Best Car Covers: Wrap Music

Top 8 Best Car Covers

Whether it’s a sports car or a snazzy truck, chances are you’ve invested a lot in your ride. If you’re serious about preserving its value, whether for trade-in time or simply for extending the life of its paint, slapping down a few bucks on a car cover falls squarely into the category of a Very Good Idea.

Like most security items in life, a cover isn’t perfect but it certainly acts as a good deterrent. That ne’er-do-well with the keys in his hand will find it more difficult to carve epithets into the paint of a covered car than one which isn’t comfortably ensconced in some form of man-made polypropylene. Same goes for the miscreant who wants to haul open the door and drive away.

We’ve searched Amazon to unearth eight good examples of the breed. As you’d expect, some are cheap while others are uber-expensive. Read on to discover what we found.

This cover has a few extra and thoughtful touches, including a zipper for easy entry into the car without having to unwrap the thing like an eagerly anticipated Christmas present. There are a few reflective strips applied at critical places as well, pleasing anyone who wants their car to look like a manufacturer’s camouflaged test mule. They’ll also help prevent wayward locals from slamming into your street parked covered classic at three in the morning.

Heavy straps with typical backpack-style clasps keep the thing grounded in heavy winds, helping to prevent the thing from flapping like a politician’s jaws at a council meeting. All sizes are the same price so, for once, fans of big Oldsmobile sedans are not punished at the checkout, though we remain objects of scorn and derision. The seller also markets this cover as waterproof, a great bonus.

No matter what car you drive – from gas-friendly hybrids to sporty sedans - the vehicle that does so much for you deserves a top-quality car cover that’s form-fitted and long-lasting for the best protection at the best price. That’s why you need to check out the offering from Seal Skin Guaranteed Fit Car Covers (SealSkinCovers.com).

Seal Skin Covers' premium car covers are built with hand-picked, ultra-strong fabric with 5 layers of water-proof, hail-proof, yet breathable protection. As a matter of fact, Seal Skin may just make the best hail-proof car cover in the entire industry with the best price, to boot. No matter what mother nature throws at you and your car – sunshine, snowstorms, or days of rain - the high-quality, anti-rotting material will conquer it. Plus, because these covers are semi-custom built for your specific make and model, they fit tight and snug for optimum, long-lasting performance.

All this protection comes backed by a 10-year warranty and free shipping in the U.S. That means you get the lowest price on any cover (Seal Skin has kept its prices down as competitors have raised theirs). And with 95,000 reviews and 400,000 verified customers, you can trust Seal Skin to deliver quality, just like they’ve been doing since 2005.

So, if you’ve been considering a car cover, definitely check out SealSkinCovers.com to shop by make, model and year and get your the best hail-proof, weather-proof protection for your vehicle in a few simple clicks. You’ll be hard-pressed to find better quality in a car cover that fits this well across all makes and models.

Unlike children’s clothes, where the small amount of material does not necessarily correspond with a small price tag, it would seem that car covers are priced within reason considering their size. This budget option seems to be a great choice for cars and SUVs of all shapes, with different length-based options ranging between rigs measuring 162 inches long to land yachts spanning 22 feet from stem to stern. The 1973 Imperial LeBaron wasn’t even that long, by the way.

This cover has built in grommets for ‘extra security’ but remember that these things certainly fall under the category of deterrent, not iron-clad theft prevention. Like all covers, it will protect against dust, debris, liquids, paint, falling objects and UV exposure. Double stitched seams provide added durability, and our non-abrasive materials won’t scratch your car.

With no fewer than a dozen different sizes and lengths on tap, the Kayme brand seems bent on offering something for just about everyone - save for the survivalist down the street who's looking for something to cover up his Sherman tank. There's a zippered door on the cover's left front for easy access to your vehicle, plus mirror pockets and wind-resistant straps for safety and stability.

Said to be made from a premium material, it is advertised as being 100% waterproof on the outside so it should be able to take a beating in both rain or snow. Deploying six layers certainly helps matters in this regard. The inside lining is crafted from cotton, a choice that will protect the car's paint from scratches should the cover move on its own for some reason. Out of more than 10,000 customers, greater than 80% have given this cover four or five stars.

While its brand name sounds like a beast of burden saddled with the first name of your senior citizen neighbor, this cover from OxGord is one of the best-reviewed units on Amazon with a decent sample size of buyers. Seven layers may sound like a great recipe for chocolate cake but it is also a great recipe for a good car cover. Multiple layers of polypropylene on top of micro-porous film and soft fleece allows for waterproof protection against the elements.

Contrary to first thought, one shouldn’t necessarily have their car wrapped tighter than a drum. Breathability is important, as are solid tie down grommets and a yaffle of drawstrings. Your author chuckled at the “semi glove fit” description, undoubtedly written by a cadre of bedwetting lawyers seeking to ward off complaints in case this cover doesn’t fit your car tighter than O.J.’s glove.

Nearly every single one of these lists includes an extravagantly priced option and this post is no exception. The crew at Cover Craft routinely list their wares for about the cost of three good derby cars. This does seem to be a case of getting what one pays for, however, with this unit featuring sheared cotton fleece so it’s exactly like wrapping your car in a sheep but without all the bleating.

Available in a variety of different colors, this super-soft cover is said to follow the contour of your car as it protects against minor indoor accidents. We presume this refers to someone dropping a screwdriver on the car and not an entire can of house paint. The outer shell is made of woven knit polyester blended with spandex, which means it dresses your car much like a 1970’s high school teacher. This particular link leads to a cover fitting a Honda S2000 but other glove-like options are available for hot rods, convertibles, and other four-wheeled treasures.

One of the few options available in black, this cover is said to provide all-weather protection while guarding against scratches and deposits from your friendly neighborhood aviary team. The black color apparently doesn’t contribute to heating the car’s interior like a wood-fired pizza oven thank to a reverse side in silver.

Reflectors adorn the edges where the car’s front fenders and side mirrors will reside. A trio of straps with buttons do the job of keeping the thing from taking to wing when the wind picks up. Most customers report using this cover on the likes of an Audi A4 or “small BMW”, despite what the ad’s assertion that this is an XL in size.

Another entrant into the elcheapo end of the car cover spectrum, this one retails for less than 30 bucks, meaning a person could conceivably double up on vehicle protection at a reasonable cost. Elastic straps at the bottom to secure the car cover around your vehicle, while the waterproof construction should repel the likes of snow and water.

The Vislone cover also, naturally, does the standard job of protecting against dust and harmful UV rays which can nuke a car’s interior if left unchecked (ask Murilee about the insides of cars at various yards he’s visited in places like Phoenix). Its package weight - the cover, not Phil - is a mere 1.8 pounds.

Just a few letters away from the name of a popular chocolate candy bar treat, this car cover features a driver’s door zipper for easy access to that cell phone charger you forgot, plus the thoughtful addition of a gasket at the top & bottom of this zipper to prevent scratching of the car’s paintwork. Beats a plastic zipper any day of the week.

Five-ply construction up top bears the brunt of snow or nuclear fallout, while thick and robust buckles keep the cover lashed to your truck. Yes, Virginia, this unit will fit over a pickup truck, partially explaining why the shipping weight is a lardy 13 pounds. It also comes with an anti-theft lock (again, this is just a deterrent) and storage bag.

Car Cover FAQ:

What is the point of a car cover?

Not all of us live in a condo with underground parking or have a fancy-pants attached garage. Properly installing a car cover can mean the difference between saving the paintwork on your pride and joy when it's parked for a spell or earning patina like what accumulated on Phil's old Impala. Come to think of it, that's a bad example since his car actually looked cool by the time all was said and done.

How do you install a car cover?

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Replaced Sparta with Kayme at #4 due to availability

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From time to time, TTAC will highlight automotive products we think may be of interest to our community. Plus, posts like this help to keep the lights on around here. Learn more about how this works.

(Editor’s note: This post is meant to both help you be an informed shopper for automotive products but also to pay for our ‘90s sedan shopping habits operating expenses. Some of you don’t find these posts fun, but they help pay for Junkyard Finds, Rare Rides, Piston Slaps, and whatever else. Thanks for reading.)

[Main photo credit: Butsaya / ShutterStock.com. Product images provided by the manufacturer.]