Photo: The News Wheel
If you regularly park your car outside in your driveway or on the street, you need a car cover to protect it from corrosive road salt, freezing precipitation, and color-fading sunshine. While you could run to the nearest Walmart and buy a one-size-fits-all car cover for under $40, there are some reasons to spend more on a custom-fitted car cover.
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Like Goldilocks said, it’s just right
A universal-fit car cover is rarely the exact size you need it to be. It’s either too large or too small. If it’s oversized, it won’t fit snugly, and the wind can catch it and lift it off. If it’s undersized, it won’t cover enough of the vehicle to do its job.
A car cover fit uniquely to your car’s shape won’t have this problem. It’ll slide on like a tailored suit.
It won’t rub the paint
Generic covers tend to run big to accommodate more sizes, like that XL T-shirt you got at a baseball game. A car cover that’s too loose will repeatedly rub against the car’s surface as the wind blows, wearing down the clearcoat and exposing the paint underneath. And if there’s dirt underneath, that rubbing results in scratches.
A custom car cover won’t wiggle when the wind blows, especially if you anchor it down.
It fits around protrusions
A generic car cover is flat and doesn’t give pockets to wrap around bulges like the side mirrors, shark fin antenna, or blower. You just have to stretch the fabric over these items, which leaves a lot of space in between the cover and the surrounding surfaces.
A custom-fit car cover has pockets that slide around these lumps so they don’t stretch the fabric and lift it off the surface.
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It’s easier to attach yourself
A universal fit car cover is challenging for a lone person to attach by themselves. Because it doesn’t fit snugly or properly around the car’s shape, it will keep popping out of place when you stretch it — so you need a second person to give you a hand.
A custom-shaped cover can easily be unrolled and hooked into place without needing someone to assist. Its snug fit helps you hook and pull the corners in place without needing help holding it in place.
You can pick the specifications
If you have special needs for your car storage, you can order a cover particular to you. Most custom cover manufacturers offer a dozen different fabrics with varying degrees of density, softness, insulation, breathability, precipitation resistance, and cost. Depending on where and how long you’re storing your car, you can customize the cover accordingly.
You can also have the cover tailored specifically to fit aftermarket upgrades like spoilers, lifts and scoops, and roof racks. After you sank money and work into customizing your car, you definitely want to protect it with a cover that fits.
A custom-fitted car cover may cost a couple of hundred dollars more than a generic one, but in the big picture of how much you spent on your car, an extra $200-300 dollars is worth the investment.
Aaron is unashamed to be a native Clevelander and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo (which recently replaced his 1995 Saturn SC-2). He gleefully utilizes his background in theater, literature, and communication to dramatically recite his own articles to nearby youth. Mr. Widmar happily resides in Dayton, Ohio with his magnificent wife, Vicki, but is often on the road with her exploring new destinations. Aaron has high aspirations for his writing career but often gets distracted pondering the profound nature of the human condition and forgets what he was writing… See more articles by Aaron.