw parts (but not the raw cost of fluids, such as oil - go figure!) counts to the total value of your imports at Swiss customs, so you might end up needing to pay Swiss VAT on that and other items you are carrying. This was easily avoidable with the 300 chf limit, but now with 150 chf - not so trivial anymore. Not that the 8% will change the equation significantly of how much you save by going abroad
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