Is it possible to be environmentally friendly and cost effective?
Moneysupermarket.com has recently published an article claiming that eco-friendly car insurance firms are far more expensive than others, with their researching showing that getting car insurance for a Toyota Prius can cost up to 146% more than insuring yourself on the same terms through a conventional car insurance company.
Why the extra cost?
There have been a number of reasons put forward for the additional cost, but the most obvious explanation is the additional extras to your policy, with the following eco-insurers making the following promises to their customers:
• Co-operative car insurance- vow to offset 20% of the C02 emission you make if you take up a policy with them
• Gogreencompare.com- will offset 1.5 tons of C02 emissions with every single policy made
• ibuyeco- donate £5 from every policy to an environmental charity
With car manufacturers, the reason for the additional cost of an environmentally friendly model is the obvious savings in terms of fuel usage and the access to high end technology. However, the difference between the Ford Fiesta model and the less practical Mitsubishi i-Miev (electric model) is a staggering $9,000. This begs the question of whether you can be environmentally friendly at the same time as being cost effective.
Can I be green and cost effective?
The simple answer to this is yes. The before mentioned fuel cost savings is the most obvious reason for this, with the i-Miev electric model capable of doing a 90 mile journey on a charge costing approximately $1.48. That’s a total cost of $222.61 if you were doing 12,000 miles a year in an i-Miev, while the same mileage in a 1.25 Ford Fiesta would cost you $1,935.60. That’s a total saving of $1712.99 per year on an annual mileage of 12,000. Suddenly that $9,000 price difference doesn’t look quite so big.
That isn’t the only place you can save money though, with a number of programmes introduced by government to reduce costs for green motorists, such as tax breaks. Also, despite the additional cost of going with an eco-insurer, most conventional insurance companies will actually offer a discount to green motorists according to further research by Moneysupermarket.
What are my options?
There are an increasing number of environmental cars entering the marketplace as manufacturers realise the importance of going green.
In the electric car market alongside the Mitsubishi i-Miev, a number of other options are going to be becoming available in the near future including:
• Nissan Leaf
• Peugeot ion
• Citroen C1 evie
• Fiat Micro-vett 500
• Chevrolet Equinox AMP
However, electric cars aren’t the only option with the number of hybrid vehicles becoming available constantly expanding and becoming more affordable. BMW and Honda meanwhile are investing increasing resources into hydrogen fuelled cars which they believe are the most realistic option for future propulsion.
Therefore, the advantages of environmentally friendly car ownership are actually becoming more compelling all the time as fuel prices continue to rise and tax breaks for environmental motorists become more apparent. It is therefore possible to be cost effective and green and why more people haven’t realised this yet is a mystery.
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