Will Insurance Wash Out The Gas Savings?

[jeff barbieri]

Hi from Buffalo, NY. Just joined to support the Elio concept. Hopping the trike can handle salted winter roads ok. Also would like to speak to what I see as the other side of the equation in owning a commuter car: that is insurance. Being in the building trades I drive a tank to the jobsite and drop off all my stuff on the first day. The following days I would drive a commuter IF I didn't have to insure both vehicles for full usage to use only part time. That's an additional full time insurance policy for part time use "to save" money on gas. So, the full time insurance policy washes out any hoped for cash savings in owning a commuter. Would I pay an additional 500 annually in insurance for a commuter to save 500 in gas? In this regard insurance is a greedy scam that works against the environment and is responsible for a tremendous unnecessary use of oil. (because I will drive my full size schlepper full time) If the driver was insured instead of each and every vehicle he owned, commuter cars would make much more sense. I hope this unspoken but persistent issue grows because if you haven't noticed, the fastest growing job classification in America is schleps. You can only drive one at a time so insure the driver not each vehicle! Let's see how much insurance is for an Elio. My guess is it will be only slightly less than a regular car. Now if I could mount a ladder rack on it.....

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

I know ins. varies by location, but liability only on my commuter car adds less than $200/yr to my policy. Full coverage on a $7000 vehicle shouldn't be horribly bad, but even if it wipes out the fuel savings for the first couple years, it's just another cost of ownership. That's the number I worry about. My 15 year old $1200 commuter is at $.22/mile all costs, my Silverado is triple that - much higher purchase price and fewer miles to spread it over.

I agree to a point on your insurance rant, but I have no interest in paying more so someone else with a similar record gets their $80K Yuppiemobile covered when they have an accident that would do far less damage money wise to either of my vehicles in a similar accident. That's why per vehicle rates exist.

 

[Adamant]

I remember PE saying we could insure the Elio as a motorcycle (therefore making the cost of insurance extremely cheap) but do you think the insurance companies are going to go along with that? Or will they demand we get a motorcycle license in order to give us motorcycle insurance? Or will they say "No, it's a car, so you need to buy car insurance"?

I'm hoping I can just walk in to AAA and tell them I have an Elio and need motorcycle insurance for it and they'll give it to me without question.

 

[Elf]

My prediction is that Insurance on a $6800 car will be cheap .I shop for insurance every three years .

 

[Jeff Porter]

Welcome to the forum Jeff B.! Hope things are going well in Buffalo. I spent 2 months in Orchard Park at a software developer's boot camp for a company named Computer Task Group.

Glad to have you aboard. On the subject of insurance, I'm afraid we don't know enough to be sure of much. Most of us are guessing that insurance for the Elio will be much less than a compact or sub-compact car. But it's just too early in the game to say how much it might cost.

 

[cantwait]

Good questions. You could probably approximate your insurance costs by getting quotes for a Mitsubishi Mirage and a V-Star 950, and splitting the difference. License fees about the same as the bike. Maintenance likely less that either. Parking costs will match the car. Elio figures the average mpg at 60/61 mpg. Payments or amortization works out to about $1400 per year ($8400 out the door, 6 years) with no residual value calculated. Figuring 40% residual value after 6 years, you'd recover about $3300, or $550 per year. That would affect overall costs, but you'd still be out the cash in the meantime.

Drawing roughly, you'll be out about $100-150 per month just to have the Elio parked outside. If you are replacing miles driven at 15mpg, and paying $2/gallon for fuel, you'd need to drive the Elio about 12,000 to 18,000 miles per year to "have a free 'and' car". You would likely pick up some additional value from reduced depreciation on your other vehicle.

If your main car gets better mpg, you'd have to drive the Elio more miles to break even. If you drive more highway miles than average, your annual break-even mileage would be lower. If you start driving the Elio places when you would have stayed home, the break-even miles will go up.

Financially, the Elio works better financially as an "or" vehicle for most people. If fuel prices go back up to $4/gallon, then the financial benefits as an "and" vehicle go up. I would guess that the purchase decision for many will be heavily influenced by additional factors (fun, cool, unique, green, freedom, etc), rather than be based purely upon the numbers.

 

[Jim H]

Hi from Buffalo, NY. Just joined to support the Elio concept. Hopping the trike can handle salted winter roads ok. Also would like to speak to what I see as the other side of the equation in owning a commuter car: that is insurance. Being in the building trades I drive a tank to the jobsite and drop off all my stuff on the first day. The following days I would drive a commuter IF I didn't have to insure both vehicles for full usage to use only part time. That's an additional full time insurance policy for part time use "to save" money on gas. So, the full time insurance policy washes out any hoped for cash savings in owning a commuter. Would I pay an additional 500 annually in insurance for a commuter to save 500 in gas? In this regard insurance is a greedy scam that works against the environment and is responsible for a tremendous unnecessary use of oil. (because I will drive my full size schlepper full time) If the driver was insured instead of each and every vehicle he owned, commuter cars would make much more sense. I hope this unspoken but persistent issue grows because if you haven't noticed, the fastest growing job classification in America is schleps. You can only drive one at a time so insure the driver not each vehicle! Let's see how much insurance is for an Elio. My guess is it will be only slightly less than a regular car. Now if I could mount a ladder rack on it.....

Jeff, welcome to the forum and your question has been asked before and there is a thread on that topic. Enjoy the forum and ask questions because someone will try to answer them.

 

[Adamant]

Elio figures the average mpg at 60/61 mpg.

Huh? What happened to 84mpg?

 

[cantwait]

Huh? What happened to 84mpg?

84 mpg highway, 49 mpg city, 60.2 mpg composite per the savings calculator at eliomotors.com

 

[RUCRAYZE]

Hi Jeff, you're in the right place for lots of E information. My condolences for your Buffalo town. I went to School at Oswego, and I thought that had snow!!
As mentioned hoping for motorcycle rates, and as a primary driver of two cars, as my agent said you can't be driving both at the same time, which is reflected in the lower rate of the added car.
Got any skin in this adventure?