I know Sierra Club isn't in the business of insurance premium activism, but
the latter part of the article discusses a bit about fuel economy.
Considering Sierra Club's strength in the political arena, I thought it
appropriate to pass it along.

SUVS: DOING THEIR SHARE TO MAKE AMERICA A HEAVIER NATION
The New Republic, Online
http://www.tnr.com/easterbrook.mhtml

According to this study by Conning Research, an insurance-analysis
consulting firm, (http://www.conning.com/irpstore/PressReleases/030915.asp)
regular cars are subsidizing SUVs. Owners of regular cars as a group are
paying about 15 percent too much for auto insurance, Conning concludes--a
couple of hundred dollars annually for each regular car owner, depending on
location and driving record--while owners of SUVs and pickup trucks pay too
little by about the same margin. The problem has arisen because SUVs cause
far more damage during collisions than regular cars, and hence generate
higher claims. But most insurers don't charge an extra SUV premium, instead
spreading the risk across all vehicle owners. Great! So SUVs not only make
the roads unpleasant for regular cars owners and place them in needless
danger, owners of regular cars have to pay extra so that SUV owners can be
selfish.

The Conning Research study also finds that insurance loss data show the
misnamed "light" pickup trucks--fastest growing segment of the vehicle
market, with most new pickups used not for construction work but standard
commuting--inflict "more severe injuries and greater damage than cars."
There's been some attention paid to the added dangers caused by SUVs, but
almost none to the added dangers caused by people switching from regular
cars to pickup trucks.

Pickups like the Ford F150, now the number-one selling vehicle in the United
States--which means almost everyone who buys one is planning to use it for
standard commuting--are even heavier than large SUVs, and hence more deadly
to others. Pickup trucks not only are exempt from the fuel-use standards
imposed on regular cars but, in a truly shameful action that received no
notice, in 2002, Congress voted to forbid the federal government from
requiring pickup trucks to get better mileage.

The growth in popularity of SUVs and pickups continues to account for
multiple social problems in the United States--road rage, traffic
congestion, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, political dependence on
Persian Gulf dictators. Yet still no political leader has made doing
something about these vehicles his or her cause.


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