AMAG Leasing Review
What do we like about AMAG Leasing?
- Broad choice of cars from the VW-Group
- Leasing Budget Calculator
- Many partnered service centres
- Opportunity to reduce interest rates with service packages
- Heavily customisable All-inclusive Packages
What could AMAG Leasing improve?
- No direct Check-out, need to wait for a quote
- Complicated, at times confusing website
- Lack of transparency with residual values and leasing rates
Positive and Negative Points of AMAG Leasing
| Positive | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Offers | Leasing: Availability of a selectable all-inclusive offer with three packages, leasing interest rate is reduced by selecting one of the packages. Vehicles: VW commercial vehicles, choice of complete VW Group range. | Leasing: Entry-level all-inclusive offers are limited to maintenance and service work only, but do not include insurance (essential for operating a vehicle) and warranty. Vehicles: VW Group vehicles only (captive leasing bank) |
| Website | Sleek, Informative (e.g. info videos) | Clinical, lacking emotion, partly not intuitive |
| Process | Real-time adjustment of an assumed leasing rate, leasing budget calculator | Easy to get lost No guarantee of actual leasing rates, needs a quote |
| Interest rates | Adjusted to vehicle and service package 0.9 - 5.49% | Residual values are nowhere clearly visible |
Your Questions about AMAG Leasing, answered!
- Who are AMAG?
- What is AMAG Leasing?
- Which cars does AMAG Leasing offer?
- How can you get a lease with AMAG Leasing?
- What’s the AMAG Leasing Website like?
- How does the Leasing Budget Calculator on AMAG Leasing work?
- How do you get in touch with an AMAG representative?
- What are AMAG Leasing’s monthly rates and interest rates?
- Does AMAG Leasing offer additional services?
- What’s LeasingPLUS?
- Does AMAG Leasing offer Insurance?
- What is the Benefit of the autoSense App?
- AMAG Experiences: What do customers say about AMAG Leasing?
- Positive and Negative Points of AMAG Leasing
- AMAG Leasing compared to gowago.ch
- Conclusion: How does AMAG Leasing do in our test?
If you want to lease a vehicle produced by the Volkswagen Group, an experience with AMAG leasing is almost unavoidable. The leasing branch of the Swiss importer for VW, Audi, Seat, and Škoda offers its leasing either online via amag-leasing.ch or through one of their 82 partner garages throughout Switzerland.
The new and used cars the company offers can be browsed through its website by using a variety of search options. For new cars, it is additionally possible to select different engines and trim levels for the vehicle in question.
The broad selection on the website also makes it somewhat complex. Because each variant of a car has its own dedicated landing page, it is easy to get lost in the maze of different trim levels and engine versions. The nominal interest rates range from 0.9% to 5.49%, depending on the car and the selected service package (which can reduce the interest rate).
Thanks to the genuinely helpful leasing budget calculator available on the website, you can get an idea of what you can actually afford. However, as the prices on the website are not the final leasing rates, it is not really possible to assess what kind of car you will ultimately be able to get, even with a calculated budget.
You need to request a quote from one of the partner garages in any case. During our test, we unfortunately did not receive a quote from the garage we contacted via the website. As a result, transparency through the website of AMAG Leasing is not fully guaranteed.
Who are AMAG?
The Automobil und Motoren AG is a Swiss import company founded in 1945, which specialises in the import of the entire range of Volkswagen Group brands. Since signing the first import contract with VW in 1948, the company based in Cham has grown considerably and established several subsidiaries and partnerships.
In addition to AMAG Import AG and AMAG Leasing, the import company also owns Helion (sustainable living solutions), Clyde (car subscription), Mobilog (logistics solutions), AMAG Parking and Europcar Switzerland.
What is AMAG Leasing?
AMAG Leasing is basically AMAG's 'bank', and is in charge of financing the company's leasing services. It manages a leasing portfolio of CHF 4.4 billion and has over 184,000 contracts with customers.
The economic quality for investors of AMAG Leasing AG is considered to be "positive" or "stable" by Zürcher Kantonalbank and Credit Suisse respectively. In 2022, AMAG Leasing AG was able to strengthen its position for sustainability by issuing a green bond. AMAG Leasing offer both private and business leasing.
Which cars does AMAG Leasing offer?
- Volkswagen und VW commercial vehicles
- Audi
- Seat
- Cupra
- Skoda
- Bentley (distribution partner)
- Porsche (distribution partner)
How can you get a lease with AMAG Leasing?
To access prices, interest rates, additional packages and other information, AMAG Leasing offers two options. You can either browse the somewhat confusing website yourself, or contact an AMAG advisor directly at one of the 82 partner garages in Switzerland.
Both options require official (but unbinding) quotes in order to obtain the actual price of the lease. To get a quote, you always have to contact an advisor at an AMAG garage - none of the prices on the website are fixed. The fact that there is no direct online checkout and there are only provisional prices available online results in waiting times and uncertainty.
What’s the AMAG Leasing Website like?
AMAG's entire catalogue of vehicles can be conveniently browsed from the comfort of your home by visiting amag-leasing.ch. With its detailed and sophisticated design, AMAG Leasing's website makes a professional and methodical first impression.
At the same time, the sober design lacks emotion, making the leasing process a strictly rational, transactional business. Motoring passion takes a backseat.
However, the comprehensibly presented range of service packages as well as the customisable search options are a major advantage. The inclusion of a leasing budget calculator is also helpful. Nevertheless, as soon as one dives deeper into the search for a car, the website becomes a labyrinth of subcategories and web pages, making it difficult to navigate.
Quick comparisons between different vehicles are complicated or virtually impossible. The menu for second-hand vehicles is similar: the pictures are small, and the specifications are not easy to find.
How does the Leasing Budget Calculator on AMAG Leasing work?
The leasing budget calculator available on AMAG Leasing is particularly handy. Without having to provide names or other personal details, you can calculate your personal budget with relative ease.
By entering your age, gender, marital status, nationality, place of residence, income and expenses, you can calculate your budget. Thanks to a personalised code, you can revisit your budget calculation for 90 days. This ensures that you do not exceed your own budget, and you can avoid a rejection of your application.
After a budget calculation, you can either request a quote based on your budget or browse the website for a compatible car. Thanks to the budget calculator, you are always in control of financial limits and don't have to worry about committing to a car that is above your means.
How do you get in touch with an AMAG representative?
AMAG Leasing has partnered with 82 garages throughout Switzerland. Customers can visit one of these garages in person to speak to advisors on site about the right mobility solution for them. Besides, even if you submit a quote request via the website, you have to select an AMAG Service Centre, which will be in touch with you at a later date. Unfortunately, when we tried to obtain a quote, we did not hear back even after a week.
What are AMAG Leasing’s monthly rates and interest rates?
The base interest rate at AMAG Leasing is 3.9%, but the interest rates vary for different vehicles, which is dependent on various discounts and special offers. Although this may sound confusing, the interest rates are clearly shown on the respective sites of the different vehicles.
Interest rate reductions are also possible in conjunction with one of the all-inclusive packages. This means that interest rates range from 0.0% to 3.9%, depending on the vehicle and service package. This question can be answered conclusively by obtaining a quote for your chosen car.
Does AMAG Leasing offer additional services?
At AMAG Leasing, there are various options for obtaining a car. You can either apply for just a lease and organise all car-related concerns yourself and at your own expense, or you can select one of the additional all-inclusive service packages. With the "autoSense" app, you can also access a wide range of services and information on your phone.
What’s LeasingPLUS?
AMAG Leasing's all-inclusive range is divided into various sub-categories. For new and used cars, there are three and two different types of service packages respectively.
LeasingPLUS for New Cars
| Starter | Comfort | Go |
|---|---|---|
| Servicing and Maintenance | Features from Starter | Features from Comfort |
| Repairs for wear-and-tear | Spare Wheels or Tyres Summer / Winter | Replacement car during servicing and maintenance |
| Certain fluids | Wheel or Tyre changes | |
| Storage of Wheels | ||
| Interest reduction - 0.25% | Interest reduction - 0.4% | Interest reduction - 0.5% |
LeasingPLUS for Used Cars
| Basic | Advanced |
|---|---|
| Servicing | Features from Basic |
| Certain fluids | Spare Tyres Summer / Winter |
| Wheel or Tyre changes | |
| Interest reduction - 1% | Interest reduction - 1.3% |
Does AMAG Leasing offer Insurance?
It is also possible to integrate partial or fully comprehensive insurance in the service packages. This can also be arranged as a stand-alone package. It is unclear on the website whether the insurance packages are also available for new cars. The car insurance is covered by Zurich Insurances and includes:
| Comprehensive: 500.- Deductible for collisions | Partial: 0.- Deductible for collisions | Bonus coverage (no further explanation) | Replacement car | Coverage of all glass damage |
|---|
Insurance All-Inclusive Packages
| Care | Basic Care | Advanced Care |
|---|---|---|
| Car insurance | Car insurance | Car insurance |
| Servicing | Features from Basic Care | |
| Certain fluids | Spare Tyres Summer / Winter | |
| Wheel or Tyre changes | ||
| Interest reduction - 0.5% | Interest reduction - 1.5% | Interest reduction - 1.8% |
What is the Benefit of the autoSense App?
All new leasing contracts include optional access to the autoSense app. By connecting an adapter directly to the car, users of the app have access to a wide range of services:
CO2 compensation: Users can check how much CO2 they produce with their car and, if they wish, compensate this via payments.
Calculate vehicle value: The current vehicle value can be calculated at any time with the app.
Vehicle tracking: If you can't remember where you parked, you can use the app to locate your car on a map.
Digital logbook: Calculate and archive the length of journeys.
driveScore: Provides an overview of how sustainably you drive and, if necessary, gives you tips on how to reduce maintenance costs (brake more gently, switch off the engine at red lights, etc.).
Vehicle diagnostics: Provides information about any errors in your vehicle diagnostics and allows you to check the battery voltage.
AMAG Experiences: What do customers say about AMAG Leasing?
Although AMAG Leasing manages 184,000 contracts, it is relatively difficult to find reviews. Therefore, there is a lack of transparency. To get an idea of the quality of the leasing, one has to look at the reviews of the individual garages. Due to the decentralisation of AMAG Leasing, it is barely possible to get an instant overview.
For the 82 AMAG locations throughout Switzerland, the reviews on Google average around 4.7/5 stars, thus indicating an overall extremely favourable rating. However, these reviews do not focus specifically on leasing, but also on the various services provided by the individual garages.
Nevertheless, these ratings show that AMAG maintains a high standard with its partner garages - and not just when it comes to leasing.
It's a slightly different story on Trustpilot: Here, AMAG (not AMAG Leasing) only achieves 3.1/5 stars. However, it must be mentioned that the ratings again refer to specific garages and that the distribution of ratings is predominantly 1 or 5 stars - the ratings with one star are written by extremely frustrated customers, who likely exaggerate in their rating. This again somewhat distorts the general rating.
Positive and Negative Points of AMAG Leasing
| Positive | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Offers | Leasing: Availability of a selectable all-inclusive offer with three packages, leasing interest rate is reduced by selecting one of the packages. Vehicles: VW commercial vehicles, choice of complete VW Group range. | Leasing: Entry-level all-inclusive offers are limited to maintenance and service work only, but do not include insurance (essential for operating a vehicle) and warranty. Vehicles: VW Group vehicles only (captive leasing bank) |
| Website | Sleek, Informative (e.g. info videos) | Clinical, lacking emotion, partly not intuitive |
| Process | Real-time adjustment of an assumed leasing rate, leasing budget calculator | Easy to get lost No guarantee of actual leasing rates, needs a quote |
| Interest rates | Adjusted to vehicle and service package 0.9 - 5.49% | Residual values are nowhere clearly visible |
AMAG Leasing compared to gowago.ch
| AMAG Leasing | gowago.ch | |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicles | VW-Group: Audi, Cupra, Seat, Škoda, VW, VW utility vehicles | Vehicles from every conventional mass-market manufacturer |
| All-inclusive Leasing | Yes (LeasingPlus) | Yes (All-in-one) |
| Used Car Leasing | Yes | Yes |
| Residual Value calculation | No, only through quote | Yes, immediately calculated |
| Necessity of Quotes | Needed in all circumstances | No - the price calculated in real time is the price the customer receives |
| Process | Online and offline | Mainly Online |
| Interest Rates | 0.9 - 5.49 | always 3.9% |
Conclusion: How does AMAG Leasing do in our test?
AMAG Leasing is one of the oldest leasing companies in Switzerland and thus has many years of experience in the business. This is also reflected on the website and the structure of their leasing. The website is informatively designed and gets points for its use of informative videos, various search options and its simple style. However, the rational and sober aesthetics lose the emotional component of buying or leasing a car.
The leasing rates, which can be adjusted in real time, and the possibility of a budget calculator help the customer attain a more precise idea about their leasing options. Unfortunately, the last step to facilitate complete transparency is missing: to get a fixed price, one still needs to request a quote.
The initial clarity of the website is diminished during the leasing process. On the way from the first click to the quote, it is easy to get lost in the maze of different product pages. Since AMAG Leasing sits directly at the source of all VW Group models, the customer has a huge choice of combinations of engines, equipment and price classes. The breadth of choice is brought to the customer almost unfiltered and may lead to confusion, especially for people who do not have an affinity for cars.
Their basic interest rate is normal in the sector, but can also vary depending on the vehicle and go up to 5.49%. A very attractive feature is that the choice of one of the three service packages leads to an interest rate reduction - this naturally entices a customer to put a little more money on the table. In summary, AMAG Leasing is a very solid option with a wide range of available cars for people who want a vehicle produced by a VW Group manufacturer.
How do we evaluate AMAG Leasing?
To write this review, we took a detailed look at the website and the information available there. We attempt to simulate the experience of a potential customer as objectively as possible in order to capture the positive and negative aspects of AMAG Leasing. Inevitably, some subjective biases will play a part in the evaluation. An example of this is the first impression of the website. Our tester was struck by the lack of emotionality - for other users, this could also be viewed positively.
