People don't always believe us when we tell them about how important heelpads are for protecting your car mats and preserving the value of your car. Now we've got proof, courtesy of Twitter.

(By the way, do you follow GG Bailey on Twitter yet?)

You know you drive your car a lot when there's a hole in the floor mat where your foot rests

— Daniel Garden (@dgarden78) September 7, 2012

The fact is: every time you set foot in your car, your mat experiences a little more wear and tear, and the place where your heel rests while you drive gets the worst of it. A car mat with holes is not protecting your car's interior, nor is it preserving the value of your car. What good is a floor mat that doesn't do its job?

High heels are often the culprit of car mat destruction. One Maryland woman took to the Internet to find a solution -- and she got some pretty weird answers. 

She asked in a forum post:

Does anyone else have a problem with their floor mats in the car getting holes from your high heels? I wear heels every day and I've gone through 2 floor mats in less than a year ... not the cheap ones? What am I doing wrong?

Some of the suggestions from other users were: 

• Keep an extra pair of slip-on shoes in your car just for driving. 
• Buy heavy duty rubber mats. 
• Once you've worn a hole in one side of the mat, just turn the car mat upside down and start over. 
• Cut a slit in a tennis ball and put the ball on your high heel shoes to protect the mat. 
• Take your shoes off and drive barefoot. 
• Put down some extra carpet on top of your old car mat to protect it. 

• Taking off and putting back on your shoes every time you drive will get old really fast, especially if your heels have straps or buckles. 
• When someone suggested the heavy duty rubber mats, the woman who originally posted the question said, "Ew...ugly." Plus, all that dirt and water sits on the surface of the rubber mat, and your shoes will suffer for it. 
• Driver's side car mats are shaped differently than passenger mats. If you turn it over, it won't fit your car anymore. Think about it: what's keeping the mat from slipping around under your feet? Flipping your car mat over just creates more problems.
• A tennis ball could fall off your shoe and roll under your brake or gas pedal. This is more than just a fashion no-no. It's a potentially dangerous idea. 
• Driving a car or truck barefoot isn't technically illegal by any federal or state laws. (In Ohio, it's "not recommended.") But many people warn against it. Should a police officer deem your lack of proper footwear as contributing to an accident, you could be looking at a reckless driving charge. 
• Extra carpeting on your mat is a step in the right direction. But without a system to keep the carpet in place, this solution could be just as reckless as the tennis ball idea. 

The BEST solution:

For the sake of your safety (and for the sake those adorable kitten heels), we recommend protecting your mats from wear and tear by purchasing a custom-fit mat that includes a built-in heelpad. What's a heelpad? It's an additonal piece of carpet adhered to the mat where the driver's heel sits. 

Sounds simple, right? There's a few more reasons why GG Bailey mats are the best solution:

• GG Bailey made the first heelpad. In fact, Racemark International (GG Bailey's parent company) continues to make and supply heelpads for Mercedes and BMW. 
• GG Bailey mats are made with strong polypropylene or nylon fibers. Even without a heelpad, our mats will wear better and last longer than mats made with residential carpet.
• GG Bailey custom-fit mats are tailored for your car's specific make, model, and year. When a car mat fits perfectly, it won't move around under your feet. 
• Car mats from GGBailey.com also come with a retention system. If your car's design doesn't include grommets to keep the mat in place, we'll throw in some of our patented Mat-Loc clips to attach the mat to the floor. 
• All GGBailey.com mats come with non-slip foam backing that won't budge and also won't damage your car's interior with tiny holes like the non-slip backing on some car mats.

At GGBailey.com, you can design your own car mats -- color, heelpad, edging, personalized embroidery, everything. So instead of getting an "ugly" mat, you'll get a mat that's designed for YOUR car by YOU. 

Don't waste any time (and get that tennis ball off your shoe).