How are the winners chosen?

Unlike the Car of the Year award, the Used Car Awards are chosen by a panel.

The first question the What Car? panel of experts ask is what makes a good car, regardless of age. A car must also fulfil certain requirements in its own category, so a small car needs to be practical and economical, a hot hatch should be exciting to drive, and you’d expect a large SUV to be suitably spacious.

The panel then examines other factors including reliability and availability, as well as a wide choice of engine and spec level to suit requirements.

The overriding factor that must be fulfilled is value – the award-winning cars must give you excellent value for money, although this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re cheap.