I still think my mates idea of making it law to have a sticker on a car to show if its paid for, a hire car, a company car, contract etc is a good idea would stop alot of the snobbery and one upmanship out there and then you would also know who to avoid!
I avoid all cars with a letter e on the back as they are europcar hire cars and driven as such.
A mate of mine has just lost 6K on a BINI clubman S compared to what he paid for it 6 months ago when part exed against a JCW and they gave him 1K more than book for it. So the GTI's arn't doing too badly!