Forty-four out of fifty. 88 percent. Almost nine out of ten. However you name it, it's getting easier to asks Travelers Insurance for a ten percent discount on your auto insurance if you drive a hybrid. Company officials have just announced that Georgia is the latest state where residents can qualify for the discount. That list is now 44 states long. The missing states? Alaska, Hawaii, Massachusetts, North and South Dakota, West Virginia.

The reason for the ten percent discount is that Travelers figures that hybrid owners are lower risk drivers, and so can be rewarded with lower rates, said Greg Toczydlowski, senior vice president of product management for Travelers Personal Insurance. Travelers officials say that the company's hybrid new car business has grown 200 percent compared to the previous 12 month average.

Is it reasonable to think that hybrid drivers are better drivers? I used to believe the companies penalized people for driving red cars, but that's not true, so it's clear I don't know much about how insurance companies operate? Do you think it's fair to favor hybrid drivers over, say EV or biodiesel fans? Could I go make a claim to my insurer that I recycle a lot, and so they should give me a discount? Where's the line here?

Related:

• Ohio hybrid drivers get a discount from Farmers Insurance
• Travelers insurance discount for hybrid drivers extends to Texas
• Insurance companies steadily rolling out green machine discounts

[Source: Travelers via EDTA]

After previously announcing their intention to offer discounts to owners of hybrid vehicles in Ohio, Farmers Insurance is now expanding the program to another 37 states. Customers of Farmers Insurance in all 41 states where they operate will be eligible for discounts of up to 10 percent on all their coverage. The discounts are available to owners of hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles. The discounts were first offered in California in 2005. According to Farmers Insurance vice president Bill Martin: "Our research shows that drivers of hybrid vehicles are more mature, drive fewer miles and are more environmentally conscious than the average driver," The full press release is after the jump

[Source: BusinessWire]

An insurance company in Britain, Co-operative Insurance, launched a new insurance program for drivers that not only gives drivers of "green" cars a discount, it also provides drivers of more standard (i.e., high-polluting) cars a chance to offset their carbon emissions. The campaign, called the Eco Motor Insurance, offsets twenty percent of a car's CO2 emissions if that car is covered by the policy. Co-operative Insurance (CIS) is going green not just with their policies, but with their facilities as well. Their CIS tower is covered by 7,000 solar panels and the company has built a large wind farm on top of another of their building in central Manchester.

[Source: Co-operative Financial Services]