Green Car Insurance Quotes

So, what is an eco car?

It’s one that has lower or no emissions or uses sustainable fuel. Regular petrol and diesel cars emit a combination of gases from their exhausts every time they’re in use. You can sometimes see those emissions – it’s that cloud of air from your car’s exhaust if you’ve left it outside and started it on a cold day.

Eco technology is advancing all the time but some eco-friendly cars you may have heard of include:

- Hybrid cars: cars that use a regular (combustion) engine and a battery powered motor. They have lower emissions because they use both energy sources to run. Such as the Honda Prius

- Electric cars: these use an electric battery to run, they make almost no noise and you’ll need to plug it in to recharge. Such as the Nissan Leaf.

- Biofuel cars: these use fuel made from plants and even old cooking oil, they do use a little bit of regular fuel like petrol or diesel but only emit the amount of carbon emissions used to run them, as a result they’re considered ‘carbon neutral’. (Not yet available in the UK for passenger cars, but available for some commercial and agricultural vehicles such as buses and tractors.

- Hydrogen cars: hydrogen is used and converted into power, the only waste product these cars emit is water. Such as the Honda Clarity FCV (not yet available).

- LPG cars: Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) burns cleaner than traditional petrol and diesel. You can convert your regular petrol car to LPG meaning you can run it off both fuels.

More than 50,000 ‘alternative fuel cars’ or AFVs, were registered in the UK in 2014 – that’s a 58% increase from the year before. But if you can’t see yourself plugging your car in at bedtime or converting your existing car to LPG, then how can you drive with more consideration for the environment?

Is eco insurance for cars cheaper?

It will depend on your policy, your car and how you drive. However, if you have an eco-friendly car there are specialist insurers but also general providers such as Admiral, The Co-operative and Tesco do offer cover for certain alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs).

Having an eco-friendly car doesn’t automatically put you in some special ‘green insurance group’. But insurers will consider your car’s performance when quoting prices and a less powerful eco car may attract lower premiums and tax.

If you drive a petrol or diesel car and want to drive more considerately you could think about telematics insurance (or black box insurance). A black box or smart phone app will record how and when you drive which could result in savings from your insurer.

You might also consider whether you want a green insurance company to cover your eco or traditionally fuelled car. This could mean your insurer plants trees to offset your car emissions or that they use garages that focus on recycling car parts and components.

So you see, driving an eco-car doesn’t always have to be about having a car that you need charge up every day. It’s about making informed choices and that’s where we come in, because we’re here to help you find the right deal by comparing the market for you – simples.