Car spotting for beginners: a practical UK guide

Car spotting is simple. You notice an interesting car, you take a photo, and you keep a record of what you have seen. That is the whole hobby. Some people chase supercars around city centres, some collect classics at summer shows, and some just enjoy knowing exactly what drove past them on the school run.

This guide covers where to start: what counts as a good spot, where interesting cars tend to turn up in the UK, how to behave around other people's cars, and how to keep track of what you find.

What counts as a good spot?

Anything that makes you look twice. A supercar is the obvious one, but plenty of spotters get just as much out of a tidy car from the 1980s that has somehow survived, a rare trim of an everyday hatchback, or a model that was only sold in small numbers here.

It helps to think of rarity in two ways. Some cars were built in small numbers from the start. Others were built in their hundreds of thousands and have mostly disappeared since. Both are worth a photo. We go into the difference in How rare is that car?.

Where interesting cars turn up

You do not need to travel far. Interesting cars are on ordinary streets every day, and once you start looking you will notice far more of them. That said, some places reliably see more than others.

City centres and smart streets

Expensive cars go where their owners go: upmarket shopping streets, hotel entrances, smart restaurants and the quieter residential streets around them. In London the West End and the streets around its big hotels are well known for it, but every large city has its own version. Early evenings and weekends tend to be busiest.

Car meets and cars and coffee mornings

Organised meets are the easiest way to see a lot of interesting cars in one place, and the owners are there because they want people to look. Many are held on weekend mornings in car parks, at cafes or at venues that host them regularly. Local car clubs and social media groups are the best way to find out what is on near you.

Classic car shows

Summer brings classic car shows to showgrounds, country houses and village greens across the country. They are relaxed, family friendly and full of cars you will rarely see on the road any more.

Seaside towns and scenic roads

On a sunny weekend, people take out the cars they do not use every day. Coastal towns, popular driving roads and the car parks and cafes along them are good places to be when the weather is good.

Dealerships

Specialist and prestige dealers often have interesting stock on display. Stick to what you can see from the pavement or public areas, and ask before you wander round a forecourt.

How to behave around other people's cars

Car spotting depends on owners being happy for people to look at their cars. Keeping it that way is easy.

• Do not touch. Do not lean on a car, put things on it or open anything, however tempting.
• Stay on public ground. Do not walk onto private land or driveways for a better angle.
• Ask if the owner is nearby. Most owners are happy to chat about their car and some will even move it for a better photo. If someone would rather you did not take a picture, respect that.
• Never follow a car. Not on foot, not on a bike and never in a car.
• Watch the road. Do not step into traffic for a shot. No photo is worth it.
• Be considerate about people. Avoid photographing people deliberately, and be aware of who is in the background.

In the UK you are generally free to take photos in public places, but that is not a reason to be careless. Being polite keeps the hobby welcome.

You only need a phone

A modern phone camera is more than good enough for car spotting. The difference between a good photo and a poor one is almost always the angle, the light and how steady you hold it, not the equipment. Our guide to photographing cars with your phone has twelve simple tips.

A few practical extras help on a long day out: a charged phone, a small power bank and something to wipe the lens with.

Keeping track of what you have seen

Part of the fun is looking back at what you have found. People do this in all sorts of ways: a notebook, a dedicated photo album, or a spreadsheet of makes and models.

This is what we built CarSnapper for. You take a photo of a car and the app works out the make and model, looks up real figures like top speed, power and acceleration, and gives the car one of five rarity tiers. Your photo becomes a card in your collection, so the collection is made entirely of cars you have actually seen. There is no catalogue to work through and no stock photos.

Set yourself small goals

If you are not sure where to start, give yourself something to aim for:

• spot ten different makes this week
• find something you have never seen before
• photograph the same model in three different colours
• find the oldest car still being driven on your street

CarSnapper includes challenges like these, and new ones follow as you finish them, but a notebook works just as well.

The short version

Look around, take photos of anything that catches your eye, and keep a record. Be polite, stay safe near roads, and never follow a car. The rest comes with practice, and you will be surprised how much you start to notice.