This morning I learned that if you want to buy a hybrid (to be clear, we're not in the market at the moment) you should check with your insurer first. Seems most insurance companies are charging higher rates for insuring hybrids than your regular, run of the mill polluter. In fact, in many cases, they're charging more for insuring hybrids than they do for sport or luxury vehicles. Why? They're concerned the cost to repair in the event of an accident or vandalism will be too high.
I'm at once gobsmacked and not surprised at all by this revelation. It's understandable, given that they're pretty risk averse. At the same time, isn't ignoring the fact that our oil reserves are peaking a bit risky too?
Seems to me that insurers might want to skate in front of this puck, rather than following behind with their nerdy clipboards. Because just like the oil we all use to fill up our cars, if they don't start courting the growing numbers of consumers who are buying hybrids (the Prius hit 1 million this week) their traditional and most lucrative market is gonna dry up.
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