Best Car Covers Review (2024 Ratings)

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Aidan Pounder is a Motor1 product tester who has written reviews spanning from tonneau covers to rooftop cargo boxes. If he’s not burning through the clutch on his 2003 Ford Focus Zx3, you’ll find him keeping up with the latest happenings in the world of European football. Car Dashboard Cover

An extremely durable, UV-reflective car cover that’s lightweight and easy to use.

A waterproof and breathable car cover with taped seams and a 10-year warranty.

A lightweight indoor car cover made from a high-quality, stretchable material.

A multi-layer car cover with scratch-resistant and water-repelling properties.

An all-weather car cover with integrated tie-down straps and a carrying case.

Windproof, water-repellent, and UV-resistant car covers can keep your paint job protected. This helps preserve the appearance and resale value of your vehicle. But the best car cover for your needs will vary depending on the size of your car, local weather, and whether you keep your car indoors or outside.

We’ll explain the ins and outs of car covers below and recommend some of our favorite options for auto enthusiasts.

To make purchasing a car cover as easy as possible, our team dedicated hours to researching and then physically testing a variety of options. We’ve narrowed the list down to our favorites and provided recommendations for covers with different uses and price points.

Based on a high volume of positive consumer feedback and our own personal experience using these car covers, we assessed each cover in rating categories including ease of use, material, and fit.

We named the CarCovers.com Platinum Shield, Seal Skin Supreme, Budge RSC-3, Motor Trend Safekeeper, Tour Performance, Budge Lite, OxGord Executive Storm-Proof, and FH Group C502-L as the best-rated car covers on the market in 2024.

*Because cost data fluctuates, the prices in the table above are approximate values that our team regularly updates.

To select the car covers featured in this buyers guide, we consulted our network of experts for their thoughts on vehicle covers. These experts have over 100 years of combined experience in aftermarket auto fields ranging from detailing to accessories to tires, and everything in between. They helped us identify the qualities that would be most important to someone looking for a car cover. One important feature we looked for in particular was car covers that would not retain moisture.

We next ordered many car covers for testing aiming to try out car covers at a variety of price points. We also ordered the most popular products from retailers like Amazon, RealTruck, and Advance Auto Parts. When ordering these covers, we look at factors such as material, build quality, customer ratings, and prices. Even after our initial testing, we continue to keep an eye out for new quality car covers and may update this page if we come across more worthy recommendations.

Learn more about how we tested car covers here.

The CarCovers.com Platinum Shield is one of the best-fitting car covers we tested. All their covers are model-specific and constructed of high-quality, UV-resistant material.

The lightweight material is not only durable but safe on your car’s paint. The inner fleece layer is soft and breathable to protect paint and prevent mildew and moisture buildup. The outer layer is a light, reflective color, which helps with UV resistance and keeps your vehicle cooler.

You can see how the CarCovers.com Platinum Shield performed in each category below:

We think this cover is unmatched when it comes to overall protection and ease of use. Below are the pros and cons of the CarCovers.com Platinum Shield:

We think this car cover excels in every important category: it’s made from a durable material, is easy to install, and fits like a glove (due in part to model-specific sizing).

The Platinum Shield’s material is both stretchy and durable. It is not prone to tearing, and the thick elastic band is well-stitched around the ends of this cover. The inner layer is soft. The silver reflective outer layer is UV-resistant. CarCovers.com products also have a layer of micro-porous film that is both waterproof and breathable, allowing trapped moisture to evaporate.

This cover fit our test car perfectly. The elastic hem is strong enough to keep the cover secure without the need for additional straps. However, CarCovers.com does have a strap to keep this cover secured in high winds.

We had no problems fitting this cover over our test vehicle. With any car cover, using two people makes the job easier, but this is still not too hard to install with only one person.

The Seal Skin Supreme Car Cover is an optimal outdoor cover because it offers excellent weather protection. The high-quality material is both water-repellant and breathable. This is accomplished by utilizing as few openings as possible (no antenna hole or mirror sleeves) and using taped seams. The SEAL-TEC fabric design is specifically engineered to offer the best resistance to water incursion.

You can see how the Seal Skin Supreme Car Cover performed in each of our review categories below:

This cover also comes with an impressive 10-year warranty against rips, tears, and breathability issues. Below are the pros and cons of the Seal Skin Supreme Car Cover:

Like the Platinum Shield, we were impressed by the material quality of the Seal Skin Supreme cover. While this cover is better designed to repel water, it is less reflective and is not quite as easy to install because it requires using straps underneath.

This material is extremely durable and tear-resistant. It’s hard to imagine this fabric ripping unless you took a knife to it. The inner lining is soft, and the taped seams are completely waterproof.

The Seal Skin cover fits somewhat loosely but is secured by an understrap. Once tightened, this cover cannot blow away.

The Seal Skin cover isn’t too difficult to install, but the understrap does mean you’ll have to get on your hands and knees to secure this cover. This makes it a little harder to install than the Platinum Shield, but overall, installation doesn’t present much of a challenge.

The Budge RSC-3 is our product testing team’s pick for the best indoor car cover available on the market. This car cover is extremely breathable, meaning the car cover will dry quickly to prevent the formation of mold or mildew.

This indoor car cover consists of a soft inner liner, soft stretch outer layer, and full elastic hem. As the car cover isn’t designed for outdoor use, it is not especially water-resistant, but it will hide any dings and dents from view. The cover is made from nylon and polyester material, meaning it is lightweight and can easily be stowed away even if you have limited storage space.

You can see how the Budge RSC-3 performed in each category below:

This high-quality car cover is designed for indoor use, but it can protect against airborne pollutants and also offers UV protection. Below are the pros and cons of the Budge RSC-3:

The Budge RSC-3 has everything you could ask for from an indoor car cover. The material is high-quality and durable, the cover fits well, and it’s easy to install and remove.

While some other car covers we have tested seemed like they had a high propensity to rip or tear, the material of this car cover was great to work with. The stretchy material meant we didn’t have to worry about tearing holes in the cover. The silky material is gentle on car surfaces.

Many car covers we tested featured an elastic hem for the front and rear of the vehicle, but not the sides. As this cover had an elastic hem around the entirety, it meant that the car cover snugly fit onto our test vehicle. Fitting this cover to the car was so easy that it drew comparisons from our testing team to putting a fitted bed sheet on a mattress.

Sometimes less is more. While many car covers come with straps or buckles to tie down your cover to the vehicle, this cover didn’t. We found that the elasticized hem meant this car cover fit our test vehicle well but it didn’t require us to be on our hands and knees connecting buckles underneath the car. It did include a cord to tie underneath the car – however, we didn’t find it made much of a difference, as the cover was already secured properly.

Built to handle any weather conditions, the Motor Trend SafeKeeper is our product testing team’s choice for the Best Water-Repelling Car Cover in 2024. This six-layer car cover consists of an outer breathable film, outer ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), waterproof sealant layer, particle filter film layer, enhanced polyethylene (PE) compound foam comfort layer, and an inner scratch-proof fleece lining.

Providing heat and cold resistance, the breathable woven polyester also prevents moisture build-up. The exterior layer of this car cover is well-made and durable, it even includes reflective safety strips.

You can see how the Motor Trend SafeKeeper performed in each category below:

This car cover greatly reduces water incursion, and it offers protection from UV rays. Additionally, it includes wind-resistant safety straps to ensure a snug fit over your vehicle. Below are the pros and cons of the Motor Trend SafeKeeper:

Although the number of layers that make up a car cover wasn’t part of our testing criteria, it should be noted that the Motor Trend SafeKeeper is one of only two multi-layer covers that we tested. The multi-layer design certainly gives this car cover a leg up on the competition.

In terms of the layers that you can visibly see, the interior and exterior layers, we had no qualms. The interior layer was soft and ensured no damage would come to the car’s paint, while the exterior layer was thick, durable, and seemed to be built to withstand anything Mother Nature might throw its way.

This car cover fit snugly over our test vehicle, and the wind-resistant safety straps ensured the car cover wouldn’t blow off when we left the car unattended. The front hood of the car fit especially well, but we would’ve liked to see mirror pockets included in the design for the cover to receive a perfect score in this testing category.

This car cover was arguably the easiest to use of the covers that our team tested. The wind-resistant safety straps were already buckled, meaning our team members didn’t need to crawl under the underside of the car to secure the cover. We simply tightened the straps, and the car cover was good to go.

The Tour Performance is a semi-custom fit car cover manufactured by Eevelle. This all-weather car cover is made with three-layer spun-bond polypropylene designed to resist water incursion. It is also made with convenience in mind, so includes a large carrying sack and integrated straps for a secure fit.

You can see how the Tour Performance Car Cover performed in each category below:

The Tour Performance really shines when it comes to ease of use. Despite being a semi-custom fit, this car cover easily enveloped our test vehicle almost perfectly, even before using the tie-down straps. Below are the pros and cons of the Tour Performance Car Cover:

The Tour Performance is an all-weather car cover that offers a semi-custom fit. It’s built with sturdy materials and is easy to store.

The polypropylene used with the Tour Performance is tough and tear-resistant but doesn’t allow for much stretch. This may not hold up as well as multi-layer car covers but is nonetheless suitable for all weather conditions.

This cover fits as well as any custom-fit car cover that we tested, and we noticed no excess material. If the fit is a little baggy, the Tour Performance cover has integrated tie-down straps.

The car cover is one of the easiest to use among those we tested. While it is simple to put on the car, what really helps it in this category are the integrated tie-down straps and the included carry bag. The tie-down straps run underneath the car, but would not be necessary except on especially windy days.

When not in use, they easily store in velcro-closed side compartments. Most car covers we tested include small carrying bags that are near-impossible to use without perfectly folding the cover away. This carry bag is larger, stretchy, and forgiving, making the Tour Performance easy to store in the trunk.

The Budge Lite is an affordable option for those looking to protect their vehicle without spending hundreds of dollars. This car cover is lightweight and is made from a single layer of spun-bond polypropylene.

The elasticized hem guarantees the car cover won’t fly off in the wind and ensures a snug fit. The sewn-in grommets act as additional reinforcement against the wind, and using a cable to secure the cover with the grommets can act as a theft deterrent. The seams are double-stitched for increased durability, and non-abrasive materials ensure that no damage will be caused to the car’s paintwork.

You can see how the Budge Lite performed in each category below:

This indoor car cover is fully breathable and features an elasticized hem as well as built-in grommets. Below are the pros and cons of the Budge Lite:

Price wasn’t one of our testing criteria, but it would be unwise to overlook the cost of a product. This car cover offers quality indoor protection at an affordable price. It should also be noted that the manufacturer mentions that the cover is somewhat UV-resistant.

The cover received the lowest material score out of all of the covers that we tested. The material is more delicate than other covers, which isn’t ideal even for indoor protection. Our team members felt that they had to coax the material around the edges of our testing vehicle.

The fit was about what we expected. It fit overtop the vehicle, but it didn’t cover much of the wheels. Sewn-in grommets and an included cable ensured the cover wouldn’t blow off in the wind.

Engulfing our test vehicle with this car cover was easy. However, due to the delicate nature of the material, we felt we had to exercise caution while installing or removing this car cover. The thin material does make this car cover easier to fold away when not in use.

The OxGord Executive Storm-Proof is an outdoor car cover that’s adept at handling a variety of weather conditions. This semi-custom car cover not only offers UV light protection but is also water-resistant. Featuring reinforced seams for added durability, the OxGord is also highly breathable to ensure mold and mildew don’t form.

This multi-layer car cover features seven layers, five of which are layers of spunbond polypropylene. The remaining two layers consist of one layer of micro-porous film and a soft layer of cotton.

You can see how the OxGord Executive Storm-Proof performed in each category below:

Additionally, elastic hems are included on the front and rear of the vehicle, making the fit notably better than it would’ve been without the inclusion of elastic hems. Below are the pros and cons of the OxGord Executive Storm-Proof:

The OxGord Executive Storm-Proof is a great option for those looking to purchase a car cover to protect their vehicle against the elements. Most car covers only feature a single layer, but this seven-layer car cover shows why multi-layer car covers are so sought after.

Our product testing team was quite impressed with this car cover. While some car covers are lightweight and leave you wondering how they could protect against adverse weather conditions, this cover leaves nothing to the imagination. The cover is thick, durable, and has an interior layer that is extremely soft.

Comparisons to a tarp being thrown over a car came to mind for our testing team when taking a step back to scrutinize the fit of this car cover. While this car cover did cover most of the wheels’ surface area, it felt oversized on the whole. Several of our team members had concerns about this cover flying off in the wind because of its bagginess.

Covering our testing vehicle with this car cover was relatively easy compared to the other car covers that we tested. You may still need an extra set of hands, as the cover is heavier than most of the others that we tested.

Designed for outdoor use, the FH Group C502-L is a good pick for a low-cost car cover for UV protection. This outdoor car cover is water-resistant, UV-resistant, and can shield your car from airborne pollutants. The cover is made from breathable polyester material, meaning the car will air out and dry before mold has a chance to form.

The C502-L’s polyester material is treated with a special silver coating for increased durability. The inner lining of this cover is soft and scratch-resistant, which means you won’t need to worry about damaging your car’s exterior with the cover.

You can see how the FH Group C502-L performed in each category below:

Something that separates the C502-L from the competition is the fact that this car cover is heat-reflective, hence our team naming it the Best Car Cover for Extreme Sun. Below are the pros and cons of the FH Group C502-L:

The FH Group C502-L is a reliable outdoor cover to protect vehicles from the elements. Our product testing team believes this car cover will perform as advertised.

While there’s only one layer of material, that one layer is extremely durable and able to handle various weather conditions.

The fit of the car cover on our test vehicle was average. Our product testing team found that no matter how much you tweak, adjust, or reposition this cover, it simply won’t cover the bottom half of your car very well. The front of the vehicle cover does fit well.

The process of getting this car cover wrapped around the exterior of our test vehicle and then later removed was standard compared to the rest of the car covers we tested.

Car covers are seemingly simple by design, but this isn’t the case for all high-quality covers. A surprising amount of engineering and design goes into these products, making the process of figuring out what works best for you more complicated.

Indoor covers are drastically different from outdoor covers. The features of each type of cover vary, as does the way the car cover should be used.

This type of car cover is meant to protect your vehicle from the hazards of the garage. While you may view your garage as a safe place to store your vehicle, the dust that’s typically found in a garage can ruin your car’s paint. Additionally, this type of cover should protect against any accidental bumps or dings when you pull out gear from your garage.

Outdoor covers are meant to protect your vehicle from a wide variety of weather conditions. Whether rain, sun, or sleet, this type of cover should be equipped to handle almost anything Mother Nature brings its way. Additionally, outdoor covers are typically UV-resistant and meant to withstand bird droppings and tree sap.

If you’re looking to purchase an outdoor cover, that cover will need to handle a variety of weather conditions.

Our review team recently caught up with Kyle Marker, Parts Manager at Leith Lincoln in Raleigh, NC, to discuss his favorite car products and accessories:

“People don’t realize [car covers] are not supposed to be waterproof,” said Marker, noting that a fully waterproof cover can actually retain moisture and contribute to mold formation. “They’ll keep moisture in, and you want moisture to flow in and out… You want there to be some transfer.”

He added that low-quality car covers tend to be thicker, contributing to the issue described above. A high-quality car cover is more likely to be marketed as water-resistant.

If you do not drive your vehicle daily and store it outdoors, it might be time to invest in a car cover. It just takes a few minutes to cover a vehicle by yourself, but those few minutes can potentially save your vehicle from environmental damage.

For the most part, our team has found that you get what you pay for when it comes to car covers. A basic car cover costs roughly $30. However, if you want to invest in one of the best car covers on the market, expect to spend at least $100 to $200.

Putting a car cover on your vehicle is a pretty straightforward process. Most manufacturers designate one side as the “front” of the cover, typically with a marking or label, which fits over the vehicle’s front bumper. From there, you pull the rest of the cover across the vehicle and smooth out any bunched areas.

Many car cover manufacturers make their products machine-washable, although you should always consult the owner’s manual for the best way to clean your purchase.

It’s also quite common for car covers to be sold with a storage bag. Those storage bags are meant to help keep the cover generally clean, as well as prevent it from collecting dust and debris when not in use.

After making sure the size and fit of the car cover you choose works for your vehicle, the next thing you should consider is where your car typically lives. Will your car be outside or staying in a garage? If it’s the latter, UV protection may not be as important. But if you are storing the vehicle outside and you live in a colder climate, a cover durable enough for harsh winters might be the appropriate choice.

The point is that for preserving a vehicle that is either valuable or you don’t drive daily, car covers can be a critical part of that process. Below are our picks for the best car covers in 2024:

Below are some common frequently asked questions about car covers:

After testing a number of car covers in person, our product testing team felt that the CarCovers.com Platinum Shield was the best car cover based on the strength of the material, model-specific sizing, and ease of use. If you only need an indoor cover, you might consider the Budge RSC-3.

Car covers can be worth it for drivers who want to protect their vehicles from the elements. A car cover can protect your car from inclement weather, bird droppings , harmful UV rays , and more.

Quality car covers should not ruin paint when used properly, but as with most things, improper use means they have the potential to do so. This is mainly because of dirt, debris, and grime that can be caught under your car cover if you’re not diligent about keeping your cover clean.

As long as you purchase a high-quality, properly-sized car cover, there aren’t really any downsides to using a car cover. If you purchase a car cover that does not fit properly or is made with poor materials, it could damage your paint. Car covers that don’t have proper ventilation can also cause mold and mildew buildup in certain climates.

Car covers can be stolen, though you can reduce the possibility of theft if you lock your car cover. Some covers include a special grommet and wire to secure the cover not only from wind but also thieves.

Darker colors, such as black or brown, absorb more sunlight whereas lighter colors disperse heat. If you’re concerned about the cover looking dirty, a darker fabric will be better at hiding grime.

Fabrics that are breathable and treated for UV protection usually make for the best outdoor car covers.

If you own a car that is not driven daily or you want to better protect it from the environment, a car cover can be a useful tool.

For our in-person testing, a team member tried each car cover on a sedan, taking notes on how well the car covers fit, material quality, and ease of use. Each car cover was given a rating out of 5.0 stars based on these criteria. These car covers were tested using a 2003 Ford Focus ZX3 and a 2017 Ford Fusion Hybrid SE.

The sections below detail the assessment process for each testing category:

For this testing category, we first took note of each car cover’s materials. Strong and breathable materials that prevent water accumulation and mold scored better in this category. During testing, we observed how the material stretched across our test vehicle and gauged its durability, noting any rips or tears.

We gave the highest scores in this category to snug-fitting car covers that managed to envelop the entire vehicle. Loose-fitting car covers that can be well-secured with tie-down straps could still receive a high score in this category. Car covers that are especially baggy or could blow off in a strong wind scored poorly in this category.

Our ease of use rating is an evaluation of how quickly a car cover can be installed and removed, as well as how easy it is to fold and store. To score well in this category, a car cover should be easily attached and secured by one person in a few minutes. Car covers that fold away well, or fit easily into a carrying case also received high ratings in this category.

Every car cover we test is given a score between 1.0 and 5.0 stars in each category. Here’s what those star ratings mean in concrete terms:

Each year, we test over 350 auto products on vehicles and in our testing lab. Our team of product testers thoroughly researches top products, unboxes and puts our hands on each component, and tests the items on real vehicles before making recommendations to readers.

We publish hundreds of product and service reviews to bring car enthusiasts detailed guides on automotive tools, detailing kits, car seats, pet products, and much more. For more information on our testing methodology and how we evaluate every product, check out our methodology page here.

*Data accurate at time of publication. Products subject to availability.

As a member of both the APA and IMPA, Charles Noyes has devoted himself to creating and refining quality content covering automotive products and accessories, motorcycle products, RV products, and more. As the lead editor serving the product review team, he has personally reviewed, critiqued, and fact-checked over 200 product reviews.