In the middle of election year that is featuring both economic and environmental controversy, it should come as no surprise that more and more consumers are looking at green alternatives in every aspect of their lives, from buying locally grown foods, to buying fuel-efficient hybrid cars.
While these choices come with obvious benefits – unprocessed food is healthier, and hybrids, often come with Federal tax incentives (at least for the first several hundred purchased in a given state and year), one benefit that is lesser known is that hybrid vehicles also come with reduced insurance rates.
Why Offer Discounts for Hybrids?
Everything we know about how insurance premiums are calculated – cost of repair, number of vehicles in operation, safety rating histories – would seem to point to insurance for hybrid vehicles being more expensive than that for traditional gas-only cars, rather than less, so why are insurers offering discounts to hybrid drivers?
Partly, this is because the drivers fall into the category of “preferred drivers,” the consumers who would be earning discounts in any case. Typically, hybrid drivers meet the following criteria:
- Excellent credit: Hybrid drivers tend to have higher credit scores, and be more aware of how credit works. Insurance companies in many states use credit scores to set premiums, and even where this is disallowed, they still look upon a client with good credit as a better risk.
- Marital status: Hybrid drivers are more likely than not to be in stable, committed relationships. This often earns a discount on insurance.
- Maturity: The average hybrid driver is between 41 and 60 years old, and equally likely to be male or female. As a group, this demographic is the least likely to be in accidents.
- Hybrid vehicles themselves: These cars have smaller engines, and tend to have a full complement of safety features, which two things net discounts even on gasoline-powered vehicles.
What this all means is that the average hybrid owner is a responsible adult who makes their insurance payments on time, can meet deductibles in the rare case that they make a claim, and drives safely – just the kind of consumer who should be rewarded with lower rates and company loyalty.
So How Big Are these Discounts, Anyway?
The details vary widely between insurance carriers and across state lines, but discounts are usually fairly significant.
Farmers Insurance offers a discount of 5% on your car insurance quote for any vehicle that uses alternative fuel, including ethanol, and hybrid-electric cars, while Travelers offers a discount of up to 10% for hybrids.
Most other insurers offer discounts that range between those two numbers, but it’s important to be aware that such incentives and price breaks are often unadvertised so always, always ask about hybrid discounts when shopping for new insurance, or renewing your existing policy.
As well, remember that the discount for a hybrid car is just one applicable price break you may qualify for. If you bundle your auto insurance and homeowners coverage with the same insurance carrier, you could turn the 5% hybrid discount into a break of 19% overall.
At this point in time, hybrid vehicles represent only about 1% of all registered vehicles on the road, but as the push to transition away from foreign oil, or fossil fuels at all, becomes stronger that number is likely to increase. Even car makers are jumping on the alternative fuel bandwagon, offering mild hybrid versions of their popular SUVs and minivans. What will happen when hybrids are more frequent? Will these discounts go away? Some might, but those which are tied to the customer, rather than the car, will likely remain.
