For some people spending thousands of pounds on luxuries doesn’t mean all that much. Money is often spent on expensive holidays, home improvements and of course cars .

Like most things that are purchased, they are worth very little if anything afterwards. The same goes for cars, but even so at least there will be some value in it three years later when you want to get a better model.

With the right timing good deals can be found. Ideally modest family cars can be found with a good discount and not too many delivery miles on the clock. The cost of servicing should not be more than £750 in the first three years and eco-friendly, running at 40-50 mpg on diesel. At the same time it should be enjoyable to drive and depreciate slowly. Volkswagens are known for slow depreciation values, protons are not.

The colour of a car is also important as yellows and pink do not re-sell easily. The number of doors it has is crucial to the driver as a three door car is not a good family car and the car insurance group should be around five.

Getting the timing right to buy a new unused car is now. Some hatchbacks like the Ford Focus and Kia Cee’d can be snapped up for £10,000, the Mazda 2 and Fiat 500 can also be bought for under £10,000.