Our bi-monthly look at how the Massachusetts private passenger auto insurance marketplace is shaping up this year
This is Agency Checklists’ last look of 2018 with respect to latest movements and trends in the market share of private passenger automobile (“PPA”) insurance companies in Massachusetts.
All tables and graphs below reflect the current state of the market as of November 2018, the latest date for which complete data on the private passenger auto insurance marketplace is available.
As always, the data presented here is provided courtesy of the Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers, the statistical agent for motor vehicle insurance in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
A quick overview of the private passenger marketplace in Massachusetts
The Division of Insurance noted in its latest available annual report, which includes complete data for 2016, that a total of 49 companies write private passenger automobile insurance in Massachusetts.
The total Direct Written Premium for this line of insurance was $4,925,469,543 dollars in 2016, with the top 20 writing the vast majority of that with $4,607,077.606 dollars in Total Direct Written Premium or a 93.5% market share.
The remaining 29 companies wrote only $318,391,937 dollars in Direct Written Premium, representing a 6.5% market share.
MAPFRE (Commerce) still top private passenger auto insurer in Massachusetts; GEICO still second, and Safety third…
As we mentioned in our First Look Article in May of 2018, GEICO, which started out as the fifth largest private passenger insurer in Massachusetts (reflecting the market as of December 2016), has grown its presence here in the Commonwealth to become the second largest writer. It is a position that it has held for most of 2018 and as of November, it now boasts 518,166 exposures representing a 11.87% market share.
As of the 11th month of 2018, Liberty Mutual is in the third largest writer in this market with 397,118 exposures representing a 9.10% market share. Only a .10% behind Liberty Mutual in market share is Safety Insurance, which claims the fourth spot. Arbella rounds out the top five largest private passenger auto insurance writers in 2018 with 352,250 exposures and a 8.07% market share.
The following is a complete list of all the companies writing private passenger insurance in the Commonwealth, along with the number of exposures and corresponding market share.
| COMPANY NAME | EXPOSURES | MARKET SHARE |
| 1. COMMERCE/MAPFRE | 1,078,474 | 24.70% |
| 2. GEICO | 518,166 | 11.87% |
| 3. LIBERTY MUTUAL | 397,118 | 9.10% |
| 4. SAFETY | 392,938 | 9.00% |
| 5. ARBELLA | 352,250 | 8.07% |
| 6. PLYMOUTH ROCK | 261,248 | 5.98% |
| 7. PROGRESSIVE | 188,874 | 4.33% |
| 8. METROPOLITAN | 154,141 | 3.53% |
| 9. TRAVELERS OF MA | 147,067 | 3.37% |
| 10. AMICA MUTUAL | 146,511 | 3.36% |
| 11. U S A A | 146,241 | 3.35% |
| 12. HANOVER | 136,640 | 3.13% |
| 13. QUINCY MUTUAL | 74,116 | 1.70% |
| 14. ALLSTATE | 64,974 | 1.49% |
| 15. NORFOLK AND DEDHAM MUTUAL | 51,559 | 1.18% |
| 16. VERMONT MUTUAL | 50,303 | 1.15% |
| 17. NATIONAL GRANGE | 46,972 | 1.08% |
| 18. PREFERRED MUTUAL | 27,227 | 0.62% |
| 19. OCCIDENTAL INS | 22,582 | 0.52% |
| 20. STATE FARM | 19,485 | 0.45% |
| 22. INTEGON | 14,829 | 0.34% |
| 23. GREEN MOUNTAIN | 12,562 | 0.29% |
| 24. BANKERS STANDARD | 11,198 | 0.26% |
| 25. IDS | 11,147 | 0.26% |
| 26. ELECTRIC | 10,421 | 0.24% |
| 27. ESURANCE | 9,051 | 0.21% |
| 29. FARM FAMILY | 7,226 | 0.17% |
| 30. PURE | 6,693 | 0.15% |
| 31. AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL | 3,467 | 0.08% |
| 31. HARLEYSVILLE WORCESTER | 2,237 | 0.05% |
| 31. ENCOMPASS | 4 | 0.00% |
Our look at the PPA market shifts and trends over the past five and ten years…
In order to give some perspective on the shifts in the marketplace over the past decade, the following three graphs depict the Top Ten PPA insurers as of November 2018, followed by a graph from five years ago in November 2013, as well as another one from ten years ago in November 2008.
The goal is to present a more complete perspective on how the Massachusetts automobile insurance market has shifted during the past five and ten years, including which includes the first year of “Managed Competition.”
November 2018
Now compare these graphs to the same date five years ago or in November 2013:
November 2013
Finally, the top 10 private passenger auto insurance companies in Massachusetts a decade ago, which also is the first official year of “Managed Competition”.
November 2008
