Are Hybrid Cars more Expensive to Insure?
Add the fragile materials typically used for the body construction of small cars, and the result is often higher premiums. Simple maintenance, like oil changes, brake pad replacement and tire rotation, can be done at any repair shop, but more advanced problems will usually have to be fixed by a trained mechanic at the dealer. Luckily, hybrid-specific components typically have very long warranties. Hybrids are loaded with the latest technology, a quality that not only boosts its fuel economy, but also its sticker price. A hybrid’s modern components also make it more expensive to repair. Another factor that increases the expense of hybrid car insurance is the cost of the car itself.
The 2010 Toyota Prius, Ford Escape Hybrid, Mercury Mariner Hybrid, and Mazda Tribute Hybrid all received the IIHS Top Safety Pick Award. This means that they earned top scores in the front- and side-crash tests and the whiplash protection tests. Each of these vehicles also features electronic stability control, which helps drivers maintain control during abrupt maneuvers and has been known to reduce the incidence of fatal crashes by one-third.
In 1999, the two-door Honda Insight was the first hybrid automobile to hit the American market. In the United States, large cars with big engines have dominated the market for a century. This article addresses a related but less common question: Are hybrid cars more expensive to insure than conventional automobiles? So, what’s behind the American hesitancy to go hybrid? American consumers also often express concern about the safety and reliability of hybrids, and wonder if the improved fuel economy is worth the high cost of the vehicle. What was the overall best-selling vehicle that year? Part of it is simply resistance to change.
Body-on-frame construction appeared for the first time, and dimensions ballooned close to those of late-’60s Galaxies and LTDs. Sharing a coupe bodyshell and running gear with that year’s new fat-cat Mercury Cougar, this Grand Torino Elite leaned heavily on “Thunderbird tradition” with most every personal-luxury cliche of the period: overstuffed velour interior, a square “formal” grille, stand-up hood ornament, and a vinyl-covered rear half-roof with dual “opera” windows. Equally dismal was the tarted-up Torino bowing at mid-1974 to answer Chevy’s popular Monte Carlo. Symbolic of most everything wrong with Detroit at the time, these Torinos were needlessly out-sized, overweight, and thirsty, with limited interior room and soggy chassis. Ford tried to make them passably economical, then gave up and simply fitted a larger fuel tank.
