Car Subscription With a Buy Option: How Try & Buy Works at CARIFY

You want a car, but you're not ready to commit to owning one. Maybe you're considering switching to an electric vehicle and want to know whether the range holds up in your actual daily routine. Maybe you've just moved to Switzerland and have no idea which model fits your new commute. A car subscription with a buy option solves exactly that problem: you drive the car in real life, and then you decide whether to keep it.

At CARIFY, this model is called Try & Buy. Everything you pay during the subscription period counts toward the purchase or lease if you choose to go ahead. Nothing is lost, and nothing is forced.

What Does a Car Subscription With a Buy Option Actually Mean?

A car subscription with a buy option is a vehicle subscription where you can purchase the car after the minimum term instead of simply returning it. You pay a fixed monthly price covering insurance, taxes, service and registration, and at the end you make a choice: buy, lease, or hand back the keys.

The concept sits between a standard car subscription and a lease with purchase option. In a lease, the residual value and purchase price are agreed on day one, before you've driven a single kilometre. With Try & Buy, you don't commit to buying upfront. The purchase price reflects fair market value at the time of handover, so you know what you're getting because you've already lived with the car.

How Try & Buy differs from a lease with purchase option

In a lease with purchase option, you're locked into a contract for 36 to 48 months from the start. If you want out early, you pay penalties. The purchase price is pre-set, which can work in your favour or against you depending on how the market moves.

Try & Buy gives you a much shorter minimum term, often as little as one month at CARIFY, and no pre-agreed purchase price. You're free to walk away at any point after the minimum term. The flexibility is real, not theoretical.

Which providers in Switzerland offer a buy option?

Relatively few Swiss car subscription providers have a structured buy option. CARIFY has built Try & Buy as a platform-wide feature, where 100% of subscription fees paid count toward the subsequent purchase or lease through a certified dealer network. If you're comparing providers, always ask specifically whether subscription fees are credited toward the purchase or simply forfeited.

How the Buy Option Works at CARIFY – Step by Step

The Try & Buy process at CARIFY follows a clear sequence, and the most important thing to understand before you start is that every franc you pay during the subscription period is working toward your potential purchase.

Step 1: Choose your car and start your subscription

CARIFY's platform lists over 2,500 vehicles from dealers across Switzerland. You choose the model, select your monthly mileage package, set the minimum term and book. The car is delivered to your address. Your subscription term begins on delivery day, not on the day you placed the order.

Step 2: Drive and evaluate in real life

This is the part that makes Try & Buy genuinely useful. You drive the car through your actual routine: the commute, the school run, the weekend trips, the underground car park you've always worried about with larger vehicles. If you subscribed to an electric car, you find out whether your home charging setup works, how far a charge actually gets you in cold Swiss winters, and whether the charging network covers the routes you actually drive.

A 30-minute test drive at a dealership doesn't tell you any of this. Six months of real ownership does.

Step 3: Make your decision

At the end of your minimum term, or at any monthly renewal point after that, you decide. If you want to buy or lease, CARIFY connects you with the relevant dealer and you receive a formal offer. If you'd rather move on, you return the car and can start a new subscription with a different model immediately.

Step 4: Purchase price, contract and handover

The purchase price is based on fair market value at the time you decide to buy. All subscription fees you've paid up to that point are deducted from the purchase price or applied to a lease down payment. If you've paid CHF 4,194 over six months (6 x CHF 699), that full amount comes off what you owe. The paperwork goes through the dealer, and once it's done, the car is yours.

How Is the Purchase Price Determined?

This is the question most people ask first, because it's where the economics of Try & Buy live or die.

Market value vs. pre-agreed residual price

CARIFY uses fair market value at the time of purchase, not a residual price agreed at the start of the subscription. For buyers, this means there's some price uncertainty, since the market can move. In practice, for vehicles in the CHF 20,000 to 50,000 range over subscription periods of three to twelve months, price movements are relatively modest. The advantage of market-based pricing is that you're not locked into a residual that may have been set optimistically high by the leasing company.

What happens if you decide not to buy?

You return the car. The subscription fees you paid covered a fully insured, serviced, tax-paid vehicle during that period. You're not penalised for not buying. If you'd like to try a different model, you search CARIFY's platform and start a new subscription. The fee credits from your previous subscription don't carry over to a new vehicle, but you walk away with no obligation and no cost beyond what you've already paid.

Who Benefits Most From Try & Buy?

The model works best for people who are genuinely undecided about owning a specific car, not for those who already know exactly what they want and have the budget ready.

When buying after your subscription makes sense

Electric vehicle converts are the clearest use case. Spending CHF 50,000 to 70,000 on your first EV is a large commitment when you've never owned one. A six-month subscription at CHF 900 per month costs CHF 5,400, which gets fully credited toward the purchase. You know the car works for you before you buy it. That's a rational trade.

Expats who've recently moved to Switzerland and aren't sure whether they'll stay long-term also fit this model well. You get full mobility without a multi-year financial commitment, and if you decide to buy, you've already been paying toward it.

When handing back the keys is the smarter move

If the car didn't live up to expectations, returning it is always the right choice. Maybe the range wasn't enough, the boot was too small once you actually loaded it for a family ski weekend, or the ride quality on rural roads didn't suit you. You found this out for CHF 5,000 to 8,000 in subscription costs instead of buying a car you'd regret for the next seven years.

Try & Buy also makes less sense if you already know exactly which car you want and have the cash or financing arranged. In that case, a direct purchase or a standard lease will almost always be cheaper.

Try & Buy vs. Buying a Used Car Outright: Which Is Safer?

Buying a used car in Switzerland involves trusting a seller you may have never met, relying on a service history that may have gaps, and hoping that any problems show up during the brief inspection rather than three months into ownership. The Carvolution model for used vehicles addresses this by letting you drive the car in the subscription before committing to the purchase. CARIFY's platform runs through certified dealers with documented vehicle histories, which removes some of the uncertainty that private used car purchases carry.

Try & Buy is genuinely safer than a blind used car purchase for one simple reason: you've driven the car. Not around a test loop, but on your roads, in your weather, with your luggage and your passengers. You know what you're buying. That knowledge is worth the subscription cost for many buyers, especially in the CHF 30,000 to 55,000 range where a poor decision is expensive to reverse.

Can You Finance a Car After a Subscription Purchase?

Yes. Once you decide to buy through Try & Buy, the transaction goes through a certified CARIFY dealer and you can arrange financing through the dealer, a bank or an independent lender in the same way as any private car purchase. The credited subscription fees reduce the purchase price, which also reduces the amount you need to finance. Your normal credit application process applies.

What Is the Difference Between a Car Subscription Buy Option and a Lease Buyout?

In a lease buyout, you pay a pre-agreed residual value that was set at the start of the lease. This amount is fixed and written into the contract. If the market value of the car at lease end is lower than the residual, you're paying above market rate. If it's higher, you're getting a good deal.

With a car subscription buy option like CARIFY's Try & Buy, the purchase price is set at market value when you decide to buy. There's no pre-agreed residual, which means neither party is betting on future prices. The subscription fees you've paid are credited regardless of what the market price turns out to be. The flexibility is greater, but you carry slightly more price uncertainty at the moment of decision.