Swiss drivers are facing sharply higher bills for parking damage, with repair costs for some components rising by up to 45% since 2023.
The biggest increases are in the cost of repair work on doors and other body panels, rather than in painting. The average cost to repair a rear door rose from CHF 92 in 2023 to CHF 134 in 2025, a 45.9% jump, according to a new analysis by comparison site Comparis.
By contrast, the average cost to paint a rear door increased only from CHF 238 to CHF 246, or 3.5%. Taken together, repair plus paint for a rear door went from around CHF 330 to about CHF 380, an increase of roughly 15%.
Replacement parts are also more expensive. The average cost of the “replacement” line item for a rear door climbed from CHF 1,006 to CHF 1,098, up 9.2%. Taillights, which are frequently damaged in parking incidents, saw their average replacement cost rise from CHF 337 to CHF 369, a 9.4% increase. In 2025, nearly one in three of the assessed repair jobs on the ten most-affected parts involved a taillight.
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Why Are Costs Climbing?
Comparis insurance expert Harry Büsser says general inflation explains only part of the rise. He points to increasingly complex vehicle technology as a key driver: newer cars on Swiss roads are more likely to be equipped with sensors, cameras, electronics and other sophisticated components that make repairs more labour-intensive and technically demanding.
Workshop hourly rates have also gone up. According to industry data from consultancy Figas, the average garage hourly rate rose by about 3% in 2024 to CHF 172.30. At the same time, garages’ workshop and spare-parts businesses have become more profitable, while margins on new and used car sales have fallen. Büsser cautions that it is not possible to say precisely how much of the cost increase is due to higher rates versus higher margins.
Given the higher damage costs, Büsser recommends that drivers review their car insurance regularly. Parking-damage cover often pays only up to CHF 1,000 or CHF 2,000 per incident and limits the number of claims per year. If a driver can comfortably absorb a bill of that size, the cover may not be worth it. It can make more sense for people who would find such a bill painful, or for cars with particularly expensive paintwork or technology.
His practical tips:
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Compare not just premiums but also deductibles, coverage limits and the number of covered claims.
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Check whether a 1,000-franc limit is sufficient for your car and potential damage.
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Consider paying small claims out of pocket if the deductible and future premium increases make a claim uneconomical.
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When buying a car, factor in that LED lights, cameras, sensors and special paints can make future repairs significantly more expensive.
Repair Costs For Parking Damage In Switzerland: How Analysis Was Done
The Comparis study used data from Solera, an international provider of software and data solutions for vehicle damage assessment and claims handling. It covered the ten vehicle parts most frequently affected by parking damage and analysed average costs for repair, painting and replacement from 2023 to 2025. Depending on the component, work type and year, between 8,895 and 619,000 individual work operations were recorded for each category, with more than 7 million operations in total. A single claim can involve multiple operations, such as repair followed by painting of the same part.
