Natural gas could soon become the alternative fuel choice for U.S. drivers, as it’s cheaper than gasoline and abundant. Natural gas costs between $1.50 and $2 a gallon compared to around $3 a gallon or more for gasoline.
To add icing to the cake, Chrysler just introduced a new type of tank that takes up less room in a vehicle. That means you don’t have to fill your trunk with natural gas cylinders to use natural gas in a car. Dodge, Ford and GM are all planning to start selling natural gas powered pick ups this year.
Switching to natural gas powered cars could have an impact on car insurance premiums. But it’s actually hard to answer this question because there are so many questions about how natural gas will be treated by auto makers when it comes to safety running on natural gas power.
Currently there are only around 120,000 natural gas powered vehicles on the roads in the U. S, which isn’t enough to affect insurance rates. At the present time insurance costs for some alternative fuel vehicles, namely electric cars are lower than those for regular gas-powered vehicles. Drivers who switched to electric vehicles reported substantial drops in car insurance rates. The reason for this is that those who drive alternative fuel vehicles appear to be more responsible types who get in fewer accidents.
Electric cars also have a shorter range, which reduces the number of miles driven. Some car insurance companies base rates on mileage and raise rates for those with higher mileage. Yet natural gas could raise insurance premiums because it may present a greater explosion and fire hazard than gasoline. Without further industry studies, it’s impossible to tell how this would affect premiums because there isn’t enough data on the number of fires and explosions involving natural gas powered cars.
Safety experts think that natural gas is safer than liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel. They believe it’s safer because natural gas quickly dissipates into the air. That means it could be less of a fire or explosion risk and lead to lower insurance premiums, although natural gas cars could have higher repair costs because there are so few of them in the world. That could lead to higher collision insurance rates because there are fewer repair shops.
Natural gas could be the fuel of the future for America’s vehicles but it isn’t clear what that will mean for insurance premiums.
To add icing to the cake, Chrysler just introduced a new type of tank that takes up less room in a vehicle. That means you don’t have to fill your trunk with natural gas cylinders to use natural gas in a car. Dodge, Ford and GM are all planning to start selling natural gas powered pick ups this year.
Switching to natural gas powered cars could have an impact on car insurance premiums. But it’s actually hard to answer this question because there are so many questions about how natural gas will be treated by auto makers when it comes to safety running on natural gas power.
Currently there are only around 120,000 natural gas powered vehicles on the roads in the U. S, which isn’t enough to affect insurance rates. At the present time insurance costs for some alternative fuel vehicles, namely electric cars are lower than those for regular gas-powered vehicles. Drivers who switched to electric vehicles reported substantial drops in car insurance rates. The reason for this is that those who drive alternative fuel vehicles appear to be more responsible types who get in fewer accidents.
Electric cars also have a shorter range, which reduces the number of miles driven. Some car insurance companies base rates on mileage and raise rates for those with higher mileage. Yet natural gas could raise insurance premiums because it may present a greater explosion and fire hazard than gasoline. Without further industry studies, it’s impossible to tell how this would affect premiums because there isn’t enough data on the number of fires and explosions involving natural gas powered cars.
Safety experts think that natural gas is safer than liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel. They believe it’s safer because natural gas quickly dissipates into the air. That means it could be less of a fire or explosion risk and lead to lower insurance premiums, although natural gas cars could have higher repair costs because there are so few of them in the world. That could lead to higher collision insurance rates because there are fewer repair shops.
Natural gas could be the fuel of the future for America’s vehicles but it isn’t clear what that will mean for insurance premiums.
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