| Outdoor car covers are virtually a necessity in the UK, | | | | week or more at a time. |
| offering as many ways of protecting your car as | | | | Another important point worth considering is the car |
| there are types of weather intent on spoiling its good | | | | itself. This might seem obvious, but it's amazing just |
| looks. That's before you've even considered the cat's | | | | how many people choose outdoor car covers with |
| paw prints, bird droppings and tree sap. So what are | | | | relatively little regard for the car which will be |
| the best ways of protecting your car? | | | | underneath. For example, if you car has a soft top |
| We're lucky in the UK to be able to enjoy such a wide | | | | then this is likely to make a great deal of difference as |
| variety of weather, which makes using outdoor car | | | | far as which type of car cover you use, and especially |
| covers virtually a necessity, unless you enjoy cleaning | | | | the type of material it's made from. |
| your car on a regular basis, scraping off half a ton of | | | | Soft tops absorb a lot of moisture, and covering up |
| ice and snow each morning only to reveal the nice | | | | your car with a relatively non-breathable material such |
| paintwork and rubber seals to the blasting UV rays of | | | | as the plastic that's used in budget outdoor car covers |
| the sun before a deluge of rain helps the bird | | | | can easily result in a build-up of mildew around the |
| droppings and muddy paw prints to spread over an | | | | edges and seams of the soft top as well as the |
| even wider area before congealing into a | | | | rubber seals, damaging the material as well as reducing |
| Escher-esque work of art. Often that's all within in day | | | | the visual appearance of the car. |
| too. | | | | Although it's easy to think about the way in which |
| But simply covering up your car with a tarpaulin, sheet | | | | outdoor car covers can help to protect against |
| or any of the many outdoor car covers on the market | | | | moisture, rain, ice and snow, especially here in the UK, |
| isn't always necessarily enough. It's important to have a | | | | it's worth remembering that this isn't all the weather we |
| good idea of several aspects before choosing which | | | | experience, and that just occasionally it's possible to |
| form of cover is most suited to your needs. | | | | find the sun shining. |
| For example, do you use your car on a daily basis, or | | | | When it does there's another very real danger - UV |
| is it left out just occasionally? This single point alone | | | | radiation. This is the exact same type of sunlight that |
| can make a huge amount of difference in terms of | | | | causes sunburn, and in a few short hours it can start |
| both the effectiveness of the cover you choose and | | | | to cause damage to the car, fading the paintwork and |
| the convenience of using that cover. | | | | causing the rubber seals to harden and perish. Some |
| If you purchase one of the cheaper outdoor car | | | | outdoor car covers offer UV protection, and so if your |
| covers you may find that they're more suited to daily | | | | car is likely to be left out in direct sunlight then it's worth |
| use, which can prove to be a real problem if you're | | | | bearing this in mind too. |
| looking at covering your car for several days or a | | | | |