This question has come up regularly, so I thought I'd show you a few photos to help you make your mind up.

Last October I washed the van, tipped the back to help any water flow off and put on the cover. I did the straps up that go under the van and added a strap around the waist for good measure as I'm using a generic Kampa cover.
I live in Devon and it is very wet. The van is exposed as you will see in the first photo that faces west and catches the worst of the weather. We had 45/50mph winds last night, which is fairly typical. Out of view to the south face Dartmoor. The leaf fall is so bad from the trees I have to unblock the house gutters every day from late Sept to early Nov. The leaves can stain anything light in colour they fall on.
I think the photos show the benefit of the cover. The roof still has a wet look to it from the wash last Oct. I need to give a wipe to area at the back of the roof and that's it for my first few trips. It will then get a wash and polish or Bobby Dazzler before our long trip to France.

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Colin

I've decided that the cover will be put on when we get back from France at start of July. I will not strap it up tight, but when not being used it will be kept nice and clean, free of bird crap etc. It only takes minutes to put on/take off, but can take hours to clean. If I only get a few years out of a cover then I can live with taht.

Colin

Ah, I have one thing less to worry about now as my main roof is aluminium.

Colin