The little Green Project: New Eco Friendly Website + a GIVEAWAY!
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(More little Green Project links here.)
Here’s what I learned this week: Going green goes way beyond my little understanding of green-ness. I’ve understood going green in the way of eating organic foods and using eco-friendly cleaners. And composting. And recycling.
But recently my cousin Michael introduced me to a new concept in going green by showing me his amazing new website, Eco Smart Insurance. READ THIS:
“EcoSmartInsurance.com is the internet’s first site dedicated to recognizing and promoting ‘green’ auto insurance providers in the United States. Why auto insurance? First, almost everyone has to insure their cars. So make sure you pay your premium to an environmentally sound insurance corporation.
Secondly, insurance companies are historically big and wasteful. However, a good many of the nation’s largest auto insurers are taking big steps to cut down on the waste and give policy holders eco-smart options. Some of these options include paperless billing, hybrid-fuel corporate vehicle fleets, partnerships with carbon credit providers and other environmental groups, and other efforts to reduce their CO2 footprint.
Using a good, better, best scale EcoSmartInsurance.com users can see if their current auto insurance provider excels in green business practices. If not, they can use the site to make the switch to a more eco-conscious provider. Who knows, going green may even save you some green.”
I LOVE this idea. Why shouldn’t all the businesses around us get on the “going green” bandwagon? Slowly but surely, maybe most of them will. I love how EcoSmartInsurance.com makes it easy to find the auto insurance that agrees with my green lifestyle.
AS A WAY OF CELEBRATING our final week of The little Green Project…Michael, owner of EcoSmartInsurance.com is offering one of my readers a $25 Gift Certificate to gaiam.com (which oh my goodness, you will want to win because they have SO MANY FUN ”green” items!!)!
To be eligible to win the $25 Gaiam Gift Certificate…go check out the EcoSmartInsurance website. Then come back and leave a comment telling us what you learned about YOUR current auto insurance. Is your auto insurance eco-friendly? (Ooh, I’m excited to report that our auto insurance gets a GOLD thumbs up…woohoo!)
Would love to have greener insurance but we have USAA because they insure on overseas bases, where we tend to live! I have loved this series, thanks for taking the time to help us all learn more tips for living greener.
Toni
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“The gecko ain’t the only thing green at GEICO. America’s most prolific auto insurance advertisers is also one of the most environmentally friendly insurance companies around.”
Wow. I’m feeling good about the saving of however much money each month… gotta love the Gecko.
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I didn’t know that my auto insurance company, Farmers Insurance, is one of the largest insurers of hybrid vehicles. The company met five of the 7 “green” criteria…not bad :)
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I was so pleased to see that Geico is green!! I think that this website has a fantastic idea going. I would love to see them expand to other large-scale providers. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what hospital systems or publishers or even restaurant chains are doing with their profits? I would definitely support businesses with green practices! Thanks for the great link!
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Nice, my company had a GOLD thumbs-up! And I love that they are paperless :)
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What a neat website . . . thanks for sharing about it. Progressive gets a gold thumbs up! The only thing they don’t offer is hybrid discounts. I think we’ll be sticking with Progressive.
I’ve really enjoyed this month of little green projects . . . can you do it again next year? Going green is such fun!
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We have USAA as well, and they’re not listed.
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I feel extra green — I don’t actually own a car :-)
When I eventually purchase one, though, it’s good know that I’ll have a resource for picking a great insurance company!
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Yay–our auto insurance gets a gold thumbs up! But we hardly ever use our car, going mostly everywhere by bike–extra yay!
Your cousin has a great website–best of luck to him!
Also, for what it’s worth, you could let him know that there are two spelling errors in the last sentence under the “Colorado” description:
“Clcik on the insurance companys’ names to find out why they are green in Colorado.”
CLCIK should be CLICK :-) and it should be COMPANIES’ instead of COMPANYS’
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Another USAA user here. And I’d love to see them rated – but I suspect they won’t be since only certain folks qualify – they don’t market to the public in general, so unfortunately people wouldn’t be able to get a quote online via the site.
It’s a shame, though, because USAA is a great company. They saved my husband over $100 a month (not a year – a MONTH) when we got married and he switched to USAA from Geico – and that was for both of us and our vehicles, vs just him! (Geico in our area claimed to be *saving* soldiers money – and they definitely were not.) USAA offers paperless statements and because they don’t operate branches (you deal with them by phone or online), they are presumably using fewer resources than any company with multiple offices around the country.
I’d love to see them rated, personally, but I understand if they can’t be by that particular site. :-)
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Well, my company isn’t listed… ANPAC, so I don’t know how they are doing at being green!
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We’ve got progressive and they’re doing pretty good. Thanks for the interesting website.
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State Farm has a gold thumbs up – I actually have the paperless billing :) And not just for insurance, but also my credit card, checking account, and cell phone.
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We use USAA also. We are very pleased with them and know they’ve saved us quite a bit of money.
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Interesting website! I didn’t find my insurance provider on there.
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I couldn’t find my insurance provider either, but we do use their paperless option.
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I was pleased to find that our insurance, State Farm, met 4 out of 7 of the “green” criteria. I had never considered this subject. Thank you for the information.
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Sadly, our insurance AMICA was not covered. However, I do know that they do some of the criteria listed.
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I would love to win this! I found out from the website that my insurance company is not even listed. I wish they would go paperless. They are constantly sending me lots of excess, needless things in the mail. I always pay them by phone or online to avoid mailing anything else.
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I’m another USAA user. Sad to see it wasn’t rated, I think it’s a great company! I agree with one of the previous commenters that USAA saved us a TON of money on our insurance costs, both auto and homeowners. I love the paperless system! I don’t have to worry about misplacing bills or losing checks.
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Our insurance received a gold thumbs up. Now I’m off to see how we can be paperless with them.
Another green idea that could be included is which companies charge more for teenage drivers. There is a great difference according to a friend’s research.
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Well, I searched every way possible – good, better, best, by state and by company name but my insurance co. is not to be found. We use Nationwide.
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Ours gets a gold thumbs-up, which I was very happy to see. When I see all those ad for other companies, telling me I could save some $$$, it’s very tempting these days. Seeing this website just affirmed for me that we’re with the right company.
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we use the geko gieco- car insurance is such a rip- these companies really take advantage of you- giieco gave us real cheap rates.
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We have Country insurance in CO- and I couldn’t find then on the list. I hope they are green. I don’t know.
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We use USAA for all our insurance and banking needs. While I couldn’t find them on the list, I do know they are all about the Green! Every thing is paperless and they have one of the best customer services I’ve ever used!
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To Taryn and Sheila N…your insurers are going to be included in an upcoming update of the site. Both Country Insurance and Nationwide make the cut.
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Yay! Our insurance co. also got a gold thumbs up! That’s great to know!
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We’re with Nationwide and they weren’t on the list. I do have our monthly payments drafted electronically so that’s a little greener than the mail.
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One of our insurance companies got a Gold Thumbs-up, yay! The other one wasn’t listed. So they probably aren’t doing to good.
Great series!
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Yeah, our insurance company is a Gold! Glad to hear it. We have been with them for several years and have found them very reliable. Good to know they are reliable in this area as well.
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Yey! Ours is Gold:) Good to know.
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glad to know we are green with geico. also looking forward to learning more about pay as you drive options in the future.
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Yeah! Gold star for us. I really liked this website, as I always check to make sure we have best insurance for us once a year. Our policy is up next month, so this was just in time for me! Thanks!
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My insurance company is not listed, but there is a nice lecture about the state as a whole needing to reduce its carbon footprint. In general, I deal with my company online. They don’t mail me regular bills. They send me annual homeowners insurance statements, and they send me the cards to keep in my car every 6 months. I don’t think that is an unreasonable amount of paper trail.
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Hey, my car insurance got a gold thumbs up! Woohoo!
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Hmmm, I don’t know if my insurance provider isn’t listed because its not a major company, or because its not ‘green.’ Its Farm Bureau. Anyone know? I mean, I know its a small company, but its a company my family and my middle of nowhere Kansas farmer friends grew up with.
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well, we have USAA-I could not find them on there. But, the website is cool. It is a great concept! Cool!
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We have State Farm, which thankfully, is a green Gold thumbs up! (We HAVE to have SF because my Auntie is an agent… and we like her ;))
This is a great concept – I know there are more sites out there that do something similar for other companies…it would be interesting to find them!
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We have Ameriprise through Costco and they are not listed. But the site is very cool.
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My insurance is a best! …has plans to plant over 250,000 trees this year throughout the country…
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We have State Farm and they are green, meeting 4 of the 7 criteria. I was surprised to see that Progressive is one of the most green ins. co.!
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We go through Ohio Mutual—but I think they’re affiliated with several ins. companies–plugs your info in and goes with whoever gives the best quote (kind of like a travel agent i think!) anyways I THINK that through Ohio Mutual we get progressive and by the looks of it they got a gold! I never really thought about the large fleet of vehicles ins. companies have!
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I was glad to see State Farm has a gold thumbs up.
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I’m Geico so I’m green!
Thanks for this great giveaway!
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Geico is not only economically friendly…but, it’s environmentally friendly. WaHoo!
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another USAA user! not listed, but best rates and customer service ever — i do all my banking w/ them as well! wonderful company; i’m lucky to qualify.
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Good job! I’m going green, and paperless.
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i learned that my insurance allstate gets a gold thumbs up, in 2007 they also started a new allstate green policy program!
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Mine got a golds thumbs up! (Travelers)
Thanks!
love_cats05@yahoo.com
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