Prices of the last model VW Golf are starting to slip. Eight months after the launch of its successor, the family car is succumbing to the pain of depreciation.

Steve Rose, editor of Parker’s Car Price Guide, says: "There are two reasons: firstly, they were too expensive - especially the diesel models - for a market awash with cheap family cars. But more importantly, the new Golf’s relative lack of success in Europe has led to large numbers of cheap, imported new-model Golfs on sale at the supersites.

"Compare that to Vauxhall’s Astra, which was replaced at around the same time. Astra values started dropping late last year – three months before the new model arrived, exaggerated by a glut of pre-registered, but effectively brand new cars.

"Interestingly, Astra values have started to rise slightly this month. It’s a common occurrence, a recently replaced model’s value drops quickly until it reaches a point where you’re buying a nearly-new car for a fraction of the price of the new wizz-bang version. More people cotton onto this and so demand, which has been falling, turns around and nudges prices back up again."

Parker’s Car Price Guide now includes a new section, ‘Right Car’, highlighting the best of the UK’s new and pre-registered car deals, and used prices for cars as little as three months’ old, Parker’s is the best place to go for accurate car valuations, even on the models the other guides can’t cover.

‘Right Car’ is a 64-page section with deals and real-world car buying advice from the Parker’s team. This month the savings include more than £6,000 off a Nissan Terrano off-roader, £3,243 off a VW Golf Tdi 140 and £5471 off a Ford Mondeo 1.8LX.