Eco-friendly car insurance: a quick guide How can you make greener choices about your car insurance? Find out with our quick guide... What does cheap car insurance have to do with being more eco-friendly? There's an increasing range of policies on the market that help you do your bit, from paperless documentation to donations to environmental charities and more. Why choose eco car insurance? For many of us it's just not practical to be without a car - even if we know it's harmful to the environment. Hybrid vehicles are getting more widespread, but there's still a limited choice and they can be expensive to buy. Several insurers have cottoned on to this problem and thought of ways to help you offset some of your car's environmental damage through your insurance policy. There are 3 main approaches:

• carbon offsetting
  
• charitable donations
  
• greener repairs

Most green insurance policies will focus on one of these, but may include more than one. The main advantage of eco car insurance is convenience - if you're prepared to do your own research you might find it's cheaper to buy a standard policy and organise your own offsetting or charity donations. Carbon offsetting With a carbon offsetting scheme, your insurer will look at your car's annual mileage, fuel type and engine size and use those to estimate your annual carbon emissions. They'll then try to offset some or all of that amount by investing in eco-friendly projects such as reforestation, renewable energy or energy efficiency. Some insurers will include this as part of your premium, while for others it's available as an optional extra with an additional charge. Charitable donations Some providers of eco-friendly car insurance make a one-off donation to an environmental charity when you open or renew your car insurance policy. This usually won't cost you anything - it's entirely the insurance company's money. The insurer will often give you a choice of charities, ranging from local conservation schemes to global campaigns, so you can choose which you want to support. Greener repairs An innovative way of reducing your environmental impact through your choice of car insurance is to choose an insurer with a green repairer network. Some insurers claim to make sure that its approved repairers reuse and recycle parts such as body panels and plastic wherever possible. Key points There are 3 main ways of making car insurance green: carbon offsetting, charitable donations and greener repairs.