The value of your car may go up as well as down

According to the HAGI index, the value of the classic car market is up by as much as 35 per cent this year. For the average motorist who buys from new, however, depreciation is likely to wipe as much as 50 per cent from the value of a family car after three years.

Canny drivers choose their car carefully and, increasingly, take advantage of the flexibility offered by car sharing schemes. Zipcar is an international car sharing scheme that allows motorists to use a new car for as little as £6 per hour, a cost that includes insurance and fuel. For those who live in a city or are unable to justify car ownership on financial or environmental grounds, such schemes can make perfect sense.

A cheaper, greener way to drive

The way we use personal transport is changing: car-sharing giant Zipcar expects one in ten of us to forgo the expense and hassle of personal adopt car clubs as our primary mode of transport.

Find out more at zipcar.co.uk.

There are environmental benefits to sharing cars. The vehicles are newer and thereby cleaner, and research shows we use them less. Furthermore, if this shift in behaviour happens as expected, it represents a shift in the cultural significance of the car. For decades, cars have been an expression of wealth and lifestyle. Shared cars challenge this status for while they may be new and smart, driving a vehicle for an hour to do an errand and then returning it is more of a practical than emotional experience. A perception of cars as 'tools' paves the way for autonomous, driver-less cars of the future that might not be owned at all, but rather hailed like cabs.