The True Cost of a Green Hybrid Car

For many green consumers, buying a hybrid car is a just common sense. Higher gas prices and the opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint is a huge incentive. However, many green consumers are finding that the initial high cost of a hybrid may not payoff for them anytime soon. High maintenance costs and higher insurance premiums can cut into that cost incentive to buy a hybrid car. Many green hybrid cars are several thousand dollars more than their conventional non-hybrid models. It has been estimated by car experts that it can take up to 7 ½ years to make up the cost difference. Here are a few hurdles that many green consumers have with their hybrid cars.

The Cost of Auto Insurance and Hybrid Cars

When green hybrid cars first hit the scene, they were seen by auto insurance companies as easy to insure. The green consumer buying the first hybrid cars were seen by insurance companies as very good customers who tended to be more responsible on the road. Many insurers gave up to a 10 percent discount to those hybrid customers. That all changed when gas prices rose and the popularity of green hybrid cars expanded. Soon everyone was driving hybrids and the number of tickets and accidents rose accordingly. This made auto insurance companies realize that the typical hybrid car owner was a more risk than previously thought. Auto insurance rates have risen accordingly and many hybrid car owners are paying 20 percent or more for their green conscious automobiles.

The Cost of Maintenance and Hybrid Cars

Insurance experts are stating that green hybrid drivers will be paying more in insurance premiums because of two factors. The first is that there are more bad hybrid drivers on the road. The second is that it is more expensive to repair a green hybrid car. Collision repairs are expensive because there are few parts for the green hybrid cars. Engine repairs are usually more expensive because fewer mechanics understand the high voltage drive systems of hybrid cars. Because fewer mechanics can work on hybrids, these cars tend to be serviced at the dealerships where the overhead costs are usually higher than an independent repair shops. One factor that should be considered is that many hybrid cars have warranties that cover many of these repairs. However, those costs will skyrocket when that warranty has expired. The ultimate trade-off in a hybrid car is that the green consumer should be aware that the payoff will come eventually, just not as quickly as they were lead to believe.