Our bi-monthly look at the current state of the Massachusetts private passenger auto insurance market at the mid-year mark
The following are the latest movements and trends in the market share of private passenger automobile (“PPA”) insurance companies in Massachusetts. All tables and graphs below reflects the current state of the market as of September 2017, the latest date for which complete data on the private passenger auto insurance marketplace is available.
As always, all of our data presented here is provided courtesy of the Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers, the statistical agent for motor vehicle insurance in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
GEICO overtakes Liberty Mutual to become the second largest auto insurer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
As we began in our last bi-monthly update in September, GEICO started 2017 as the fifth largest private passenger insurer in Massachusetts (reflecting the market as of December 2016), just two tenths of a percentage point behind Arbella. It is now the second largest writer in the private passenger auto insurance marketplace with a 10.2% market share.
That means, that since the first half of 2017, the direct writer has catapulted over Safety, Arbella, and now Liberty Mutual, to capture the second spot. With that said, it is important to note that the current market share for the various insurers listed may change over the course of the rest of 2017. The market share reported here, represents on the first six months of 2017.
Some observations regarding the total market share for passenger automobile insurers in Massachusetts
- The total number of exposures has increased since our last report to 3,659,162 exposures as of September 2017.
- As of June 2017, GEICO was only about 7,036 exposures behind Liberty Mutual. As of September 2017, however, it now has 10,682 more exposures than third ranked Liberty Mutual.
- MAPFRE/Commerce continues to dominate the market with 933,718 exposures or a 25.5% market share.
- The Hanover has edged up a spot to claim the eleventh spot with expectations that it will continue to increase both its market share and position in the top 20 following the announcement, earlier this year, that it had entered into a Replacement Carrier Agreement with Encompass for its Personal Lines business. Encompass announced this year that it is officially withdrawing from Massachusetts. It is currently the 26th largest PPA writer in Mass.
| COMPANY NAME | EXPOSURES | MARKET SHARE |
| 1. COMMERCE/MAPFRE | 933,718 | 25.52% |
| 2. GEICO | 374,248 | 10.23% |
| 3. LIBERTY MUTUAL | 363,566 | 9.94% |
| 4. SAFETY | 346,098 | 9.46% |
| 5. ARBELLA | 304,404 | 8.32% |
| 6. PLYMOUTH ROCK | 211,375 | 5.78% |
| 7. METROPOLITAN | 142,809 | 3.90% |
| 8. PROGRESSIVE | 132,217 | 3.61% |
| 9. U S A A | 128,319 | 3.51% |
| 10. AMICA MUTUAL | 125,322 | 3.42% |
| 11. HANOVER | 116,033 | 3.17% |
| 12. THE PREMIER | 114,676 | 3.13% |
| 13. QUINCY MUTUAL | 63,072 | 1.72% |
| 14. ALLSTATE | 47,947 | 1.31% |
| 15. NORFOLK AND DEDHAM MUTUAL | 42,811 | 1.17% |
| 16. VERMONT MUTUAL | 40,762 | 1.11% |
| 17. NATIONAL GRANGE | 39,830 | 1.09% |
| 18. PREFERRED MUTUAL | 19,472 | 0.53% |
| 19. OCCIDENTAL INS | 17,119 | 0.47% |
| 20. STATE FARM | 16,620 | 0.45% |
| 21. INTEGON | 11,190 | 0.31% |
| 22. IDS | 9,630 | 0.26% |
| 23. ELECTRIC | 9,315 | 0.25% |
| 24. GREEN MOUNTAIN | 9,157 | 0.25% |
| 25. ESURANCE | 8,463 | 0.23% |
| 26. ENCOMPASS | 7,930 | 0.22% |
| 27. BANKERS STANDARD | 7,132 | 0.19% |
| 28. FARM FAMLY | 6,065 | 0.17% |
| 29. PURE | 4,637 | 0.13% |
| 30. AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL | 2,732 | 0.07% |
| 31. HARLEYSVILLE WORCESTER | 2,496 | 0.07% |
Graphs from the months of December 2017, 2012, and 2007 show how the market has changed over the past decade
In order to give some perspective of the shifts in the marketplace over the past decade, we have include similar graphs from both April & June in addition to September 2017, as well as graphs from September 2012 and September 2007 to see how the Massachusetts automobile insurance market has shifted during the past five and ten years, including the year before the transition into “Managed Competition.”
For example, in just five years, GEICO has gone from the 10th spot to the second…
SEPTEMBER 2017
JUNE 2017
APRIL 2017
Now compare that to the same date five years ago or in June 2012:
SEPTEMBER 2012
Finally, the top 10 private passenger auto insurance companies in Massachusetts a decade ago, which also is the last year before the introduction of “Managed Competition”.
SEPTEMBER 2007
