Green drivers prefer carrot to stick

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Green drivers prefer carrot to stick

Research conducted by price comparison website Tescocompare.com has revealed that a staggering 21 million people would consider changing their car for an eco-friendlier vehicle if the costs of doing so were cheaper and incentives were offered.

At present 2 million people claim to drive an environmentally friendly car.

The comparison site also discovered an age effect regarding green vehicles, with 8% of the over 55s driving green cars compared to half that figure for under 34s.

Wales and the south west are the greenest motoring areas in the UK, with 12% driving the greenest cars.

This contrasts starkly with London where, despite the congestion charge, only 4% of drivers have the most environmentally friendly vehicles.

Just one twentieth of British drivers are unconcerned by the environment, with 6% stating they would never buy a green car.

Interestingly, drivers seem far more persuaded by the prospect of carrots than worries about sticks.

Rather than hitting drivers with penalties for driving non-green vehicles, it seems that financial incentives rewarding green behaviour would be more effective.

Higher taxes or fuel prices would prompt a quarter of British drivers or less to buy a green car.

However, lower road tax or more competitive pricing would convince over 60% of drivers to buy a green vehicle.

The website has also revealed that, on average, a green car costs £50 more to insure than a typical car, a financial penalty that could be offset by making green vehicles exempt from insurance premium tax.