Cembra Leasing Review
What do we like about Cembra?
- No ties to specific car brands allows for broad choice
- Leasing rate calculator
- Choice of financing solutions (personal loan and leasing)
What could Cembra improve?
- Interest rates are rather high at 5% - 7%.
- Poor website regarding leasing
- Quotes have to be requested via dealers, which results in a lack of transparency regarding the rates.
- Poor ratings for customer service and fees
Positive and Negative Aspects of Cembra Leasing
| Positive | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Offers | Choice of financing solutions (personal loan and leasing) Vehicles: Free choice of vehicle | Leasing: High interest rates (up to 7%), no possibility for all-inclusive leasing |
| Website | Short and concise | Relatively little information or advice on the procedures for leasing, etc. |
| Process | n/a | No guarantee on actual lease rates, requires a quote Customer reviews quite negative |
| Interest Rates | n/a | 5%-7% (higher than competition) |
Your questions about Cembra: Answered!
- Who is Cembra Money Bank?
- What is Cembra Leasing?
- Which cars does Cembra offer?
- How can I get a leasing with Cembra?
- What is the Cembra website like?
- How does Cembra's leasing calculator work?
- How do you get in touch with a Cembra advisor?
- What are the interest rates and monthly rates with Cembra?
- Does Cembra offer additional services?
- What does the payment protection insurance of Cembra include?
- What does Cembra's car insurance 'CarProtect' include?
- Cembra Experiences: What are customer-ratings saying about Cembra?
- Cembra compared to gowago.ch
- How does Cembra do in our test?
Cembra Money Bank is a conventional bank that is primarily oriented towards credit. Since it is a non-captive leasing bank, it is not tied to specific car brand names. Theoretically, any car can be leased, as long as it does not exceed a certain age and mileage.
However, leasing is only one facet of Cembra's broad product range. As a result, leasing is not treated as the only priority - this is evident on the website, which offers rather little information or advice on the subject of leasing. No cars can be viewed directly on the website either, of course, due to Cembra's status as non-captive leasing financer.
You always have to obtain a quote to get the actual monthly leasing rate with Cembra - despite the leasing rate calculator on the website.
Cembra's interest rates are higher than those of competitors such as AMAG Leasing, Emil Frey or gowago.ch. The interest rates at Cembra range between 5% and 7%. There is no possibility of all-inclusive leasing. You can only take out an insurance covering the monthly rate and, independently of the monthly rate, book Cembra's in-house vehicle insurance.
There are few good online reviews for Cembra. On Google Reviews, the bank scores 1.6/5 stars, on Trustpilot 1.5/5 stars - criticisms include high fees, poor customer service and lack of transparency.
Who is Cembra Money Bank?
Cembra Money Bank is a traditional bank headquartered in Zurich. Until its name change in 2013, Cembra was known as GE Money Bank and is a subsidiary of General Electric. The bank traces its roots to the ProKredit bank founded in 1912, which was acquired by General Electric in 1998. Since its listing on the stock exchange in 2013, the bank has gained three main shareholders: UBS Fund Management (over 5%), Credit Suisse (over 3%), Swisscanto (over 3%), and the controversial BlackRock, dubbed a shadow bank, led by billionaire Larry Fink.
Cembra offers a wide range of financial services to its 1 million clients in Switzerland. These products consist of personal loans, vehicle financing, credit cards (such as the Cumulus or TCS Mastercard), insurance and investments. With the purchase of cashgate AG in 2019, Cembra acquired another credit company.
What is Cembra Leasing?
In its mobility financing options, Cembra offers either loans or leasing solutions for cars, motorbikes, campers or corporate fleets. As Cembra is a non-captive leasing bank, it is not tied to any specific brand and any vehicle can be leased through it. However, this is subject to the condition that the selected car is still eligible for leasing due to its age and mileage. This applies to the private and business leasing that Cembra offers.
Which cars does Cembra offer?
- Any vehicle, which is eligible for leasing, depending on the age and mileage.
- Tesla(specific leasing)
How can I get a leasing with Cembra?
To access a leasing offer from Cembra, one initially does not have any contact with the bank. Since Cembra only handles the financial aspect of the leasing transaction, accessing a lease with Cembra is done through a car dealership or garage operator.
The process would therefore be as follows: You go to a dealership of your choice and find the car you want. After you have found the right car, you can tell the dealer that you would like to lease the car and choose Cembra as the leasing bank - just as you would request gowago.ch as a leasing solution.
Of course, this is on the condition that the dealership also works with Cembra. The dealership or garage will then submit a leasing application to Cembra by filling out a form. As soon as this process is completed, you will receive an offer from Cembra.
What is the Cembra website like?
Since Cembra is not specialised in car trading or leasing, one cannot view cars on the website. The only information available is about the bank's various financial services.
One can only find a single, but clearly constructed page containing basic information about leasing with Cembra. There are several information documents about leasing conditions, leasing fees, or power of proxy leasing available in PDF format. In addition, one can also access the "CarProtect" car insurance via a link.
On cembra.ch/leasing you will also find a rather short FAQ page, where the most important questions are addressed. The leasing calculator on the site is also useful.
How does Cembra’s leasing calculator work?
On cembra.ch you can use the leasing calculator to estimate how much just the monthly leasing will cost you. By entering information about the vehicle (make, age, mileage, catalogue price and purchase price) and the desired leasing parameters (annual kilometres, leasing period, down payment), you get an approximation of the monthly leasing rate and the residual value. However, the results are only assumptions and have no binding force. However, the fact that only the make and not the model has to be entered raises some questions.
How do you get in touch with a Cembra advisor?
Although it is possible to contact a Cembra advisor either via a fee-based 0844 number or in person at a branch, this is of relatively little use. It is the responsibility of the customer to look for a vehicle and then arrange the lease through the dealership. Nevertheless, when we called Cembra, we received professional answers to all our questions.
What are the interest rates and monthly rates with Cembra?
The nominal interest rate for leasing with Cembra is between 5% and 7%, depending on the vehicle and the leasing parameters. You only receive the official interest rate with the offer. The interest rate indicated in the leasing calculator should not be regarded as definitive.
Does Cembra offer additional services?
Cembra does not really offer any additional services that are directly linked to its leasing. However, you can add a so-called payment protection insurance to your leasing. Since Cembra also offers all customers a wide range of insurance solutions, you can also directly book the in-house vehicle insurance 'CarProtect'.
There is no real all-inclusive offer. However, it might be possible that certain garages, with which you lease a car through Cembra, offer all-inclusive packages. However, this must be discussed individually with the garage in question.
What does the payment protection insurance of Cembra include?
In order to protect yourself against unforeseeable life events that could render payment of the leasing rate impossible, you can purchase an instalment insurance protection from Cembra. This means that you always remain solvent, come what may.
The advantage is that you can take out this insurance with Cembra at any time - directly when signing the leasing contract or at a later stage. Age, state of health, profession and other personal affairs are not taken into account. So anyone can take out this type of insurance.
The payment protection insurance can also be arranged for other Cembra loans. The insurance offers the following conditions:
- Protection in the event of unemployment, illness, accident or total disability.
- The maximum monthly coverage is CHF 2,500.
- In the event of disability, you receive the outstanding instalments up to a maximum of CHF65,000.
- Also valid if other insurances cover the new living condition.
- You receive a maximum of 9 monthly instalments per claim, and a maximum of 27 instalments during the term of the contract.
What does Cembra’s car insurance ‘CarProtect’ include?
Cembra, in cooperation with Zurich Insurance, also offers a car insurance option as part of its insurance catalogue.Although this is not coupled with leasing, it would be the obvious option when concluding a lease with Cembra.
Apart from (fully) comprehensive insurance, which is obligatory for leased vehicles, you can also take out liability insurance, which makes sense especially for older cars financed by a personal loan. With both types of insurance, premiums do not increase after a claim, you can choose the garage yourself, and as an electric vehicle owner you save 20%.
With comprehensive insurance, or partial comprehensive insurance, cars are protected against self-caused accidents, theft, fires, and damage caused by natural forces. In addition, the insurance also covers accidents with animals, damage caused by vandalism, marten damage and glass breakage.
For an additional charge, you can also take out insurance for purchase price protection, roadside assistance including a replacement vehicle, and against any kind of parking damage.
Cembra Experiences: What are customer-ratings saying about Cembra?
Cembra has not listed any customer reviews on its own website. It is therefore up to the customer to find out more about the bank. In fact, you can find many reviews about the bank itself, but unfortunately only a few that deal specifically with leasing.
Cembra Money Bank scores an average of 1.6 stars out of 125 Google reviews - a low rating. Customers criticize the bank for the following aspects:
- Unavailability of customer service
- Long waiting times
- High fees
- Unfriendly staff
- Non-transparent fees when repaying a loan
The bad reviews are both old and new - the oldest review was posted three years ago.
But bad reviews are not only found on Google. On Trustpilot, Cembra achieves 1.5 stars out of 109 reviews. Complaints are made about the same points as on the Google reviews.
Independent testers such as Comparis.ch, geld.ch and bonus.ch give Cembra an average rating. However, customer service and conditions are also criticised here. Above all, the very high interest rate for personal loans is criticised - Cembra also has the highest nominal interest rate for leasing compared to the competition.
Cembra compared to gowago.ch
| Cembra | gowago.ch | |
|---|---|---|
| Cars | All cars | Cars of every mass market manufacturer |
| All-inclusive Leasing | No | Yes (All-in-one) |
| Used Car Leasing | Yes | Yes |
| Calculation of Residual Values | Only after attaining a quote, and according to a matrix | Yes, immediate |
| Definitive Monthly Rates | Only via Quotes | Immediate |
| Process | Physical through dealership | Mostly Online |
| Interest Rates | 5 % - 7 % | always 3.99% |
| Google Reviews | 1.6 stars | 4.7 stars |
How does Cembra do in our test?
Cembra Money Bank is a conventional bank that is primarily focused on the credit business. Leasing is an additional service offered by this financial institution. The very first thing that shows that leasing is an ancillary service is the website, which reveals relatively little about the leasing service.
There are no real guidelines or information, apart from basic advice. While the leasing rate calculator is useful for gaining a rough idea about the personal lease, the results you get do not equate to an actual quote.
To actually get a quote, you should only ask Cembra directly if you already have a specific car in mind. Cembra is merely the financial backer of a lease. To get a car, you should ask the dealership where you find the car you want. The dealership will then submit a leasing application to Cembra. The advantage here, however, is that you can lease all cars that are on the Swiss market - the bank is not bound to any brand.
The interest rates at Cembra are higher than at other leasing banks and range between 5% and 7%. You cannot get an all-inclusive lease with Cembra. This means that you have to pay and organise insurance, tyre changes, service, maintenance and taxes yourself.
Cembra only offers an payment protection insurance in addition to the leasing, which covers the monthly payments up to CHF 2500, if you cannot afford the monthly payments due to unforeseeable circumstances such as illness, unemployment through no fault of your own, or disability. However, since Cembra offers vehicle insurance (separate from leasing), you could take out the insurance in-house.
Cembra's poor online ratings and high interest rates, however, leave questions.
How do we rate Cembra?
To write this review, we have looked in detail at the website and the information available there. We try to simulate as objectively as possible the experience of a potential customer in order to capture positive and negative aspects of leasing with Cembra. Inevitably, however, some subjective preferences will play a part in the evaluation.
