BRITAIN'S high earners are committed bargain hunters who would happily buy goods from car boot sales, second-hand shops and the classified adverts in newspapers, research showed yesterday.

More than a quarter of people who earn more than £50,000 said they would scour car boot sales in search of a good deal, while a third would look in the classified adverts, 23% would go to bric-a-brac shops and 18% would go to flea markets.

Three-quarters of wealthy people said they would happily buy a used car, while 13% said they would buy second-hand furniture and 9% would go to second-hand clothes shops, according to Lloyds TSB Premier Banking.

Young high earners are more likely to shun materialism than older ones, with 84% of under-34s saying they would buy a second-hand car, compared with 71% of those aged over 55.

At the same time, a quarter of younger people would buy secondhand CDs, something just 8% of the over-55s would do, while 18% of under-34s would buy secondhand electrical goods, compared with only 6% of older people.

Mark Cheshire, director of Lloyds TSB Premier Banking, said: "Far from subscribing to the bling-bling culture, today's high earners are resourceful rummagers who are not necessarily obsessed with the latest must-haves.

"Despite often leading hectic lives, taking the time to buy and sell second-hand still provides much-needed retail therapy."

High earners also do not like to see possessions they have finished with go to waste, with 42% saying they give them to charity shops, 38% hoarding them and 23% giving them to family or friends.

Around 13% of wealthy people said they sold things they did not want any more on internet sites such as eBay, while 8% tried to sell them through newspaper adverts and 6% even had stalls at car boot sales.

HOMEOWNERS are put off remortgaging because they think it is too expensive, complex and time consuming. Around 42% of homeowners do not change their home loan because they think it will take up too much time, despite the fact it could save them more than £100 a month, according to The MarketPlace at Bradford & Bingley.