Car boot sales - an unlikely source of bargains

Car boot sales are, to me, a very British tradition. Growing up, a car boot sale visit was always a potential solution to a boring Sunday morning and it’s where I first got the bug of bargain hunting. As a teenager I would cycle miles to car boot sales with only a rucksack on my back and from time-to-time I’d need to call my Mum when I had no choice but to buy a huge Nintendo 64 or SNES bundle that I had no hope of carrying home again!

It’s a past-time I’ve never lost the bug for, and as my hobbies developed and board gaming took over, it was tabletop gaming items that I began to hunt for. Over the last 10 years, it’s become more and more common to find some amazing bargains.

For those not familiar, a car boot sale is an event in a field where sellers show up at the field with a cars packed full of unwanted items. Sellers pay a fee for their pitch and then open up the car boot, most likely pull out a decorator’s pasting table, and use that to display the contents of the car for buyers to peruse throughout the morning. It’s the UK’s alternative to the North American garage sales and as a buyer it’s far more effective because all of the sellers have gathered in one spot for easy browsing.

This year I’ve had far less time to visit car boot sales than I would like, and I have only managed to attend three. As though fate was guiding me out of bed on a Sunday morning, each one I’ve been to has been a roaring success in terms of what I’ve been able to pick up.

On two occasions I stumbled across the same seller. The first time he had two 6ft tables filled end-to-end with modern board games. He understood the value of what he had, but was also realistic about his audience and so his prices were in the region of 50% of what you might pay for a pre-owned board game on eBay. Of course, there’s no feasible way to check game pieces on the spot, so each purchase is a risk and around two out of the 12 or so games I chose to take home had issues, but overall the deal was a good one.

By sheer coincidence, this seller and I chose the same day to visit the car boot sale later in the year when he was instead clearing RPG books. At £5-10 each, you did need good knowledge to find the bargains in amongst the less desirable titles, but I was particularly pleased to find a Hawkmoon box set and other Chaosium goodies!

More common is to find families with one or two hobby board games in amongst the rest of what they’re looking to sell. Pandemic, Ticket to Ride and other more accessible hobby board games show up quite often, along with party games from the likes of Big Potato Games. There’s no doubt in my mind that the spread of hobby games into mainstream shops like Waterstones and Hobby Craft results in more families dipping their toes into more challenging strategy board games and subsequently deciding that they should be moved on.

The number of personal anecdotes and amazing finds I could list goes on, from the £1 copy of Heroquest in a Tesco carrier bag (incomplete of course, but a bargain nevertheless), to a van load of Warhammer that I could’ve bought for £500 if only I had space in my car, to a copy of Advanced Heroquest that led to a bidding war. I have had my fair share of luck, but I’m not alone and the bargains are out there in all parts of the UK. At least two Youtube channels I follow share footage from their car boot sale travels, where board games are the number one item they’re looking for. One of my gaming friends is also a regular at car boot sales around Berkshire, and, at times, sends me weekly photos of what he has picked up.

If you’re willing to put in the work, embrace the early mornings and move on from the disappointing days that will always happen from time-to-time, then car boot sales, much like charity shop hunting, will eventually deliver rewards.