This insight may seem banal to you, but the value of a used car is determined when it is bought as a new car. Of course, you might say, if the purchase price is high, then later the selling price will also be high, indeed, that's not what is meant here. What it's all about, is choosing the new purchase.

For a long time, it wasn't a problem, to drastically increase the difference between the new- and the used car price, e.g., if one had chosen a colour which was too light. In the meantime however, it seems that e.g., white is no longer a NoGo, on the contrary, it now seems to enjoy a certain amount of popularity.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, one should perhaps stay with the subdued colours, because the colour white, is a pretty uncertain bet. Thus there are e.g., red-tones, that everyone likes to see on sports cars. Indeed, a VW Passat completely in red or an Opel-Astra Caravan in bright blue (picture)? There are also other things that you can do to make your car almost impossible to sell. You can, e.g., choose a Mercedes E-Class with a manual gearbox.

You could also choose a luxury saloon with the smallest possible engine or a heavy off-road vehicle with a petrol engine. The brand of a car also makes a big difference. In Germany, one is inclined to say: 'Once a Citroën, always a Citroën'. What one means, is that such a car can only be traded in against a new model from a Citroën dealer.

This of course was valid only for the older, big Citroën (see video below). The smaller cars of this make don't have these problems at all. Nonetheless, the difference between the various brand names remains. Apart from the forums, the online sales-portals give a good overview, particularly then, when in the end, the actually achieved price is stated. After all, that's all that really matters, not the asking price.

The reality can be hard, when the offers start coming in from the potential buyers. Thereby, one can consider oneself fortunate, if there are any serious enquiries at all. It's particularly depressing, when one has spent a lot of money on extras or on the tuning. As far as the extras are concerned, the rule of thumb is that in small cars they don't bring much in and the higher the value of the car is, the more they do. Indeed, in the meantime, even in the small cars, an air conditioner is a must.