California Leads Nation in Hybrid Ownership; Travelers Offers Discount

Travelers is now offering a 10 percent discount on auto insurance for California owners of Hybrid vehicles.

According to the company, Californians registered 52,619 new hybrid vehicles in 2005. At a distant second, Florida registered 10,470 hybrids, followed by Texas, New York and Virginia. Los Angeles tops the list of hybrid-driving cities with 22,922 new hybrid cars registered, followed by San Francisco with 15,828. New York, Washington D.C. and Boston complete the top five.

“California has long been a trendsetting state whose example the rest of the nation often follows, and Californians have embraced the hybrid car in a big way,” said Greg Toczydlowski, senior vice president of product management for Travelers.

At www.hybridtravelers.com visitors can review information on federal and state tax benefits for hybrid drivers and enjoy other community incentives, such as discounted or free parking, and can share their stories as “hybrid travelers.” The site features the Early Adopt-o-meter, which ranks visitors’ penchants for embracing new technologies. Visitors can also access an agent locator and obtain policy information.

Travelers has been rolling out a hybrid discount by state. The company has recently made the discount available in New York, Maryland, Florida, Washington and Texas, bringing the total number of states in which the discount is offered to 42 plus the District of Columbia.

Travelers is a business of The St. Paul Travelers Companies Inc.

Topics California New York