It is the question that is on everybody’s lips, especially since the beginning of the recession – do hybrid cars actually save money?

For years it has been the general consensus that green car motorists are more responsible about the environment, keep their speed in check, to keep fuel consumption to the minimum and less likely to be involved in a road accident.

All of these points should reflect on their car insurance premiums, thus their policies should be cheaper in theory, than everyone else’s.

Unfortunately, the theory put into practice does not ring true. A new report by a car insurance group has revealed that hybrid cars and their drivers are at times, actually worse off.

Green can be mean to insurance customers

The study looked at green car owner’s driving habits and surveyed 360,000 drivers from 2007-2008 and discovered that while motorists of hybrids have commuting distances similar to those of conventional vehicle drivers, hybrid owners often put on more miles after work and during the weekend – an average of 2,000 a year more than non-green car owners.

Raj Bhat, the president of a comparison site: "The additional miles driven by hybrid vehicle owners would seem to offset the net ecological benefit of owning a fuel-efficient vehicle. What we don’t know is whether owning a hybrid vehicle encourages people to drive more miles each day or take more pleasure trips."

In addition to this, hybrid cars cost more to repair due to sophisticated and expensive powertrains. The study found that the Toyota Highlander Hybrid is around 45% more costly to repair than a regular non-hybrid Highlander.

The survey also found that hybrid car motorists get more tickets than those who don’t drive a green car. Prius drivers got 38 tickets per 100,000 miles driven compared to 23 per 100,000 miles for drivers of conventional cars and trucks.

"These findings should be of particular interest to auto insurers. Some currently offer policy discounts on hybrid vehicles. A 25% increase in miles driven or a 30% differential in loss costs is very significant," Bhat said.

The discounts could provide some "marketing benefit" to insurers, who can make a profit by selling additional products to those customers. But the higher costs of insuring hybrids could come as a surprise to insurers, who individually have little data to go by.

Turning a different shade of green

A website that operates for hybrid cars and boat owners commented: "The only statement you want to make about your hybrid car is - 'I'm doing something about the problem."

Despite the financial punishment, it appears that driving a green car does have moral rewards. One visitor to the site wrote that driving a hybrid made her feel that "I'm actually doing something."

However, car insurers are worried that hybrid discounts could wind up being a temporary "gimmick" that help buff an insurer's green image.

J. Robert Hunter, the director of a consumer advocacy group stated: "If hybrids are more expensive because of the technology or the cost of damage in an accident, it will ultimately go into the cost."

So maybe hybrid car owners will be green with envy once they learn conventional cars could be friendlier on their wallets.