Auto Insurance

Auto Insurance and the Price of Carbon Offsetting

The green fad has been slowly creeping into all types of insurance - but for now, there are still only a relatively small number of products available. Once again, it was the Co-op which led the way in this market, launching a motor insurance policy two years ago, which promises to offset 20% of all customers' car emissions. Today, it offers this to all customers who sign up with it, and also makes other environmental commitments, such as using mechanics who promise to always try and repair a vehicle before scrapping it. A newer entrant to the market, The Green Insurance Company, goes one step further, offering to offset 100% of your emissions over the year. Another slightly different approach in the motor market is More Than's Green Wheels policy, which allows customers to put a device in their car to analyse their driving, and provide them with pointers on how they could reduce their carbon emissions. Drivers who accelerate too quickly or drive too fast tend to be the worse polluters - so by examining your behaviour, you could help to cut your emissions, and your petrol bill. The service is free for all More Than car insurance customers. In the travel market, climatesure, which is backed by AXA, promises to pay for the carbon offsets of any trip you make. While in the home market, the Environmental Transport Association pledges to offset the emissions caused by heating and electricity in the home for all policy- holders. With all these products, the one thing to watch out for is the price. Climatesure's insurance, for example, is more expensive than buying regular travel insurance - but it can be competitive when comparing the combined cost of separate insurance and carbon offsets. It's always worth comparing green products with plain vanilla insurance, and working out how much you could save.