A great British tradition is the good old fashioned car boot sale.

Every weekend, school fields and open spaces around the country are packed with people looking to sell their unwanted items and bargain hunters looking for that piece of treasure, here are our top 5 tips to get good at car booting!

1. Arrive early. For many, car boot sales are taken seriously, 6am starts are part and parcel of getting the best bargains. So while most people are turning up at 10am they’re unaware that all the good items have been snapped up at the best prices. Our advice is, turn up as early as possible!

2. Car boot regulars will be rooting through the sellers items as they’re being unpacked (literally) so pop over to the new sellers just arriving and hang around until they’ve unpacked, and get that bargain.

3. Find your niche. People visit car boots for a morning out, or to add to their collection, or to buy something to sell it later at a profit. If the later explains you, then it’s important to find that one type of item you’re looking for. Maybe it’s china from a certain era, soft toys, comics etc. Once you know what you’re exactly you’re after then you can research it prior to visiting the car boot sale. You’ll be better equipped to barter and look for fakes and imperfections.

4. Have cash!! In modern times it’s almost possible to live your life via credit and debit cards only. That is if you don’t go car booting! Near enough all sellers won’t have a card machine and they definitely won’t want to accept a cheque, so make sure you bring cash and plenty of change!

5. Barter, barter, barter. It’s not exactly British, but bartering is the only way to get the best possible price for your goods. Sellers will always have a minimum price to drop down to, so get them as close to it as possible! That’s why they’re there! After a few attempts you’ll soon get the hang of bartering, but make sure you do your research first and that’ll stand you in good stead to get the price you want to pay.

Thanks for reading, and if you’re heading to a car boot sale in or around Hertford or Ware this weekend, take on board these tips and you’ll certainly walk away with a bargain or two!