The 500e Abarth - All Electric - Sneak Peak!

The New 500e Abarth! Car Cover Exploration.

We were invited to a private viewing of the New All Electric 500e Abarth last weekend at Mangoletsi near Knutsford in Cheshire.   

The car was stunning in green and certainly looked and sounded the part. ( Speaker ) but at 40k wont be an easy purchase.  The initial limited production run of cars will no doubt be snapped up quickly and then hopefully the price should come down as full production kicks in.  We sized up the car against our current range and found that the same pattern we put on the standard 500e will fit, again with charge flap option.  

Call us on 01744 633985 for more information on car covers, indoor or outdoor for the Fiat 500e or new Abarth version.   More information can be found online here

Car Crime on the Increase During Lock Down

Car Crime / Theft and How To Prevent It

We can all agree 2020 wasn't the best year; Lockdowns, social distancing, never-ending rules and to top it all off... Car theft is on the rise. Lockdown’s have turned drive- ways into window shopping opportunities for car thieves and Steve Barrett, head of Direct Line, has advised purchasing anti-theft equipment to protect your car (Robinson, J, Wright J). 65% of all vehicles are stolen from the owner’s address … and the figure rises to 71% for premium vehicles (Orry, J, 2020,) 

Car theft is also becoming a lot more high tech, with criminals purchasing devices that pick up signals from your car fob that tricks your car into believing the key fob is present. This  allows them to steal keyless cars in seconds… just by opening the doors. BMW’s, Mercedes and Range Rovers are all top of the list for targeting (Walne, T, 2020)

So… what can you do to protect your car(s)? (Orry, J, 2020)

1. Lock Your Car!

This may be the most obvious method… but it’s easily forgotten. Car alarms can sometimes be missed, and it can be hard to hear if your alarm has even gone off! Make sure you double check your car is locked.  

1. Security

Reasons why Adding one of our integrated Car Cover Alarms into a Car Cover is a Great Idea...

1) Many older classic cars can be devalued by adding an after market alarm which would involve drilling and making holes in the interior.

2) Works against Keyless Entry Theft.  Even if the thieves clone your Fob, or break in and steal your keys to unlock the car, the cover needs to be removed first and, as such the alarm will activate.

3) Lock Up Garages / Storage Facilities, again when your car is locked away, give your self an fighting chance against thieves so you dont one day, turn up at your garage and the door is open and car gone.

4) The Cover Itself will keep prying eyes away from potential targeting, especially if stolen to order.

5) Prevent someone peeking under the car, they certainly wont expect there to be an alarm, this element of surprise if what will work in your favour.

Old Skool Security Tech

Steering locks can be another effective way to deter criminal, however they aren’t thief-proof and can be easily broken. The Metropolitan police recommend other methods such as alarms and security devices. (Metropolitan Police, 2020), Handbrake Locks and Wheel Clamps.

1. Move your keys

I know how easy it is to come home after a busy day and throw your keys into the abyss, leave them in a pocket, or hang them on the nearest peg. But Car Key Burglaries are very real. Thieves will break into a home primarily to steal the keys to a car. One of the best ways this can be avoided is hiding your keys. Take them upstairs, put them in a tin and away from any windows!  

A Faraday bag will also block a Keyless Fob from transmitting a poling signal to your car that can be intercepted and cloned by a third party.

1. Metropolitan Police, 2020, Is your vehicle  attracting thieves, (date last accessed 23.12.2020) Available at: https://www.met.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/theft-of-a-vehicle/vehicle-attracting-thieves/ 
2. Orry, J, 2020, Top Tips To Prevent Car Theft, Direct Line (date last accessed 21.12.2020) Available at: https://www.directline.com/car-cover/magazine/car-theft-prevention-tips 
3. Robinson, J, Wright J, Motor Theft Rockets by 60%..., 2020, Daily Mail Online, (date last accessed 20.12.2020) Available at : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8244625/Car-theft-rockets-60-cent-parts-UK-motorists-face-greater-risk-despite-lockdown.html  
4. Walne, T, 2020, Car theft has risen by 50% in five years, This Is Money, (date last accessed 23.12.2020) Available at : https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-8630527/Car-theft-risen-50-five-years-vehicle-safe.html 

So if you are concerned about protecting your pride and joy from undesirables, give us a call on 01744 633985 and we can help certainly with a Cover with integrated alarm.   Here at Coveryourcar we are the only company offering such a solution.

COVID-19

Coveryourcar / 1st Portal Network Ltd Update : 25/03/2020

COVID-19: We want to let our customers know that we are still taking orders and delivering as normal despite difficult circumstances.  Following the government’s latest advice, as a purely e-commerce business with no physical retail store, we are operating and delivering our standard products as normal. 

To keep our staff as safe as possible, our sales and customer service teams are working remotely, however customer experience should be as seamless and as efficient as always. 
Custom made covers should be made and dispatched as usual, and our standard stock covers are still going out for deliveries as always. 
Our couriers have assured us that they are still operating an extremely reliable service across their network and now adhere to a contact free delivery service.  
This means that the courier will deliver your parcel to your door, leave it for you and not require a signature, so there should be no reason to be in direct contact with the driver and you are able to stay inside you home. 
We are taking every precaution keep our staff, customers and suppliers as safe as possible, and are following the UK Governments guidelines. We will keep everyone updated if there are any further changes or developments. 
Stay Safe and best wishes from all at Coveryourcar.

Top Tips when buying a Car Cover Online.

Just a few pointers when looking to buy covers online...

A) Any company that sells you a cover on the basis that super fast delivery as the main selling point rather than the quality of fit and product, clearly shouldn't be selling covers.

B) Any company with no land / earth address has something to hide. Especially those claiming to be UK companies, but are registered in the USA or elsewhere overseas. We know of several.

C) A good cover should last years so waiting a few weeks for a custom made one to arrive should be compared with the life of the quality product you are buying cheap and getting quick. Not to mention the damage it could cause to your pride and joy.

D) Charging customers a re-stocking fee for returns, hidden deep in the T&Cs was outlawed years ago under an EU directive so should not still be happening.

E) Any company displaying lots of Glowing Reviews on their website that are clearly doctored, when third party reviews of the same company like Yell, Google or Trustpilot are terrible.

F) Any company claiming to be the UK biggest supplier, largest stockist is clearly lying.

We could go on and on but will leave it there for now.

Have a great Christmas and New Year everyone.

The Coveryourcar Team.

Toyota C-HR Cielo Custom Fit Car Cover Now Available to Buy

Our long awaited custom fit pattern for the new Toyota C-HR is now ready.  We took a C-HR and the cover down to local team rooms in Rufford to photograph and get some feedback from visitors.

The cover fitted the car beautifully as expected, inch perfect, and the pocket on the roof for the shark fin antenna was spot on and always a nice touch as this is the point a normal, generic fit cover will wear and eventually tear over time.

The fit at the rear was a particularly nice and as this car has a rear spoiler fitted, it was important to get that right from the start.

Feedback from the locals and visitors to the tea rooms was all positive.  We even took some orders on the day for a couple of other cars.  Being British designed and manufactured also went down well a in this day and age where so much is mass produced overseas.

So if you would like to know more, simply get in touch or click here for more information on the C-HR Cover shown in this blog post..

The Car Cover Team at Coveryourcar.co.uk

Why Soft Inner Linings are Bad News Outdoors

Here at Coveryourcar we are constantly asked by customers, "Do your outdoor car covers have a soft inner lining?, the thinking being soft inner lining will be gentle on paint and not scratch it.

But when it comes to inner linings on outdoor car covers, Soft, is bad. Why?  Because anything soft will....

a) Attract and Hold micro dirt particles, small enough so you cant see them but large enough to mark a car over time and become impossible to remove completely.

b) Any damp and heavy air passing through the breathable fabric which would normally just settle on the car, then vent away once the temperature rises will in fact end up making the soft lining wet.  And it will stay wet.  Imagine a Wet sweatshirt made from fleecy material hanging on a washing line, once its wet, it will take days to dry out completely, if at all.

c) A Soft inner will inhibit the covers ability to breathe, especially if it has a Polyurathane outer.  We have seen these type of covers with thick fleecy inners cause problems over the last 15 years which is why we dont sell them.

So, ideally the inner needs to be non woven, brushed or smooth and not fleecy in any way so dirt cant cling to it.

More importantly the fit of an outdoor cover needs to be extremely good, especially when the weather is bad. . Always go custom fit if you can.

Need anymore help or advise on your next Car Cover purchase?  Call us on 01744 633985 or visit us at https://www.coveryourcar.co.uk

Stormforce Plus Extra Deep Car Covers for Land Rovers, Jeeps and 4x4s

After many months of testing, altering and improving our various prototypes of our new Stormforce Plus, Extra Deep, they are now available to purchase via our website and ebay store.

We looked carefully at 4x4s and in general vehicles that sit high above the ground. These vehicles always cause you a dilemma because you can cover the bodywork but conventional covers always tend to leave the wheels exposed and a huge area under the car where air can funnel and cause issues.

So having already sought to improve the ever popular Stormforce Cover, which we started to sell and where in fact the first company ever to sell this cover back in 2005, we decided to look at the 4x4 issue and seek to improve the conventional cover by enhancing the tension hemline skirt, making it deeper.

So this enhanced, deeper hemline skirt means you can now apply two types on tension to the cover on a 4x4, the conventional elasticated hem with under straps and the extra 360 degree bungee cord with runs through the skirt.   Great for longer term storage and peace of mind.

Add in that we also include a set of extra long, interconnecting over straps as standard and we feel you have one one the best cover solutions on the market for your 4x4.

Each ones comes with a 2 year comprehensive guarantee, XL Upgraded and bigger storage bag with extra options for Security Locking Kit and Car Cover Alarm to protect your investment.

Contact us for further information or advice and we will be happy to assist.