CarCovers.com Platinum Shield SUV Cover Review

With no end in sight to the heavy snowfalls we were getting in Toronto, Canada, this winter, I decided to reach out to CarCovers.com for a little help. They sent me a Platinum Shield SUV Cover for my Toyota Highlander Hybrid so that I could review their product and share it with you.

The back-story

Last year I made the switch to being completely self-employed, which has been a learning experience, fun, and challenging, but it’s also made one critical difference where my car is concerned: With all of the extra equipment, tool chests, and more, there is no room for me to park my car in the garage anymore.

So what do you do when you live in Canada but can’t park a car in your garage over the winter? You either leave your car outside to get covered in snow and ice, and spend hours brushing and scraping… or here’s a much easier idea: just get a car cover.

I went with Option B) and picked up a Platinum Shield SUV cover, and I was once again impressed with what I was getting from CarCovers.com

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Features

The Platinum Shield SUV cover comes with a number of features that fit my needs. I’ll outline my top three favorite, and give an honorable mention, and tell you about a thing or two I didn’t care much about.

Protecting my SUV from the elements

Protection from snow and ice was my #1 reason for getting a cover from CarCovers.com. By removing the Platinum Shield SUV cover, my SUV was completely free of snow in a matter of seconds. No more spending five, ten, or even fifteen minutes clearing off snow and scraping off ice.

Staying on your SUV

If an average car cover gets caught in a storm, there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll see it blowing down the street. This fitted CarCovers.com withstood a whole Canadian winter. The elastic seam and hem and the fact that you can enter your Year/Make/Model on their website means that you get a cover that fits your automobile really well. This isn’t a tailor-made piece, it’s still a little off-the-rack, but compared to buying a generic parts store cover, this is like buying off-the-rack from Armani, not from Wal-Mart.

Security

In all honesty, security was not a big part of my decision-making process. I park in my backyard. I wasn’t concerned about anyone coming all the way on my property just to steal my cover. However, if security is a concern for you, good news: the cover comes with a cable and lock for making sure no one steals your fancy cover.

Doesn’t get gross

The cover is mold, rot, and mildew resistant. That’s a good thing, considering the cover gets rained on, snowed on, set down on the grass in the backyard and left for nine hours on the ground. Despite getting used and abused it didn’t “get gross”, and I’m kind of impressed by that.

Easy to store

I mostly just left mine in my backyard, or tucked under something heavy if it was windy, and it was fine, but if you don’t have the luxury of leaving your cover on your driveway, no worries. The cover comes with a little cinch bag that you can put it in. In my experience the bag isn’t totally waterproof though, so if your cover goes in wet, a little bit of wetness could come of it and you might find a bit of water in the trunk of your car. Luckily though, getting the cover into the bag only takes about a minute.

Warranty

The warranty is one of my favorite things about the cover because I’m no fun and nerdy stuff like this excites me, but here it is: CarCovers gives you a lifetime warranty on any defects in the product. Now, this doesn’t mean that you’re covered in case of your own stupidity, so if you melt your cover on your exhaust pipes, that wouldn’t be a warranty issue, but if your cover should ever not perform the way it was supposed to, you can send it back.

How did it do?

Obviously, I was more sold on some of the features than others, and you might like different things about the Platinum Shield SUV cover than I do, but the most important part is: How did this thing actually perform?

To answer that I’ll be sharing with you guys the answers to the three things I was most worried about:

• How quick is it to put the cover on?
• How good is the quality of the cover and will it last?
• Does the cover fold up small enough to not be in the way?

How quick is it to put the cover on?

The cover needed to be convenient, that was my top concern. Putting on the cover takes about a minute, maybe less, which is perfect for me because I don’t want to be out in the cold for too long. If I wanted to take the extra step of using the security/lock system I think I could still have this all wrapped up in under two minutes.

How good is the quality and will it last?

Convenience was my number one concern, but quality was a close second. After all, I needed the cover to be convenient so I would use it every day, but I also needed it to be durable so that I could use it every day and not wear it out. Once again, I was really impressed with the quality of the cover and have no doubts it’ll last a long time. It feels similar to my CarCovers motorcycle cover that I got five years ago and has held up well.

Does the cover fold up small enough?

Yes, though admittedly stuffing it into the bag does take some getting used to. You could also just stuff it into your trunk, or leave it in your backyard.

Final thoughts

Overall, you can probably already tell that I really like this product. CarCovers.com’s Platinum Shield SUV cover is an awesome product, but there’s a couple more miscellaneous things I wanted to address.

What’s the price?

The price for the Platinum Shield cover that my SUV takes was $209. You can buy a lot of cheap covers for half that price. CarCovers.com also offers covers for about half that price themselves as well. Spending extra on the Platinum Shield cover gets you better snow and UV protection, better fitment for your vehicle, a lifetime warranty, and the interior is fleece lined and really soft so you feel like you’re pampering your vehicle. It’s a premium tier product with a premium price tag.

Can I use it if I live some place hot?

Yes! My SUV is over ten years old, so for my own vehicle I wasn’t really concerned with the hot sun beating down on it all day every day. For me, this was simply about eliminating the time and energy I wasted clearing snow and scraping ice off my car. If you live some place hot and want a cover that can help keep your vehicle cool and protected from the sun and the heat, this cover will still work for you.

Do they make a truck cover?

Yes, CarCovers makes a huge variety of truck covers. For example, for my year of F150, they make over half a dozen different truck cover configurations, to cover every single different size configuration the F150 was sold in my year. Check out this review of my F150 Platinum Shield truck cover for more details.

Conclusion

As the owner of a CarCovers.com motorcycle cover for the last five years, the Platinum Shield SUV cover lives up to all of my expectations. On one occasion it must have had a couple hundred pounds of snow on it, in went freezing conditions, and did a fantastic job of pampering my old SUV.

If you’re looking for a ultra-premium motorcycle or car cover, their platinum series of covers continue to impress me.