The song has been covered many times by bands such as R.E.M., The Flying Pickets, Swimming With Dolphins, Hundred Reasons, Xiu Xiu, Vertical Horizon, Even Nine, Darwin's Waiting Room, Jesse James, The Love Project, Amazing Transparent Man, Matchbox Twenty, MYMP, The Wilkinsons and by solo singers Mutya Buena, Kristian Leontiou, Wayne Wonder, David Usher and Hitomi Yaida. It was also sampled by the rap group Nice & Smooth in their hit song "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow", making it a hit within the hip hop community as well. British rapper Example also samples the song in his song "I Need a Fast Car" which appeared on his mixtape We Didn't Invent the Remix.

In 1991, British soul singer Gabrielle recorded a demo of her song "Dreams" which featured a sample of "Fast Car". When it was released commercially in 1993 the sample of "Fast Car" was removed because of legal issues, but the version with the sample was still being played in nightclubs and DJ sets. Los Angeles based turntablist DJ Quixotic is known to perform a cover of this song by manipulating a tone record on a turntable to imitate the notes of the opening guitar riffs.

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