The Ultimate Car Boot Guide

Find out about car boots and how to make sure that you make the maximum amount of money for your time behind the pasting table!

The weather is warm and the Covid-19 pandemic is over enough to allow car boots to come back, yay!

If you’ve never really known about car boots, why people do them, or how to make the most of doing one, you’re in luck! In this article, we are going to take you through the what, why, and how of car boots so that you can make the most of these wonderful ways of banking some cash of a weekend:

What Is A Car Boot?

A car boot is a type of occasion where people traditionally sold unwanted items out of their car boots. Now, the majority of sellers will sell their things on a mixture of a pasting table, boxes, blankets (where items are displayed), and a hanging rail, all placed in front of a car boot where you’ll sit between serving customers.

Car boots can be held at any time on any day, and in the height of the season, there are multiple car boots held across the whole week. However, as a general rule car boots tend to be held first thing on a weekend morning (usually a Sunday) with sellers expected to arrive 6-7 AM, and then buyers are allowed in from around 8 AM, sometimes for a fee.

Car boots can cost anything from £5 to £15 to sell, depending on where the car boot is being held. This is non-refundable and so, there is a chance if you’re not making much money that you end up paying for being there without ever making back the display fee.

Lastly, it is important to know that car boots do tend to be held in fair weather, but there are indoor car boots too. It is handy to get an idea of where both exist locally so you know you can sell regardless of what the weather is doing.

Why Do A Car Boot?

Car boots are incredibly helpful ways to sell items that are not worth selling online. You can clear out your cheap storage in London, your home, your shed, and your garage and display all your wares. So, whilst an item of clothing may only be worth 50p on its own, and so it isn’t worth any listing fee online, combined with multiple other clothes worth the same price, you can make a decent amount of money by selling everything off together in the same place.

So, if you’re decluttering your affordable cheap storage unit, or you’re simply looking to make a few extra pounds of a weekend instead of laying in bed, a car boot is a great idea.

How To Do A Car Boot Successfully

A car boot sale is a great idea if you want to make some extra money, but doing one does have a few small rules that mean you’ll make the most possible money. Let’s take a closer look:

Get Your Change Ready

In the world of car boots, real-life money is very much still a thing, which means that you’ll need to gather some change. If you don’t have change you may lose buyers because they might not have the right change to give you for whatever it is they want to buy. Try getting some notes out at the beginning of the week and buy a few small items (you need them) every day in the shop so you end up with lots of change ready for the weekend.

Have Some Bags

Lots of people do carry tote bags to a car boot, but some don’t, or they forget, and so having bags available means that you can help them to take what they buy with you and walk around with it without struggling.

Be Ready To Haggle

Haggling is totally normal at a car boot sale, so be ready to price your items higher so that people can talk you down. Do, however, remember that we are British and sometimes, if you’re too far up it will be assumed that your stall is overpriced and a haggle won’t get you ‘down’ enough to make the purchase far. Starting a pound or two above the price you want is about right.

Stay Busy

People have put off car boot stalls where the sellers are just sitting staring at them. It is the same as any retail shop. If you walk into silence and stare you feel intimidated or awkward and you want to walk out. Instead, continually fluff up the stall and keep it looking nice so that people will feel comfortable approaching and buying. Even better, if a person is there enquiring and buying keep them with you as long as you can. This is because, as humans, we tend to be attracted to areas where other people are, so one person on your stall will attract others.

Use Labels But Don’t Label Individually

Large labels saying things like 2 for £1, or ‘everything in this box 20p’ will help people to know about the bargains on your stall. However, individual labels are a little too permanent and will possibly put people off making a purchase, or even inquiring about a discount.

Practise Good Customer Service

You’re not setting up a real shop, but it is so important to still practice great customer service to encourage customers to stay at your stall and hopefully buy something. Polite smiles, no whispering, chit-chat, please and thank you – it is simple enough, but if you’re not in customer service it might not come naturally to you. However, today, when you make money from your unwanted wares – you’re the customer service rep of the century!

You’re Ready To Car Boot Your Way To Rich

Hopefully, you are feeling much more in the know about car boots now, and maybe even feel tempted to do one this weekend! With the right approach, and a little bit of luck, you’ll make a great amount of money – all in return for morning sitting down and chatting with nice people who want to buy your stuff, which is pretty great, isn’t it?