Travelers to Offer Hybrid Owners 10% Discount on Auto Insurance

Travelers Insurance plans to be the first insurance company to offer a 10% discount on auto insurance to gas/electric hybrid vehicle owners nationwide. The discount is supposed to be offerred beginning in February 2006. Of course the fine print states it will not be available in all states and that the discount will not apply to certain coverages, namely Personal Injury Protection and Uniinsured Motorist.

According to the Travelers Press Release:

“Our preliminary research indicates that hybrid owners tend to fall into the preferred insured category, and at Travelers, lower risk drivers are rewarded with lower premiums,” said Greg Toczydlowski, senior vice president of product management for Travelers. “Additionally, hybrid vehicle sales have at least doubled every year since the first car was offered in the U.S. in 1999. This trend shows no signs of slowing, and Travelers intends to serve this growing market with innovative products to meet the changing needs of our customers.”

As of August 2005, U.S. roads carried over 300 thousand-hybrid vehicles. And experts predict hybrids could make up nearly 15 percent of total registered automobiles by 2016. As of August 2005 U.S. roads saw 328,157 registered hybrid vehicles. Most were in California, followed by Virginia, Washington and Florida. Los Angeles tops the list for most hybrids by city, followed by San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York. According to company data, hybrid owners insured with Travelers are typically married, age 41-60 with both genders represented equally.

The discount for hybrid drivers is the latest in a long series of firsts for the company that wrote the first automobile insurance policy in 1897. Other firsts include the first policy covering electronic data processing liability in 1961, the first policy to protect individuals using personal computers for online banking in 1997, and the first insurance company to offer consumers protection against identity fraud in 1999.

Until recently, hybrid ownership was confined to those attracted to new technologies and the environmentally conscious. Rising gas prices over the past few years, however, have fueled interest in the cars among general consumers. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which saw gas prices as high as three dollars a gallon, contributed to this growth trend. Governments at all levels provide numerous tax breaks for hybrid owners, and some localities offer other incentives, such as access to high occupancy vehicle lanes.

“Industry experts predict that hybrids could make up nearly 15 percent of total registered vehicles within the next 10 years. Travelers’ discount will provide further incentive for consumers contemplating a hybrid as it will help to offset the higher price of these vehicles,” said Toczydlowski. “This is one more example of Travelers’ commitment to being an innovator in the insurance industry with sophisticated pricing and a breadth of products that protect our customers’ balance sheet.”

Source: Travelers Insurance