Make sure the car is very clean before you put the cover on it. Otherwise the inside of the cover gets dirty and will aid in the scratching of paint

 

Amazon offers a wide range of options for different applications (long- or short-term storage). The process of removing, reinstalling, storing, and hooking up to a tender is a significant part for me. Buy one with the most layers for long-term storage, and vice versa.

 

Best cover to have is NOT to cover your car ,it will last longer and better with the air drying it outside.

 

I do factory indoor cover underneath some generic outdoor car cover.

This way I could wash the indoor car cover easily in a washing machine if needed. This also ensures the one touching the paintjob is very snug fit while I could focus on the materials used and thickness for the one over that without worrying about fitment as part of consideration. I've noticed this allows the cover to breathe a bit as well.

 

I live in a hot climate & from my experience with using a cover on a small RV trailer I saw temps inside the vehicle substantially *higher* vs with no cover. Also the issue with dust + wind = bad news for any vehicle exterior. Would pay for covered storage if I had to vs using a cover again.

 

Car covers can be very useful to protect the car from dust, air pollution, and even random flying objects. I agree it's not good for under direct sunlight, but it can be very handy for other conditions.

It just depends on the environment where the car is parked. My car is parked in a covered parking (but not indoor/underground) with no real direct sunlight, but faces the sea. So the interior temperature will not be an higher with or without a car cover.

I live in a very hot climate (summers seeing pretty much 90-95F every day, and often times creep above 100F). It also has very strong winds at times, and even Typhoons.

My car's parked in there in two occasions of typhoons that are CAT5-equivalent in hurricane -- once with the cover, and once without. The time I did not cover the car, the crevices were blasted and covered with fine dust + debris. Door jamb, the cowl cover, drains around the trunk lid, and even the battery area under the cover were covered with very fine dust. None of this happened when the car cover was on it. Who knows what happened to areas I can't see easily.

My area can also get very humid (typically 80%+ in relative humidity, and hitting 100% on some days). There are times that my car would be covered with a thin layer of gunk because humidity would cause dust and grime stick on the paint job. I'm sure that can't be good for the paint job.

I've also done an experiment where I've deliberately left some water under the frunk plastic panels as well as a few other spots. The water did dry out after a few days even in very humid conditions, so this goes to show the covers are breathing somehow.

One thing that's much needed for me is to keep dehumidifier buckets in the cabin to prevent molds (and yes ... that has happened to my other car before too ...)

P.S. On a related note, I do put my sunlight blocking windshield cover outside the car instead of inside the car when parked under sunlight ... also helps a lot