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So, for example, if--in a perfect world--every red-stater purchased a Hummer, and every blue-stater bought a hybrid, in this extreme environment of polarization, the transition would be made effortlessly into alternate forms of energy.
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 17, 2005--The Farmers Insurance Group of Companies announced it is the first in the U.S. to offer an insurance discount to customers who own a hybrid or alternative-fuel vehicle. The discount amount will be 5% for auto customers in California.
Railroadjames(hybrids save in so many ways)
P.S. This trend could apply to "STATES" too as some have already done. Lets hope it comes to pass.
Hybrids expected to increase market share to 1.51% of vehicle sales in 2006.
By 2012 hybrids are expected to offer 50 models and capture 4.1% of market.
Diesel sales expected to increase to 7.5% of market by 2012 with 26 models.
None of the top ten mpg vehicles of 2005 are among the top 10 volume sellers.
The technology developed on the bleeding edge, though, will funnel back into the top sellers and everyone will benefit. Even those evil Hummer drivers.
Maybe Farmers is privately owned, so they don't have to answer to stockholders?
Railroadjames(hybrids savei in so many ways)
I have to call my agent tomorrow. I should get 5% off for my Sierra Hybrid. It sounds more like a sales gimmick to me. Giving 5% is not much if the owner of the hybrid is a good risk. I think it is a smart move by Farmers.
Auto/Homeowners (discount for both)
Senior Defensive Driver
Frequent Edmunds Participants 10%
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-10-18-honda-ceo-usat_x.htm
http://www.autoextremist.com/page5.shtml
So, here's my message to the Happy Hybrid Faithful: Please dispense with the lectures and the smug air of superiority. It's beyond tedious. Just because you've discovered batteries does not constitute justification for giving the rest of us a dose of your annoying (and rapidly escalating) attitude.
Drive what you like and like what you drive - and then please leave the rest of us the hell alone.
More than half of Americans say they are considering the purchase of a hybrid for their next vehicle. Most are driven by the price of gas rather than environmental concerns.
Recently, J.D. Power estimated that hybrids would account for only 4 percent of total vehicle sales by the end of the decade. But according to the polling firm TechnoMetrica, 55 percent of Americans are considering buying a hybrid, with the most likely buyers being those with incomes above $75,000 (68 percent).
I do like to go down memory lane with the old classics that are shown on his site though. That was then and this is now. (I own a classic '73 Buick Riviera and still enjoy cruisin around town in the summer evenings. She's a headturner. For sure.
P.S. He may be right about "us" thinking maybe we're a little wiser for going hybrid.
Railroadjames(enjoy whatever you ride but save the earth)
http://www.autoextremist.com/meadowbrook01.html
It reminds me of an Insight.
So in addition to paying the MidEast more and more for your right to drive, now there's a good idea, you and the other autoextremists will be supporting all the Happy Hybrid Faithful for the next several years. Quick estimate: there will be abt 300000 hybrids delivered next year. lets say that the average Tax Credit is ~$1500 per vehicle so approximately $450 Million will be transferred to the Happy Hybrid Faithful. Social Engineering at its finest. Take from those who wont change and give it to those who will. I vote to do my share, participate in the giveaway and take as much as allowed by law.
But continue to drive as you wish.. it is always your decision where to spend your money.
kdhspyder
more Hybrids on the road,
less fuel consumption,
cleaner air, and
more money for the car companies to improve their Hybrid technology,
as in the improvement between Prius I and Prius II and also the improvement in the new 2006 Civic Hybrid over the previous Civic Hybrid.
Go-Go-Hybrids !!!
So what's your reaction? You post smug, holier than thou replies. Sheesh.
Can we help it if we are passionate about our vehicles, and from our point of view, we know how good our technology is, and we are required to convince the unconvinced?
If we come on strong, that's not the worst problem in the world. Driving more car/SUV/truck than you really need and wasting energy and money, that's the real problem.
The link provided by mirth was one person's opinion that hybrids are only a partial solution to the nation's foreign energy dependence which as he points out also includes reducing the number of SUV's, building more efficient ICE's and probably investigating other alternative fuels. This is all correct. No quarrel with any of that.
'Hybrid prophets' may seem like the voice crying in the wilderness but it's because the whole message; i.e. resource conservation, is not well-presented or that some respondents blindly state that no such need exists.
kdhspyder
Thanks!
I stand by my statement. Buisness is a lot like evolution in the jungle; it either survives or it doesn't, based on making money not "conscientious moves".
The only way this could be good for the company is if they are writing it off as a public relations move, and expect that they will get more customers in return. But even in that case, it is strictly a matter of dollars and cents, or sense, if you prefer.
Economics and "touchy-feely" don't work well together; eventually any company run by poor financial principles will fail.
A savvy insurance shopper will select an insurance company based on how well they insure the property. As I said in my original post, if they are not basing this discount on viable insurance reasons, it means they are not as good an insurance company. And the bottom line for any insurance company is that if they cannot manage risk, they may not be able to pay when their poor risk estimates bear fruit and the company has to up the money to pay claims.
"Despite the big public debate right now, it will just be a niche technology," BMW AG Chief Executive Helmut Panke said, forecasting hybrids to account for no more than 5 percent of all cars in the long term.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102000568.html
Because he is so late and he does not live in the USA, he does not understand the Hybrid movement.
I can assure him and any other doubters than in 2012 when virtually every car maker offers virtually every car or truck in their lineup with a hybrid option, and the added hybrid cost is down to only $1000, hybrids will be far from "niche."
"Last month, Ford Motor Co. CEO Bill Ford laid out a new vision to turn his company into a leader in technological innovation and, just perhaps, an environmental performance champion as well. His announcement, including the promise to produce 250,000 hybrids annually by 2010, comes during a time of trouble for the industry, and we watched it with keen interest."
Niche, Smiche !!!
When someone insures you it is a crap shoot. They are playing the odds that you will not crash into someone and cost them money. As has been documented hybrid drivers as a group seem to drive a little slower trying to squeeze their petrol dollars. This would be a good criteria for considering them less of a risk than the guy in a brand new Mustang. If Farmers Insurance is giving a 5% discount on hybrids, it is a good sales tool.
I would say you may be more apt to get hit driving slower than the flow. That does not cost your insurance company. It costs the guys insurance company that hit you. All other things be equal the Mustang is a higher risk car than the Prius. I think the reason the Prius could have higher premiums has more to do with the cost to repair.
You seem to be confusing slower with impeding traffic. I don't think...or hope nobody here does that.
Yes, taking a more cautious and aware attitude can make a better risk.
Not going to bother answering the rest of your post, which I disagree with, but could you please provide a link to the mientioned "documentation" that hybrid drivers as a group drive slower. Also, could you provide some proof that this translates into lower insurance risks?
Don't worry too much about the insurance companies. They have some statistiens locked in a room who have already figured out whether this discount makes sense or not. They won't share the data with us or with other insurance companies because the statistical regression that they do is a large part of their competitive advantage.
These companies don't price their products because they Think that some group will be safer or not. They are nearly Certain, with very small margins of error, of what a certain group's accident rates will be. They are also certain what the probabilities of deviation from that number are.
From this story:
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2005/id20051020_443864.htm
I'm assuming you don't know the slightest thing about actuarial sciences and auto insurance.
You're so totally wrong.
quote larsb - I can assure him and any other doubters than in 2012 when virtually every car maker offers virtually every car or truck in their lineup with a hybrid option, and the added hybrid cost is down to only $1000, hybrids will be far from "niche." -end
4.1% of the market is still very much niche. I'm not assured.
Be Assured - Be VERY Assured.........:D
This is precisely the reason they did what they did. They are subtly advertising for new customers with a certain profile. It's not a whole lot different than the Saturday ads for auto dealers and furniture stores. If they were giving the Prius owners a conscience-motivated thank you for being so 'enviro-friendly', then they would have just reduced the rates on the existing Prius' in the next billing cycle. All they would have had to do is put a little note in each bill saying 'Thanks for keeping the air clean. Here's a 5% reduction on your Prius.' But they didn't. They announced it in the press!! Why?
I am 99+% certain that someone in the company did a marketing study which profiled the Prius owner in the biggest Hybrid market in the US - LA. What they likely found was an older ( more assets ), more affluent ( more assest to be insured ), well established ( pays bills on time ) conscientious citizen who could possibly afford to purchase additional types of insurance products rather than the struggling young couple just starting out. This is a way to get a foot in the door so to speak with a clientele that they might not have already.
Its just business
kdhspyder
"If anyone harbored any doubts that hybrid cars are hot, last week the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show put them to rest. Carmakers practically ran over one another promoting their versions in attempts to catch up with Honda and Toyota, the technology's pioneers. Companies such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mazda, Mitsubishi, GM, Volkswagen and Porsche showed new models or talked about plans to sell them by the end of the decade at the latest. On display were not only regular hybrids, the kind powered by gasoline engines mated to electric motors, but also variations adding hydrogen to the mix and a system that puts electric motors at the wheels. The frenzy to churn out hybrids and their technological cousins is so fierce that archrivals GM, DaimlerChrysler and BMW have teamed up to build a research and technical center in the Detroit suburbs. And Ford is so desperate to fill 200 open jobs in its hybrid program that it's competing with Toyota to hire engineers from the software and aerospace industries. The stakes are high: Ford and GM announced third-quarter losses of nearly $2 billion combined last week, thanks in part to plunging sales of SUVs."
Did everybody get that? Anyone care to still call Hybrids a "FAD" ????