Best car boot liners 2021
Which boot covers provide the best protection for your load bay?
If you are carrying heavy and messy cargo - such as tools, garden rubbish, dogs and the like - then they will all take their toll on fabric and trim that’s not designed for heavy-duty use. Investing in a boot protector will help to preserve your interior as well as the car’s overall resale value.
You can protect just the base of the load bay, or add something to shield the sides and rear- seat back as well. Some manufacturers also offer covers that fit seat backs when they are folded flat, along with the headrests.
So which is the best product to ensure your scruffy boot doesn’t end up knocking hundreds of pounds off your car’s trade-in price? We fitted eight solutions to sort the heavy-duty from the lightweights.
How we tested them
We focused on tailored solutions for our 2017 seven-seat Skoda Kodiaq, with the third row folded and a high floor. The protection each offered was tested with repeated heavy hammer drops, then we assessed how well spills would be contained. We looked at what each covered, the quality of fit, and how easy it was to install, plus we checked if lights and vents were blocked.
Instructions were also taken into account, and the impact of folding down the rear seats. This is relevant because removing Velcro repeatedly takes its own toll on trim. The final factor was price. We also split the test into those that cover just the floor, and designs that protect the seat back and sides, because they have different jobs and prices.
Verdict
For floor protection the CarBox is our pick again. It contains spills well and offers good protection at a great price. It was close between the other three, but the Resaw-Plast just gets the nod. And it’s the same winner among the side and seat back protectors, with the super-tough Boot Buddy our choice. Our pick of the fabric liners is the well thought-out Hatchbag.
Floor protectors
- CarBox Form S
- Resaw-Plast
Full protection
- Boot Buddy Versaliner
- Hatchbag Boot Liner
Floor protector reviews
CarBox Form S
- Price: around £59.95 (standard)
- Rating: 5/5
- Contact: www.roofbox.co.uk
The reigning test favourite ticks pretty much all the boxes, with a snug-fitting design that follows the wheel tub curves, and slots into the cubbies just in front of the rear lights. The Form S also covers the sill trim with a cut-out for the latch. A Multi-Mat is included, which fixes to poppers for a choice of locations and can protect the bumper. There’s a five-centimetre lip to contain spills, which also creates small trays to hold items behind the wheel wells. It’s a class act at a great price.
Resaw-Plast
- Price: around £34.95 (standard)
- Rating: 4.5/5
- Contact: www.roofbox.co.uk
Resaw-Plast’s premium liner just gets the nod over the Gledring here, but both will suit those on a tighter budget. Like its stablemate CarBox, it has a good fit that follows the wheel tubs and the areas behind the rear lights. The thermoplastic elastomer material (TPE) was second to the very thick Skoda solution in the drop test and there’s a 3.5-centimetre lip for spills. It may lack the bumper protection or the tailgate sill coverage of our winner, yet it remains a top performer for the price.
Gledring Trunk Mat
- Price: around £31.99 (standard) £47.98 (as tested)
- Rating: 4/5
- Contact: www.driveden.com
Currently priced at £31.99 (down from £37.99), this was the least expensive protector on test, and will be all many drivers will need. The rubber material was among the best in the drop test and it has a lip to contain spills, although it’s not as deep as our top two. We tested a liner for the five-seat Kodiaq so the fit test was limited but was good between the arches. Bumper protection is provided by an optional £15.99 flap, which fixes via two studs that need holes cut to fit. It folds out easily enough, but doesn’t sit flat in the boot unless unclipped.
Skoda Fold-Out Boot Mat
- Price: around £75 (standard)
- Rating: 3.5/5
- Contact: www.skoda.co.uk
Kodiaq producer Skoda has gone its own way with this protector, which is again for a five-seat model. It’s designed to protect not just the boot but also the rear seat back when folded. When it’s opened out there’s a choice of a rubberised material on one side, and trim-matching carpet on the other. The carpet is on the outside when used just for the boot, but it doesn’t sit well when the mat is folded to use the more resilient rubber surface. There is no lip to contain spills, yet the mat easily topped our drop test thanks to the thick doubled-up material.
Skoda Folding Double-sided Boot Mat
- Price: £70
- Rating: 3/5
- Contact: www.skoda.co.uk
Unlike the Fold-Out version, this does not provide protection for the seat backs when the middle row is folded. It sits snugly behind the upright middle row but, like the Fold-Out, fails to follow the wheelarches or cubbies behind the rear lights. Great for easy access, but it leaves the cubbies vulnerable to damage. It has carpet on one side and harder plastic material on the other. The mat provides some protection from liquids, but there are no raised edges to catch larger spills. The forward section is split so there is still protection if one third-row seat is raised, plus it folds to allow two to be used without removing the mat. Where it starred was in the drop test, with great impact protection.
Full protection reviews
Boot Buddy VersaLiner
- Price: around £97.95 (standard) £162.85 (as tested)
- Rating: 5/5
- Contact: www.boot-buddy.com
Look no further for the ultimate boot protection, thanks to the self-supporting polypropylene plastic. Just fold up the sides and fix to the back with ready-fitted poppers, and the VersaLiner slips easily in to the boot. Our drop test had no effect, and the optional £29.95 padded Deluxe Bumper Guard also fared well under the hammer. The bed needs a non-slip mat and we tested the £34.95 version, but there’s a choice. In use, the boot lights are blocked, which isn’t so good, yet the vents can still work because the straight-sided Boot Buddy doesn’t fill the rear light wells. Not cheap, but tough.
Hatchbag Boot Liner
- Price: around £113.59 (standard) £129.49 (as tested)
- Rating: 4.5/5
- Contact: www.hatchbag.co.uk
Our pick of the fabric liners is particularly well thought out. There are great model-specific instructions supplied, which is just as well because fitting needs care to get the most of the tailored fit, with Velcro added to trim. As with its fabric rivals, it’s not something you’d want to fit and remove frequently. The design provided protection for the tailgate sill, but just one light illuminated the boot and the vents were covered. Our sample also included the £15.90 bumper flap. This Hatchbag Boot Liner was best of the fabric products in the hammer test, and is our recommendation here.
Titan Custom Waterproof Boot Liner
- Price: around £99.50 (standard) £172.47 (as tested)
- Rating: 4/5
- Contact: www.titancovers.co.uk
There’s little to choose between this Titan and the Hatchbag. They share good instructions and we had similar problems getting the fit just right. The area behind the rear lamps proved particularly tricky, but it was good to see the nearby vents were clear and the boot lights could still do their job. There’s no sill protection, but our sample included the £14.99 bumper flap and the £17.99 split-rear-seat option. The soft vet fleece mat also added £39.99.
Rhino Standard Boot Liner
- Price: around £85 (standard) £120 (as tested)
- Rating: 3.5/5
- Contact: rhinoukbootlinersltd.co.uk
Rhino’s keen price also features a thick padded mattress to protect luggage and animals, plus a bumper protector is included as standard. The heavy-duty bonded polyester material feels a little thinner than its fabric rivals here, but was a decent match for them in the drop test. The design goes high enough to protect plastic trim, but needs Velcro strips to be added. We had problems behind the rear lights, and really struggled to get a satisfactory fit there with the Rhino.
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