Car boots and markets

Hi, my husband and I are hoping to move to Costa Del Sol area in a few months. We will have an income from properties in the UK, enough to pay the rent on an apartment, but we still have to earn some money. We are looking to do car boots and markets as there seem to be plenty around. I beleive its very hard to get onto a market, but does anyone know of any good car boots around?  We haven't decided on an exact area to live in yet, but would be prepared to travel up to an hour for car boots, so any advice anyone has would be much appreciated.

Hi

Congratulations on making the move!

There is a market / car boot sale in Sabinillas which is close to Duquesa that operates on Sundays.  It is relatively easy to get on this boot sale although you do need to follow the 'unusual' practice.  I was with a friend on the weekend at the market which really can be great fun.  Many English speaking people there but more Spanish speakers.

You have to arrive fairly early c6.30am/7.00am and will be given a 'number' from the last car to arrive.  You then wait until c8.00am for when the market controller arrives to give out a list.  You then put your name on the list against the number you have been given.  This is a fairly funny process and generally results in many people pushing in and your ending up with a number at least 4-5 places from when you arrived!  At 9.00am you are then invited, by number, to select your pitch.  Yes, you get to select where on the tarmac you want to be!  Finally around 9.30am-10.00am you can pitch up and start trading!

Many people do this every week to make a living and do very well.  Whilst our rental and sales business is a little quieter at this time of the year, we were selling off things that my friend had inherited during her stay here and to make some room.

A wonderful experience and not to be missed.

If you need further information don't hesitate to shout.

Good luck with everything.

Thanks very much. Sounds like fun, when in spain and all that....!  Will be going over to do some research end of march so will let you know how it goes. Many thanks.

There is a huge boot sale in Fuengirola on saturdays. Velez Malaga has a farmers market on a tuesday, There is also a farmers market in Coin. Mollina has a market on Wednesday. All are British run, and boot sellers use them

Thanks for the info.

Thats a great help, thanks for the reply. Can't wait to get out there and do some more research.

There is also a British auction in Campillos, where lots of people buy boxes of bric a brac to sell at boot sales. I know of a couple of people who do it for a living. If you need adresses or phone numbers I could find them out.

Cazzy, that would be great. Any info. at this stage is helpful.

           Long story short, we bought a bar in majorca 5 years ago, jumped into it without enough research, realised it would fail within 6 mths., sold it and moved to Benidorm. Again it was a badly planned move. All in all we only lasted in Spain for 9 mths. This time round we are much better prepared, financially and research wise (God I love the internet!) Also no kids this time, much easier now he's grown up! 

       Anyway, will let you know when we're ready for the trip out to look around and for any more questions we may have. Thanks again for your help.

Doing the research is all important.
Also a number of visits to different locations.
You should consider a check list of what is important to you but in the short and long terms.
e.g. Health care and what facilities you may need, is being close to other Brits important, transport and communications, do you want a small or karge town or city or to be in the country.
A willingness to learn the Spanish language (aah but which one) and interact with the Spanish people.

Remember Spain's an awfully big place. Try looking north of Valencia as well as south and in Andulacia.

Thanks for all the help. I have 'Googled' the areas for the markets and think it woud be sensible to be centrally located between them all.

       . Does anyone know of any nice areas near the car boots? I have been told about ones in Velez Malaga, Coin, Mollina and Campillos. We will be coming over soon to look around but it would be good to have an idea of what area to look in. I would like to live in a town rather than a small village, living slightly inland is no problem but I would prefer to have a few English around as my Spanish is pretty basic and would appreciate a bit of back up for the first few months if you know what i mean! Many thanks in advance.

Check out the thread "Good area to move to" - I think Sabinillas/Duquesa would suit you fine .... it's a great area and close enough to the areas you mention...

Thanks buzylizzie. I will look it up. Can't wait to go exploring!