Do Hail Car Covers Work & Protect Your Car?

Manufacturers of hail car covers often boast of their products’ ability to shield your vehicle against damage during hailstorms, but do hail covers actually work? In reality, they may provide an additional layer of protection during hailstorms, but they can never be relied upon to offer complete protection.

In What Ways Do Hail Covers For Cars Work?

A well-designed hail car cover is usually made from thick, padded material with multiple layers that are intended to absorb impacts and minimize the damage from hailstones. They may protect your car’s exterior against smaller hailstones, and cushion some of the impact of larger ones to reduce dents and dings. They are a partial preventative measure for your car’s exterior, but you can’t rely on them as a comprehensive solution.

Why Don’t Hail Car Cover Work Perfectly?

In severe hailstorms, the chunks of ice that fall can be as large as golf balls, or even bigger than that. Hail covers can provide a barrier against the smallest hailstones, but larger ones fall and hit your vehicle with too much force for a mere piece of fabric to absorb. When these hit your covered car, they are still likely to:

• Cause dents and dings
• Shatter windshields
• Scratch paintwork

Moreover, if you choose a car cover designed specifically for hail protection, you may not get the kind of protection you need against other risks during stormy weather, including heavy rainfall and airborne debris. Our best outdoor car covers offer comprehensive protection against a wide range of risks to your car, but we cannot guarantee protection against hail.

Hail car covers can be an important resource for protecting against hailstones if you have to keep your car outdoors. Their thick, padded, multi-layer construction is the main reason hail covers work as a barrier against some hailstones, absorbing and dispersing the force of smaller hailstones to prevent damage. Use this proactive approach to reduce the risk of damage from hail storms like:

• Dents
• Dings
• Scratches
• Cracked windshields

If you live in a hail-prone region, one of these vehicle covers is probably an important investment. But you must keep in mind that they are not a complete solution, and will not offer adequate protection in more severe hail storms.

Do Hail Covers Work Against Other Environmental Threats?

It’s important to check the specifications of your hail car cover to see what protections it offers against other potential threats. If the entire design revolves around hail protection, you may not get a robust defense against things like:

• Rain
• Snow
• Humidity
• UV rays
• Dirt and dust

Safeguarding your vehicle is about much more than hail, and these other environmental threats can do real damage to your car. As such, it is crucial to look for a cover that is designed to offer robust protection against the full range of threats. Our outdoor car and motorcycle covers do exactly that, and offer breathability and a gentle touch on paintwork so you can have peace of mind that your vehicle is well protected outdoors.

Frost is a common winter occurrence in regions where temperatures plummet in the colder months. Frost is primarily an inconvenience, requiring us to clear it before we can use our cars. But the aggressive methods we employ to remove frost risk damage to:

• Windshields
• Mirrors
• Windshield wipers

As such, a barrier that prevents frost forming can be very helpful. But how can car hail covers work as protective measures against frost? Well, the thick, padded materials can offer insulation that prevents frost from forming directly on the car’s surfaces. Once you remove the cover, the vehicle underneath will be free from frost.

What About Other Winter Threats?

Whilst hail car covers may offer a degree of hail and frost protection, there is no guarantee of their effectiveness against other winter threats. Some other major concerns for parking your car outdoors in the colder months include:

• Snow
• Rain
• Wind

Protecting against these requires certain design features that may not be present in all car hail covers. This is why it is particularly important to check the specifications of any covers you are considering. Identify the major environmental threats in your area and look for vehicle covers that offer the necessary protection against them to ensure your car is safe.

No car covers protect from hail completely. There are various factors that can affect their ability to protect, but the biggest threat is the force exerted by larger hailstones on impact. A well-designed hail car cover may work to absorb some of the force of hailstone impact, but you can’t rely on this to fully protect your car.

Some hailstones can be as large as baseballs, or even larger, weighing in at close to 2 lb each. By the time these hit your car, they can be traveling at up to 70 mph, causing considerable damage upon impact with your car’s metal or glass surfaces. There is no vehicle cover that can guarantee absolute protection against this kind of impact.

What About Damage From Other Sources?

A severe hailstorm may come with high winds, and this adds the risk of other damaging impacts to the equation. The cushioning provided by a hail cover for cars may not be sufficient to prevent damage from:

• Falling branches
• Airborne debris
• Intense winds

You need to understand the limitations of hail car covers and consider other protective measures if you live in a region that is prone to extreme weather conditions. More comprehensive solutions include indoor parking or robust shelters, and these are important to consider if you want to safeguard your vehicle during storms.

Finding The Best Hail Car Cover Material

If you are looking for a car, motorcycle, or van cover that protects fully against hailstones, you won’t find anything that can be fully trusted. But car hail covers do work up to a point if they are well-designed.

Important features include:

• Thick, durable materials
• Cushioning against impacts
• A multi-layer design

Our Premium Edition outdoor vehicle cover is one of the most robust and effective car covers for the full range of environmental threats, including hailstones. While we won’t tell you that it offers comprehensive protection against this threat, it does offer the best defense you will find against many others, and its ability to mitigate the damage from hailstones is up there with the top products.

The reason for this is that it is made from the best car cover material. We produce it from robust, durable polypropylene, and the Premium design involves a 7-layer construction that also incorporates waterproofing and a UV-resistant coating. On the interior, there is a soft fleece lining that is gentle on your paintwork.

With a guaranteed fit for your vehicle, this cutting-edge design protects against:

• Snow
• Frost
• Rain
• Wind

We are confident that our top-rated outdoor cover works as well as any hail covers for cars work in shielding against hailstones. Ultimately, a car cover can only do so much to protect against this particular environmental threat. But the robust properties of polypropylene with a multi-layer construction can cushion against impact to mitigate the damage from hailstones.

While car hail covers do work up to a point, we have established that they are not a complete solution for protecting your vehicle. If you want peace of mind that your car, motorcycle, or other vehicle won’t be damaged by hailstones, you need to store it under a shelter.

This can take several forms:

• A garage or indoor parking lot: These are reliable shelters that keep your car out of the elements. An indoor car cover is often recommended to help with dust, dirt, and humidity.
• A carport in your driveway: A carport can be constructed from various materials and offer a roof over your car to keep the worst of the rain, snow, and hail away.
• Parking under a bridge: If you aren’t able to park indoors or construct a shelter of your own, use an existing one. Bridges are ideal for this.

Besides trying one of these options, there are several other solutions you can try if you know there is a risk of a hailstorm. Get a reliable hail cover for your car, but combine it with other protective measures. For instance, you could place some dense blankets, cushions, or flattened cardboard boxes under the cover to add extra insulation against the impacts from hailstones.

We can’t always know when hail will strike, so it is wise to be proactive and take whatever precautions are available if you are in an area prone to hail storms.

If you are convinced that a hail car cover will work for your needs, there are several factors to take into account before you decide on the right product:

• Size and fit: Choose a hail car cover that will fit your vehicle snugly. When you order from us, you tell us the make, model, and year of your vehicle so we can guarantee a perfect fit.
• Material quality: Covers made from durable polypropylene offer the best all-round protection. For shielding against hail, look for thick, multi-layer covers like our Premium Edition outdoor cover.
• Ease of installation: It shouldn’t be overly difficult to put on a car cover. Look for user-friendly designs with plenty of built-in securing options, like the ones we sell.
• Ventilation: Car covers should be breathable to ensure moisture doesn’t build up inside. Our covers are all breathable to facilitate good air flow underneath.
• Protections offered: Besides hail, you need your cover to offer adequate protection against the full range of environmental threats in your region. Assess what those are, and search for car covers that tick all the right boxes.
• Reviews: Take the time to read user reviews and compare with other products to find the ideal solution for you.

Take all of these factors into careful consideration when searching for the right hail cover for your car. Our covers come with generous warranties and we welcome your call if you would like to ask any questions.