Eco-friendly car insurance leaves less green in your pocket - GreenHybrid

Jason · #1 (**permalink**) 03-30-2007, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Motorists trying to do their bit for the environment are being stung by expensive green policies, according to new research.

The findings of price comparison website moneysupermarket.com showed that although green is the colour of choice at the moment, those insurers boarding the ethical bandwagon to entice eco-friendly consumers are hitting them with premiums hiked by up to 44 per cent over standard policies.

Several insurers including CIS and More Than have launched green motor insurance, the features of which include offsetting carbon emissions or offering discounts for eco-friendly cars. The providers also argue their products are good value for money.

http://www.easier.com/view/Finance/I...le-106645.html

bwilson4web · #2 (**permalink**) 03-30-2007, 02:50 PM

Then I noticed Traveller's was not mentioned:

http://www.hybridtravelers.com/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travellers

Welcome to Hybrid Travelers
You’ve found your way to a new community. It’s a place for early adopters, friends of the environment, smart consumers – and hybrid auto enthusiasts.

And now, there’s another benefit to owning a hybrid car – a 10% discount from Travelers on your hybrid auto insurance.
. . .

Bob Wilson

gumby · #3 (**permalink**) 03-30-2007, 09:34 PM

There are ony two companies' quotes mentioned in the article, hardly a large sample-size.
This article is from easier.com - "The Easier.com web site is owned and maintained by Easier Media Ltd a UK registered company. "
The quotes are from UK insurance companies (I believe) and are given in British pounds. Maybe England needs to get more on-board with hybrids.

I'm with GEICO, and believe that there was NO difference in price between the Civic EX and the Civic Hybrid (2006 models). I think this was true with a quote I got from Progressive (although I might be dreaming this part

)
Point is - it varies. Call YOUR insurer and check it out. If one is more than the other, check out other insurers. Don't believe all the articles you read. Some of them are misleading, incomplete, inaccurate or outdated.

Johnc73 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-30-2007, 10:14 PM

I have GEICO too and wishes the gecko would give a discount for hybrids too. Haven't checked Traveler's discount but when I got quotes from almost everyone else the prices were pretty close so I stayed with the gecko (helped that the quote agent drove a hybrid civic too). I also looked into Allstate's accident forgiveness policy, whew premium for that policy was way up there.

bwilson4web · #5 (**permalink**) 03-31-2007, 08:18 AM

Whenever I get an insurance solicitation, I send back my reply asking for their "Hybrid discount." But the real reason is driving for mileage has made me a safe driver:

slower speeds - to keep the fuel economy high and have more time to react to traffic
slower routes - to avoid tail-gaters which often has less traffic
predictive braking - situational awareness to coast to a stop instead of braking

Bob Wilson

Todd1964 · #6 (**permalink**) 04-01-2007, 04:46 PM

Having been an Allstate customer with zero claims for 13 years and after staying with Allstate for one additional full year after purchasing my 2006 HCH, I finally decided to shop around. I faxed 28 agents, 14 different companies were represented. The winner by a long shot... GEICO. They had NO difference in Hybrid vs Non-Hybrid premium and were 38% LESS than Allstate! Some were within 10% of Geico, but for us the Gecko/Caveman Company was the lowest.

**Note: I approached Allstate Corporate to match Geico and they declined. Their reasoning was that Hybrid accidents are still unknown and the HCH is a compact rating, causing more serious injuries in a crash. They declined to answer if the Civic Hybrid rate was higher than the regular Civic.

gumby · #7 (**permalink**) 04-01-2007, 10:03 PM

Oh yes, Todd, I meant to add that GEICO was the cheapest of the 4 or 5 companies I compared last June. One of the companies was (at that time) my current auto insurance company, one was/is my current homeowners company. Even with "long-term customer" and/or "combined auto/home" discounts, GEICO had the best rates. For ALL 3 of my vehicles, also, not just the HCH2.

TeeSter · #8 (**permalink**) 04-02-2007, 07:09 AM

One thing that may make some companies hestitant is the HV battery in the back of some of these vehicles. On the Escape the "replacment cost" on that is something like $8000 with labor. I'd guess the most common accident is being rear ended (unfortunately driving slow doens't help because its the idiots fault behind you). The insurace is going to be paying to replace that battery if you are hit hard enough and its likely to make a $1200 accident cost a WHOLE LOT MORE. It might be paid by the other parties' insurace but they will make it up somewhere.

So... they might be giving us a discount... but I fear it could go the other way after they have some statistics.