Best Car Seat Covers for Both Comfort and Style

You’ve got mats to protect your floorboards but nothing to protect the upholstery of your seats? That’s like lying on a beach at the height of summer with only a little bit of zinc oxide on your nose! While the floorboards factor into your resale or trade-in value, nothing is more immediately noticeable than your car seat upholstery. If it’s frayed, cracked or stained, you’ll take a hit when you’re ready to sell. But, this is easily avoided with a set of car seat covers. They protect your interior and make an excellent investment when chosen carefully.

Are seat covers worth the hassle?

Most covers on the market today slip on and off with no tools required and are available for all seats and rows in your vehicle. Many are even treated with water and stain repellents for complete spill protection. Plus, there are a number of options and styles available for today’s car seat covers and truck seat covers, including camo seat covers, Hawaiian seat covers and a wide range of custom seat covers to suit any interior. Just make sure you’re looking at covers manufactured from quality fabrics with a soft foam backing for added comfort and durability.

Our massive selection of seat covers covers a wide span of price points. One area you don’t want to skimp on is quality, which is why it might not be such a bad idea to stick with some of the most trusted brand names, like Wet Okole, CalTrend and Coverking seat covers. You also want to ensure that your seat covers actually fit your seats. That’s why we always recommend opting for custom fit seat covers. Designed for your exact year, make, and model, custom seat covers provide the best protection, and they install easily.

Leather/leatherette seat covers:

When shopping for seat covers, many people are looking to upgrade the appearance of their interior. If that’s the case, leather seat covers are the perfect fit. They provide the luxurious appearance and feel of leather at a fraction of the cost of actual leather interior. In fact, many people purchase their vehicle with the standard cloth covers and upgrade with aftermarket leather seat covers as an easy and cost-effective way of dressing up their vehicle.

With such an exact fit, custom fit options, many passengers will just assume that’s just how your car left the factory and not even give them a second thought. This is especially true for our genuine leather options, as they bring that awesome authentic leather smell and feel to your interior that just can’t be matched by synthetics. This is a perfect way to maintain a luxurious feel in cars that came with leather seats from the factory, or to add to a car that came with cloth to add an upscale feel while protecting your seats in the process.

Canvas seat covers:

If you’re looking for fabrics that are more durable, covers made from microfiber and endura might be more suited to your needs. Whether you’re looking for dog car seat covers or something else to protect your interior from children or the demands often placed on a heavily-trafficked work vehicle, microfiber is UV fade-resistant and blocks stains. Endura takes that protection to the next level by providing an impenetrable layer of defense that stops spills from leaking through and actually resists pet hair from accumulating. Additionally, endura is known for maintaining an even temperature, perfect for avoiding hot seats in the summer and cold ones in the winter.

Because canvas is such a tough material and does not stretch, these generally sit a little more loose on your seats. This means they are easy to pull on and off, but especially ballistic canvas seat covers prioritize maximum protection and toughness over looking like a factory option. The plus of this is you can throw them on when you need them, and then easily pull them off to enjoy a stock feel while you toss them in the washer and dryer without a care.

Neoprene/Neosupreme

Neoprene seat covers are one of the most popular options for active people who want the comfort and functionality neoprene can provide, but also want to add a splash of color to their interior. They’re manufactured from the same material used in wet suits, making them water resistant. They’re also UV protected, keeping your interior safe while retaining their own like-new appearance.

With how stretchy a material neoprene is, they hug your seat’s contours better than almost any other material out there, making it look like your car rolled off the factory line ready for a surf’s up lifestyle. By using the same material as the wetsuit you have hanging out to dry, you’re giving your seats all the same benefits for water, UV, and mildew resistance. This fights off spills, stains, and makes it so you don’t have to worry so much about ruining your car’s resale value every time you climb in and out of your car.

Sport mesh seat covers:

Perfect for a sporty look and feel with the best breathability of any kind of seat cover fabric. Heading to the beach on a warm summer day with the windows or top down? Sport mesh seat covers will keep your seats protected and your rear end cool, while also allowing factory heated and cooled seats do their thing with no issues. They also provide nice comfy padding and keep your seats from getting too hot or too cold when you climb in. Plus if you need to wash them, just pull them off and throw them in the wash.

Suede seat covers:

Here’s another with a sporty feel, but this time leaning more towards the luxury end of the spectrum. Most covers in this category are a mixture of leatherette and synthetic suede material, in perforated or straight inserts depending. Suede seat covers provide not only a comfortable, nice, and durable place to sit, but add a high-end feeling to just about any car you throw them in. Plus, the suede-like material helps with especially high or low temperatures, as it won’t scorch your skin like leather can.

Velour seat covers:

Finally, for those looking for a little extra padding, velour seat covers provide luxurious feel and unrivaled comfort. Velour is an ultra-soft, cotton fabric that offers the rich appearance and luscious feel of velvet. Velour seat covers are designed for durability and easy spot-cleaning, as they are UV, spill, and stain resistant while retaining maximum comfort.

Common seat covers questions:

How difficult is it to install seat covers? The overwhelming majority of seat covers that we carry just slide over your seats and are held down with Velcro, hooks, or straps that attach under the seat, out of sight. Most of the time you won’t need any tools to install them, but some seat covers do come with install kits to aide the process, such as Coverking. Front seat covers are generally easier to put on than rear seat covers because front seats are more accessible. Typical installation on front seat covers is 20-30 minutes. Rear seat in a car may require removal of the seats to install the seat covers. Detailed instructions will be included. Rear seats on an SUV will typically be a similar install to front seat covers.

How do I clean my seat covers? Unfortunately, there isn’t just one answer here. Since seat covers are crafted from a wide array of materials, there are many different ways to care for them. In general, you will want to vacuum your seat covers regularly to pick up any dry spills or tracked-in dirt. To keep sheepskin seat covers fresh and fluffy, just give them an occasional brushing. Many of the seat covers are machine washable, too. These include: all of the Canine Covers, the Cotton Canvas Seat Covers, and the SeatSaver Seat Covers. Because the Custom Wet Okole Seat Covers are fully waterproof, you can wash them without even taking them off your seat.

Custom seat covers or semi-custom? Which do I need? A good analogy we like to tell people is to think of a custom seat cover as a tailor-made suit, and a semi-custom seat cover as an off the rack suit. A master tailor crafts a quality suit only after painstakingly measuring the client’s whole frame, taking every contour, curve, and length into account. Likewise, our custom seat covers fit over your car seats precisely, leaving access to seatbelts and any other seat-mounted controls. On the other hand, an off the rack suit still fits your frame pretty well, but not as well as a tailored suit. Rather, off the rack suits are crafted from patterns, and the patterns come from average measurements of similarly sized bodies. This is also true for semi-custom seat covers. They will fit over your seats as well as over other car, truck, SUV, and van seats. An easy rule of thumb is that semi-custom seat covers will fit about 80% as well as a fully custom set of seat covers. Now get out there and get the seat covers that are best for you!

Conclusion

With what seems like an endless combination of seat styles, types, and fabrics, it’s easier than ever to get overwhelmed. That’s why we’re available on the phone or by chat to help you get exactly what you need, and not to overpay. Now is the time to take a proactive approach to protect your seats or opt for a budget-friendly way to bring your interior back up to par. AmericanTrucks has a seriously huge selection from the most trusted brands in the industry at a wide variety of price points that won’t set you back.

Make your choice even easier by taking advantage of advice from customers and parents like you by reading the hundreds of seat cover reviews on our site. You’ll even find vehicle-specific reviews to make sure you find the best seat covers for your needs. Whether you’re using your truck for work, hauling kids, or want something that the new puppy can’t chew through, we’ve got you covered.