Cheap car mats may be a false economy

Feb 4 2010 By Mary Barabe

A good set of car mats is one of the most unappreciated accessories for your car. They protect your carpets, dry your shoes, keep your feet steady on the pedals and add comfort and luxury to your daily drive.

So why do drivers often choose to buy poor quality mats in favour of a set specifically tailored for their vehicle? We all like to save money as and when we can, however there are certain items that shouldn’t be scrimped on. You wouldn’t knowingly buy poor quality food, however tempting the price tag. You wouldn’t stay in a cheap hotel with bad reviews would you? Similarly, for many people their car is their most prized possession, so why protect its interior using poor quality mats, making the car look cheap and unloved in the process? There really is no complicated science involved here, it simply comes down to using decent quality materials to manufacture the mats in the first place.

I went into my local discount centre last Thursday and, as you do, browsed the motoring accessories. On the bottom shelf, just below the screen wash, was a stack of car mats being sold at an astonishing £2.99 per set. How is that even possible? Without even getting into the moral question of how poorly the factory workers must have been paid for their labours, how on earth can a full set of car mats be manufactured to a half decent specification at that price point? Then factor in the journey from the Far East to the UK, passing through one, two or even three importers and distributors along the way, and taking into account the retailers profit margin, it just doesn’t add up.

I soon found out how it added up after all. The mats were made from a coarse cord carpet, with a heel pad that was stuck on with some kind of adhesive. I can honestly say that not a single part of the mat would have been any more than 2mm thick, in fact they felt like some kind of carpet and paper hybrid that would offer zero protection to a car owned by even the most careful of drivers.

Seriously now, the average new car costs what, around £15,000? The average used car around £5000? For a product that will protect your interior, make driving more comfortable, look stylish and increase the resale value of the vehicle by up to 5%, is it really too much to ask to pay £25-30 for a decent set of tailored car mats?