Seat covers, replacement leather, & factory OEM parts all have their specific purposes. It's important to make sure that you purchase what you need and avoid what you don't. We are going to go over some of the pros and cons of each so you, as the buyer, can make an educated decision that fits your budget and your plans for your vehicle.
Seat Covers
Cost: $40 - $200.
Appearance: Depending on the quality of cover the appearance can range anywhere from terrible (universal seat cover) to pretty nice (vehicle specific seat cover)
Value Added To Vehicle: $0. Seat covers are meant to prevent wear, not hide it. Having covers on your seats won't add any value to your vehicle, but it may help in preventing the depreciation of a vehicles interior value.
Factory OEM Replacement Seats:
Cost: Price varies based upon year, make, model, condition, and many other factors.
Appearance: OEM is always the best fit and will be free of any major imperfections other than wear. Stitches will not be bunched, color will be perfect. Best of all you don't have to trust an upholsterer or upholstery company, there are almost no variables to the appearance.
Value Added To Vehicle: If your vehicle currently has seats in bad condition, a replacement interior can add anywhere from $800 to thousands to your vehicles resale value. Adding OEM leather seats usually means adding additional comfort features such as heat, air cooling, lumbar, bolster, and powered seat tracks. Usually the added value is equal to what you spend on the seats. We have numerous used car dealerships that purchase our interiors to install in their vehicles to add value to the car and make it more appealing to potential buyers.
Aftermarket Replacement Leather / Cloth / Vinyl Covers (Individual parts):
Cost: $150-$250 for the cover, plus foam cost ($100-$175), plus installation cost ($80-$150), so if your seats are ruined and you need new foam it may not be the correct choice to simply replace one part.
Appearance: Appearance varies quite vastly regardless of cost. If your foam is worn down at all you will need to purchase new foam otherwise the cover will not fit correctly and it will wear at an accelerated rate. Many aftermarket companies are not focused on quality. Bunched stitching and improper measurements are a large issue. Installation quality can also majorly affect the appearance of a seat. Most companies can get a fairly close match to the OEM color but fading is natural so the cover won't match.
Value Added To Vehicle: Around $100-200 depending on the quality of the OE style replacement leather cover.
Katzkin / Full Aftermarket Leather Seat Covers
Cost: $1000-$3500. Similar to aftermarket seat covers, you may need to replace your foam or pay for costly foam repair. All the small things can add up quite quickly. Your vehicle will need to be surrendered to an upholstery shop for typically 2-3 working days.
Appearance: Appearance completely depends on the experience of the installer. If you decide to try and install katzkins yourself they will not come out as expected. We strongly recommend not attempting to do any DIY upholstery work.
Value Added To Vehicle: Katzkins will add value to a car similar to the value added by OEM Leather Seats, although the added value is usually less than that of OEM Leather Seats. This is because adding Katzkin Leather does not provide you with the factory options that often go along with leather seats such as heat, memory, lumbar, powered adjustable tracks, and bolster supports.
We occasionally have ZERO mile sets of Katzkin Ford Super Duty Seats, already installed, with power tracks and perfect foam.