Expression GreenExpressing the need for a healthy green lifestyle

Green cars are the cur­rent trend in the auto indus­try. The upward surge of gas prices and the increas­ing aware­ness of the global warm­ing threat among con­sumers have prompted them to look for envi­ron­men­tally friendly and wal­let friendly vehicles. 

For decades, Amer­i­can motorists have favored larger cars like sport util­ity vehi­cles and pickup trucks. Cur­rently though, the demand for smaller and fuel effi­cient cars is increas­ing steadily. Going for green cars like the Toy­ota Prius not only pro­tects the envi­ron­ment but also the consumer’s wal­let. These green cars are known for their fuel effi­ciency thus reduc­ing the amount of money spent on gasoline. 

Aside from that, hybrid vehi­cles come with a tax incen­tive from IRS. Con­sumers are advised to con­sult their deal­ers about tax incen­tives they may avail of when pur­chas­ing a hybrid vehi­cle. Recently, a new money-saving issue has cropped up. 

Insur­ance com­pa­nies are now offer­ing incen­tives for hybrid car own­ers. In fact, some insur­ance com­pa­nies will auto­mat­i­cally replace a hybrid car’s bat­tery pack if the vehi­cle has been involved in an acci­dent that dam­aged the stock bat­tery pack. Cur­rently, bat­tery packs for hybrid vehi­cles are priced at about $3,000. Some insur­ance com­pa­nies also offer pre­mium dis­counts for hybrid car own­ers of up to five percent. 

Hybrid vehi­cles are already numer­ous in the United States with domes­tic and inter­na­tional brands offer­ing dif­fer­ent hybrid cars. Ford is already lead­ing the field for domes­tic car man­u­fac­tur­ers in devel­op­ing and pro­duc­ing hybrid vehi­cles. Asian brands like Nis­san also offers hybrid ver­sion of their pop­u­lar vehi­cles like the Altima sedan for the men­tioned com­pany. The Altima hybrid is essen­tially the com­mon Altima except that it employs hybrid tech­nol­ogy to com­ple­ment its high per­for­mance parts such as Nis­san strut bel­low.

Toy­ota and Honda lead the pack with their host of hybrid vehi­cles. The Toy­ota Prius still remains as the most sought after gas hybrid vehi­cle in the United States and this is evi­dent in increas­ing year over year sales of the model. Honda also offers a hybrid ver­sion of the Accord and the Civic. 

Aside from going green on vehi­cles, Amer­i­cans are also explor­ing new ways to save on their energy con­sump­tion. In Cal­i­for­nia, almost 4,700 res­i­dents are using solar energy on their homes. In con­nec­tion with that, insur­ance com­pa­nies are also pro­vid­ing incen­tives for home­own­ers using solar energy on their homes. Can­dysse Miller, the exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Insur­ance Infor­ma­tion Net­work of Cal­i­for­nia, has this to say: “Envi­ron­men­tal aware­ness and action is more than just good for the planet — it can be good for your wal­let. Not only can you save with reduced energy bills, but some insur­ers are offer­ing insur­ance pack­ages to address this grow­ing mar­ket segment.”