For most of us, next to buying a house, our car is the biggest investment we will make during our lifetime. While insurance may give us some peace of mind, the fact is that the excess payable to repair any damage is often more than the cost of simply preventing the damage in the first place.
By investing in the following affordable accessories, you can keep your car looking better for longer and enhance its market value when it comes time to sell.
Dings and Dents
Dings and dents are an almost unavoidable risk of daily driving. Parking at shopping centres and public car parks can seem a bit like dodgem cars and, as anyone who has visited a panel repair shop for a quote will tell you, prevention costs far less than the cure.
Simply by investing a comparatively small amount of money in the heavy-duty armour provided by bumper protection and nudge bars, damage from accidental front or rear collisions will be a thing of the past.
Bonnet Protection
Long-distance drivers are at major risk of two things – windscreen damage and stone chips being thrown up by passing trucks. As the majority of stone chip damage occurs on the leading edge of the engine hood, bonnet protection in the form of a robust guard is the perfect solution.
Smooth and sleek, hood guards form a discreet barrier to protect one of your car’s most vulnerable surfaces. Bonnet protection comes in a wide range of moulds to fit most vehicles. Designed for wind resistance and fashioned from sun-protective UV acrylic, they are easy to fit and an economically viable way to protect the duco on your car’s bonnet.
Transporting Goods
Gone are the days of ugly, roof carriers. Modern platform carriers are sleek and discreet, protecting the roof of your car when transporting tricky-shaped or bulky items. Made from robust alloy, heavy-duty flat roof platform carriers often require no modification to install. Their high weight bearing significantly increases a car’s carrying capacity and is ideal for sports enthusiasts and holidaymakers who traditionally have had to invest in expensive trailers or risk damaging the roof of their car.
Paint Protection
Just as some people have their sofas coated with products like Scotchgard to protect them, some products can be applied to Duco to form a hard protective coating. Sometimes offered as an aftermarket product, it pays to shop around, as pricing and effectiveness vary.
Applying a protective coating can be costly so may not make financial sense to many car enthusiasts. However, for vintage, classic or top-of-the-range vehicles, or cars exposed to the elements, this may be a solution that keeps the vehicle looking pristine for longer. A protective coating can diminish or eliminate the corrosive effects of bird droppings on paintwork and reduce the need for washing and polishing.
Applied regularly, car wax and paint sealants can form a protective barrier, however, cuts and polishes should be carried out sparingly, perhaps once per year. The process will eliminate fine scratches and marks but it may conversely remove a microscopic layer of coating from your car’s paintwork.
Mat Finish
Car floor mats are an affordable way to protect the interior footwell of your car, particularly around the accelerator pedal where wear and tear can result in unsightly and dangerous holes. Sturdy rubber floor mats are ideal as, unlike carpet, they are easy to hose down, resist slipping and displacement, and are far more resilient.
Saving Junk in Your Trunk
All-weather, rubber car boot liners and polythene cargo mats are an affordable and quick way to protect your car boot or trunk and bring it back to the new. Lightweight boot liners are also anti-slip and easy to clean.
Whether you use your boot for transporting the dog, fishing expeditions, packing in the kids’ sporting equipment or simply loading the shopping, spills and tears can occur. Investing in a washable boot liner, for the price of a few cups of coffee, can keep your trunk fresh, protected and free from odours (sorry doggies).
Investing a small amount in protecting your car now can end up saving you thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars, in repair costs in the long term. Consider the savings you could make and check out our affordable range of protective accessories.