For over 29 years, a Mother&Baby award is a prestigious accolade. It means that your product is tried, tested and trusted by real mums, with real parents testing and trialling the entries. When researching, data has found that 96% of Mums agree Mother&Baby provides expert advice on products for them to consider and 95% agreed they trust products/companies advertised by Mother&Baby. Alongside this, 2 in 3 agreed that once they have found a product they will check the Mother&Baby review before they buy, so for Car Shades it is an absolute honour to win the prestigious Gold award for the second year running, especially against some other great travel accessory products.
Unlike the universal ‘sucker-pad’ sunshades and window socks, the Car Shades product is vehicle specific, meaning it fits specifically to the shape of the rear car windows including the boot to make sure there are no dazzling gaps to make for a much more pleasant journey for children and other rear-seat passengers.
Car Shades also won silver for Project Baby’s Best Travel Accessory 2022, which is the third year running Car Shades has picked up an award following the gold wins in 2020 and 2021.
Winning the Best Travel Accessory over £30 at the 2023 and 2022 Mother&Baby Awards shows the current stature of the brand within the parenting world and just how trusted the product has become. Fighting off stiff competition from some of the most renowned companies within that field, the accolade champions Car Shades in an extremely saturated market.
To see all Mother&Baby 2023 Award Winners click here
We’re absolutely delighted to receive recognition in an ever-competitive industry. At Car Shades we strive to achieve a high standard in every element of our business model, from manufacturing to fast deliveries and most importantly putting out a great product consistently whilst having a high standard of customer care, which has also been recognised by being awarded the ISO 9001 accreditation for Qualtiy Management.
We’re very proud to receive these awards that recognises our Car Shades as one of the best sunblind solutions in the market.
2021 was another great year for the sale of electric vehicles with an increase of 76.3% year on year, even alongside a market that was 28.7% below pre-Covid-19 levels. Last year, more battery electric vehicles were sold than over the previous five years combined with 190,727 registrations (11.6% of all new car sales). Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle also made up 7% or 114,554 cars. This means that 18.5% of all new cars registered in 2021 can be plugged in – which is truly amazing!
Government 2030 ban on petrol and diesel cars
The Government has brought forward the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars to 2030 from the original 2035 date.
Environmental awareness
There is a growing awareness and desire from consumers to become ‘greener’ from the Government’s Net Zero target.
Improvement in technology
In the past, there have been questions around the technology of EV and the affordability of owning one. Charging infrastructure has also been developed to help support the growth, and now there are various charging solutions.
At Car Shades we are conscious of our impact on the environment and how we can help others too, so have begun developing our Electric Vehicle range. We currently supply car shades for the MG ZS SUV, the Mercedes EQC and Ford Puma which have been very popular. We are really excited to have developed our first Polestar in January and we are in development for producing Car Shades for the Ford Mustang MachE – so look out for those at the end of the month! We also supply Car Shades for a range of hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Corolla and Prius.
Car Shades fit using clips to the frame of your windows and not the glass to allow you to still wind the window down whilst the shade stays in place. For this reason, we are currently unable to supply Car Shades for cars with frameless windows, such as the Tesla, but it is something we are working hard to be able to offer soon.
Our manufacturing operation is based in Nottinghamshire and is accredited with the ISO 9001 certification which is the international standard for quality. We manufacture right here in the UK not only to closely manage and maintain our standards of quality, but to also minimise our carbon footprint by not importing from all over the globe.
Referred to as a ‘sucker’ shade, given they are applied with plastic suction cups that stick to the glass, this solution is one of the cheapest options on the market at around £10 for a pack of 2. They come in a set size and usually collapse down into a small handy storage bag. They are also often available with printed characters on them to help keep little ones amused in the back.
Being a universal fit means sucker shades don’t cover all of the glass, therefore allowing the sun to still come through part of the window and into little eyes which can irritate them and make life stressful for others, including the driver.
They are very easy to fit, all you have to do is stick them on to your window, but as quickly as they are applied, they are also just as easily removed, especially by small hands and wandering fingers, and can easily lose suction and fall off of their own accord, which is not ideal.
Because they are applied to the glass, it means that you aren’t able to lower the windows whilst they are in place, which can be difficult if any passengers in the back start to feel a little queasy and you want to get some fresh air into the car quickly. You also have to be aware of accidentally pressing the wrong window button, the last thing you want is Peppa Pig popping off and cart wheeling down the motorway behind you!
While considerably less money, sucker shades don’t always last long due to the flimsy nature of the product and therefore can need replacing more frequently.
‘Window socks’ are an affordable and practical car blind, that offers full coverage of the passenger windows, and is at a similar price point to a ‘sucker’ shade. Window socks are also supplied in packs of 2 to cover just the rear passenger windows.
As the name suggests, these are like a sock that fits over the top of the entire door which means you have material on the outside of the door as well as inside, which does help provide a good level of shade.
Fitting is quick and quite straight forward, however many makes are supplied with straps at the bottom that need to be fastened or hooked on to the door somewhere to secure and tighten the shade, but the straps are prone to getting trapped in the door and catching the paintwork. You can however still operate the window whilst they are in place to allow air in to the car when required.
The big drawback with this solution is the appearance, given they are a universal size they don’t always fit the door tightly and therefore can be baggy and flap considerably when travelling, – especially at high speeds! This can be distracting and annoying for everyone, and when it rains, no one likes a soggy wet sock!
This solution is arguably the most comparable to Car Shades as they cover the window perfectly, and are applied to all rear windows of a vehicle.
Many new vehicles today are often supplied with tints already in place, so we often get asked “why would we need Car Shades when our windows are already tinted?”. Although the tint you have in place may offer you sufficient protection, many tints are only a partial tint, for example 30%. Therefore the addition of a Car Shade can really increase the sun protection for the those in the back, as well as further enhancing the appearance of the vehicle as it makes the window tints look even darker. The big difference is in the operation of the window, as soon as you lower the window, you no longer have any sun protection, unlike Car Shades that remain in place.
If you want to retro fit window tints to your car, this can be quite costly at around £100 upwards and is usually best fitted by a garage, although they can be fitted at home if you’re confident to get a perfect finish.
We like to think that Car Shades take the positives from all of the other solutions and combine them into one great car sun blind.
Firstly, they are vehicle specific and have been made to fit the size of your rear car windows perfectly as they have been made and sewn by hand at our factory in Nottinghamshire.
Our full sets of Car Shades come with shades to cover all rear windows of your car, including the boot,which are notorious for letting light into the vehicle for children and babies that you have rear facing.
Independent lab tests concluded that a Car Shade offers a 72% reduction in light compared to windows that did not have any sun protection in place, but it’s important to note that given Car Shades use a mesh fabric like sucker shades and window socks, so they do not offer a total blackout solution.
Fitting is easy too. You can easily do this at home in around 10 minutes, and they fit using our special clips. This means the shades aren’t stuck to the glass, therefore you can still wind the window down, get some fresh air into the car – all whilst keeping the shade in place and stopping any nasty bugs from getting in as you continue on with your journey!
If you did want to remove your shades, for example if you were travelling at night and wanted to remove the tailgate shades, they pop out in seconds and are easily stored in the storage bag that is supplied as standard with all sets.
And finally, we really care that you love your Car Shades, so we offer a 30 day money guarantee – meaning if you don’t love them for any reason, you can simply return them for a full refund!
No matter how much you prepare for a family road trip, it never feels sufficient. Despite having the perfect accommodation, grandparents excited to see the family or plenty of attractions to visit, the long car journey can ruin the mood for everyone involved.
Car games are a great way to keep the children entertained, and they involve the whole family too! They can also make the journey more educational depending on what you decide to play.
We’ve put together a list of our top 4 car games to get you started!
A family favourite, the numberplate game is easy and fun! It involves looking out for a particular letter on a numberplate. The aim of the game is to spot as many letters of the alphabet as possible on the plates of the cars you pass. You can create a list of letters and tick them off as you go!
This one is also easily adapted to play with numbers instead of letters.
Another great game to play in the car with your children is the alphabet game! Similar to the number plate game, but this time your are looking for letters on street signs. Follow these simple steps below:
The word association game is another fun easy game – and one we love at Car Shades! One person begins and says a word out loud, the next player then has to quickly say a word that has some connection to the previous. For example if the first person said drink, the next could say juice and so on – simple! You are out if you repeat a word, can’t make a connection, or take a long time to make one. Players can also challenge if they feel the connection doesn’t fit.
Finally, a timeless classic – I spy! I spy is super simple, and all you have to is spot an object on your journey and say “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…” and state the letter. Everyone else must then try and guess what you have seen. To make this a little easier for younger children, you could swap the words for colours, Eg. “I spy with my little eye something that is blue”.
We hope you enjoy playing these car games as much as we do!
In fact, 62% of parents admitted they didn’t adjust their car for the big day, and a whopping 57% of you confessed they didn’t think they needed to change anything except add in a car seat. We have teamed up with expert midwife and GlowMummy founder Sharon Salvage, to reveal the best way to prepare your car for a new-born baby.
Here are five essential things we recommended considering for leaving the hospital:
Car Seat: Babies will always need to be in a car seat, and they should be placed in the back of a car – ideally with a parent also in the back. It’s important to take regular breaks where you remove your baby from the car seat (every 30 mins to a maximum of two hourly). You should shop around to find the best new-born car seat to suit your needs. Isofix based car seats are an advantage because they lock into place without using seatbelts and will fit into most modern cars.
Clothing: Babies should be comfortably dressed to leave hospital, ensure you monitor their temperature. Although it’s instinctive, a baby may not need a blanket if they already have thick enough clothes on, but if you do want to use one, opt for cotton, cashmere, bamboo rayon, fleece or rayon materials.
Lighting and Heat: Depending on the month your baby is born, you will need to either heat up or cool down the car. Hitting the right ambience is important, 16-20 degrees celsius is the recommended temperature for a babies sleep environment. Car Shades will help keep the cabin cool on warmer days as well as having the benefit of reducing bright lights for babies delicate new-born eyes.
Sound: Babies generally love listening to white noise as this reminds them of life in the womb, so having this on in the car may be a soothing sound for them as they’ve just left the hospital. Gentle lullabies are a good idea to keep them calm throughout the journey too.
Remember the Mother – New mothers should also pack as comfortable as possible! Think about loose fitting clothes for the journey home from hospital, such as: Leggings or comfortable pants, maternity bra and a jumper.
It’s a scary feeling taking your new-born home, there are huge levels of responsibility, so we hope soon-to-be parents find our guidance useful to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible when taking your new-born home for the very first time.
To find out more about Car Shades click here
But how often are we cleaning our cars?
According to a recent survey we conducted, only a quarter (25%) of drivers opt to clean their car monthly. Shockingly, 15% of you leave your car dirty for a year, and even worse, one in 10 drivers claim to have never cleaned their vehicle! Just 7% keep on top of car cleaning every week and only 18% empty their cars out per week. Food wrappers, clothes, litter, bags and more are left in the car for at least six months by 28% of drivers and 55% confess to not cleaning their car even when they know other people are getting in it – lovely!
Why is it important to keep your car clean?
Keeping your car clean can help improve your mindset, driving ability as well as your mood. Clutter and mess in the car can be linked to confusion, tension, and irritability. The action of cleaning the car has the same effect as cleaning any space in the house and can help reduce anxiety. Therefore, ensuring you keep your clean can have a direct positive impact on your health and wellness!
In order to help you return your car to its normal ‘pre summer’ state after a few months full of exciting adventures, we are giving away a chance to win a full valeted car clean and a set of car shades. Send in your dirty car pics and your favourite summer memories to our Facebook page, here: https://www.facebook.com/car.shades.uk Competition closes 22nd September 2021.
*SOURCE: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/rac-forecasts-unprecedented-summer-on-the-uks-roads-with-16m-staycations/
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