Green Car Insurance
Monday, June 22, 2009 at 11:24PM | Share Article
Green Cars Means Cheaper Insurance
By Amy Nutt
It seems that these days everyone wants to do their part to help protect the environment. Due to growing consumer demands, Business and Industry are now coming up with ways for people to benefit from living a green lifestyle. One way of encouraging eco-friendly living is for insurance companies to provide cheaper car insurance for people who buy green cars. Recent research shows that drivers are increasingly more likely to purchase a green car.
There are many reasons why people are gravitating toward green cars. Because green cars have lower emissions, they will save more on gas. As well, lower emissions will result in a decreased carbon footprint since there is less carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide being released into the atmosphere. This helps slow down global warming.
Because some green cars such as hybrids tend to be expensive, insurance companies are now providing discounts to people who buy more energy efficient vehicles. This can include not only hybrids, but cars that have high mileage. Research has shown that people who drive hybrids are a lower risk of getting involved in an accident and tend to be less reckless drivers. These drivers are considered more sensible and they care about the environment so there risk is lowered. A lower risk driver will receive lower premiums. As well, many of these companies that offer discounts for green drivers are involved in programs that work to make a more sustainable environment.
Green Car Insurance is basically a method of providing discounts for people who drive low emission vehicles. The insurance was designed and implemented on the concept of reduce, reuse, and recycle. They reward eco-friendly customers with discounted car insurance premiums. Most of these companies offer some type of carbon offsetting program. This means they take a percentage of the price of a policy and give it to carbon offsetting projects. Some of the programs involve planting trees, supporting recycling projects, or other eco-projects. They may even offer extra incentives such as using recycled car parts for repairs and recycling the car if it is irrecoverable. There are a number of green car insurance companies that will offset 100% of a vehicle's emissions.
There are also proposed pay-as-you-go car insurance programs. This is where your insurance rates are based on the actual number of miles you drive. This encourages drivers to reduce the number of miles they drive each year. Drivers would confirm mileage either by their repair records, odometer readings, or even a piece of equipment installed on the vehicle that tracks mileage.
Customers are now being rewarded for their green lifestyle with insurance discounts. For example, GMAC offers a program with their OnStar system allowing customers to send their mileage stats via OnStar, and if their yearly confirmed mileage is less than 15,000 miles, they can receive up to a 54% discount on their GMAC car insurance.
The number of insurance providers that are providing policies that include green options is increasing. Unfortunately, not that many people know about these eco-friendly insurance options because they receive less advertising than traditional insurance policies. If you are one of the millions of people who are concerned about the future of the planet and its resources, ask your insurance company if they offer a green insurance policy. As more people learn about these great insurance options, the green trend will continue to swell. Educating consumers about the importance of green cars will encourage more people to consider purchasing a green car.
Offering cheaper insurance for green car owners means more people will buy these vehicles and thus create a cleaner and greener environment.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Nutt
Reader Comments (13)
Talk about a win, win, win situation! Environment is happy. Drivers are happy. Insurance companies are happy. I'm definitely going to spread the word about this! :)
Yes - it is good to see big business (insurance companies, GM, etc) cooperating in solving the climate change problem.
Can't really see that an insurance co. would discount their product just because the car is green. Sure, they may be more careful drivers granted, but if a green car is more expensive, it will cost more to replace in the event of an accident.
Personally, I think car manufacturers could go a bit further in using advanced materials for body panels, windows and so on. Many composites are lighter than steel, and they have several advantages in that they don't rust, may not need painting and if they are slightly deformed (say in a parking incident) will return to their original shape. They are also lighter, which leads to better fuel economy, which we all want, and if a vehicle is beyond use, as the parts don't decay, they can be re-used to keep existing vehicles on the road.
A lot of these sorts of materials are already widely used in motorsport, but are currently expensive. On a mass produced basis, this should come down dramatically.
Also, if replacement parts are cheaper, and less likely to need replacement in the first place, then the cost of repairing a vehicle comes done, and your insurance with it...
Hi Mattwi - just the fact that the insurance companies are aware that green car drivers get in fewer accidents and build this into their financial models is an important step. I agree that the cars tend to be more expensive and offsets the benefits. But once green car volumes increase, car prices will come down.
what are the greener cars available in the market at present
Daya - that is the $1M question. On the surface the Toyota Prius would be considered very green. But in reality you have to look at the life cycle of the car, including the manufacture, transport and disposal of the car. With all these considered, perhaps the Prius isn't as rosy as one would expect. The only safe answer is to go out and buy a bicycle :)
The prices for car insurance can vary a lot and naturally we all wish to find the cheapest car insurance company to provide us our policy. Car insurance, it is a review site which gives the information all about insurance companies.
Thank you for posting useful information. I liked the post. I am always interested in reading more useful articles about car insurance
Actually by 2012 we should see a MASSIVE increase in hybrid and electric car production. The Nissan has already came out with the electric car and you can see the pictures on the internet. It's very impressive and definitely begins a new interesting trend. More people than ever in the next 10 years will be driving environmentally safe (or at least semi-safe) cars along with insurance companies spending money on eliminating the carbon dioxide and monoxide emissions while lowering the actual insurance cost and vehicle cost.
-George Brimstone.
I am currently looking for cheap car insurance, thank you for your suggestions
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