Are Dash Mats Worth It?

The Monday traffic is bad enough, but the reflection from your dashboard is making the afternoon drive home even tougher. Next weekend, you put aside a few minutes to clean the inside of the windscreen. But not only has the dashboard started to degrade due to UV exposure, lining the glass with a layer of slime, the lower edge of the dashboard on your five-year-old car is started to crack and warp. Would a dash mat have prevented this and the repairs you now face? Almost certainly.

What does a dash mat actually do?

A dash mat is, at its simplest, a fitted fabric cover that sits on the dashboard to block UV radiation, reduce radiant heat into the cabin, eliminate windscreen glare, and reduce interior fogging. It’s a physical barrier between the dashboard plastic and the sun coming through the windscreen glass.

Let’s dig a bit deeper. Think of a dash mat as sun-screen for your car’s potentially delicate plastic dashboard surface. Ever seen a plastic clothes peg that has faded and become brittle after years on the clothes-line? That’s exactly what’s happening to the plastic of your car’s interior, and the dashboard is right in the firing line.

But a dash mat with its fabric, rather than plastic surface, can also reduce interior temperatures. Think of it as the difference between vinyl seats and cloth seats in your car. Which would you rather sit on in summer?

One of the by-products of UV degradation of plastic, is a polymer film that is released into the air and sticks to the first thing it touches. Typically, that’s the inside of your windscreen. This film is hard to see through, creates a hazy view, produces blurry halos from oncoming lights, and promotes mist and fog forming on the glass in colder weather.

A dash mat also takes a leaf out of the rally-car’s playbook. Rally drivers worked out long ago that a non-reflective surface on their dashboard reduced glare on to the windscreen. A dash mat provides that matte, non-reflective surface. Many newer cars with their lighter coloured interiors have even more to gain here.

So, are dash mats worth it? You bet they are.

How quickly does an unprotected dashboard deteriorate in Australian conditions?

Unprotected dashboards in Australia’s common UV11+ conditions typically show visible fading within two to three years and surface cracking within five. The windscreen-adjacent edge of the dashboard receives the most concentrated UV because the glass angle focuses radiation directly onto that surface. This is where cracking starts. And once a crack has begun to form, the process cannot be reversed.

When we’re talking dash mat benefits, Australia is Exhibit A. We have one of the harshest UV environments anywhere in the world. Our skin cancer rate is higher than any other country and that means our dashboards are under constant attack, too.

In many parts of our country, ultra-high UV levels are not seasonal; they’re an all-year-round reality.

Even though newer cars have better quality plastics, plenty of car owners have seen dashboard degradation in just a handful of years.

Does a dash mat protect resale value?

A clean, uncracked dashboard improves the interior presentation that buyers and dealers will always take into account. Because of our climate, there’s not a single used-car advert that doesn’t show the condition of the interior. Dealers valuing trade-ins know to look closely at the interior, too. Dashboard deterioration from UV damage can easily wipe thousands of dollars from your car’s value.

Not only does an undamaged dashboard increase the dollar value of any car, it also infers a couple of important points. Firstly, that the car is still in its original condition, and originality counts. Secondly, that if the dashboard is in good condition, the car has also probably been well cared for generally.

What is the actual cost difference between a dash mat and replacing a damaged dashboard?

Professional dashboard reconditioning in Australia typically starts at about $1500 and can easily top $2000, depending on the vehicle and the upholstery shop.

Dashboard panel replacement on later-model vehicles with integrated screens can cost significantly more. A quality custom-fitted dash mat prevents this entirely and is available for a fraction of that cost.

Even if a damaged dashboard can be repaired or reconditioned, the cost is not insignificant. And the more damage that’s present, the higher the quote goes as the structure of the damaged dashboard has to be repaired before it can be recovered. This is time-consuming, specialised work.

But what about newer vehicles; are dash covers necessary on new cars with their high-tech plastics? The situation is actually even more critical for vehicles where the dashboard forms any part of the airbag deployment system. In that case, the law in Australia actually prevents repairers recovering such dashboards, in order to retain the correct operation of these safety systems. At that point, replacement with a costly Original Equipment dashboard is the only solution.

And even though technology has moved on, plastic is still plastic and it still degrades with UV exposure.

Are there situations where a dash mat is not worth it?

A dash mat delivers the least value on vehicles parked exclusively undercover, vehicles approaching end of life, or heavily modified dashboards where no custom template exists. For any vehicle that spends regular time parked outdoors in the Australian sun, the protection case speaks for itself.

Is dashboard protection worth it every time? Actually, no, but only if the car is already so damaged or worn out that you’re likely to be its last owner.

Meantime, it would be nice to never have to park in the elements. Sadly, that’s not how the world of supermarkets, train stations car-parks and school pick-up zones works.

Even short periods of UV exposure will start to degrade most plastics, and that exposure only adds up over time. If your car is worth preserving at all, its dashboard is the obvious - and probably easiest - place to start.

No matter what else you do dash mats work to prolong the life of any car interior.

What should you look for in a quality dash mat?

A quality dash mat is custom-fitted to your specific vehicle make, model, and year. It includes pre-cut openings for vents, sensors, and airbag deployment zones. It is designed to last the life of the vehicle. Universal mats that approximate fit by size range provide partial coverage and do not account for sensor or airbag positions.

Do I need a dash mat that’s specific for my car? Just like anything you fit to your car, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. The door from a Ferrari won’t fit the side of a Falcon. Dash Mats are the same. Different makes and models have different vent placement, different airbag zones and various shapes and sizes to consider. That’s where a tailored dash mat comes into its own, because it’s designed to fit one model and one model only. You can browse custom-fitted dash mats to confirm availability for your make, model, and year before purchasing.

There’s also a good case for buying a dash mat that is itself made from quality materials. Check the quality of the fabric, the way it’s stitched together and whether it sits flat and snug on your car’s dashboard.