4th Look 2019: The Private Passenger Auto Insurance Marketplace in Massachusetts

A bi-monthly look at this highly competitive marketplace throughout the year

The latest numbers on the state of the 2019 private passenger auto insurance marketplace in Massachusetts are out. 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.

All tables and graphs below reflect the current state of the market as of JULY 2019, the latest date for which complete data on the private passenger auto insurance marketplace is available.

An overview of the private passenger marketplace in Massachusetts

The following is the latest data from the Division of Insurance (2017) with respect to the official state of the Private Passenger Auto Insurance Marketplace in Massachusetts.

Largest Auto Insurer Writers in Massachusetts

The Total Direct Written Premium for all 52 insurers in the private passenger auto insurance marketplace in 2017 was $5,188,109,343.
The top 20 insurers enjoy a 90.1% share of the marketplace.
Total Direct Written Premium for the top 20 writers totaled $4,673,828,363 in 2017.
The remaining 32 companies claimed Total Direct Written Premium of $514,280,980 representing a 9.9% market share

For those interested in reviewing or comparing this marketplace with the Private Passenger Auto Insurance Marketplace as a whole, as well as a ranking of the largest insurers by Direct Written Premium and market share, please refer to the following Market Share Reports, Agency Checklists has published:

Shift and trends of note during this latest look at the private passenger auto insurance marketplace

Over the past few years, the biggest shift in this marketplace has occurred with the arrival of GEICO. The direct writer, which started out as the fifth largest private passenger insurer in Massachusetts (reflecting the market as of December 2016), has grown its presence since entering the Commonwealth to become the second-largest writer, increasing its market share as noted in the following charts from 5.4% in 2014 to 13.10% in 2019.

It’s market share, however, continues to be less than half that of the state’s largest private passenger writer, MAPFRE, which claims just under 25% of the market share in Massachusetts. With MAPFRE’s announcement this year of its renewed focus on leading the Masssachusetts marketplace, however, the insurer has made clear that it has no plans to cede any more of its market share here.

In addition to MAPFRE other interesting shifts and trends to note from this latest look include:

Progressive. The Ohio-based insurer continues to increase its market share here in the Commonwealth, as the seventh largest private passenger auto insurer in Massachusetts.
When looking at the charts from below, over the past decade GEICO has increased its market share from 0% in 2009, to 5.4% in 2014, to its current 12.97% in 2019.
USAA moved up another position to the eighth largest insurer from the 12th spot last year.

Two new auto insurance entrants in 2019

We noted in earlier editions of this report that 2019 saw the appearance of auto insurers Midvale Indemnity and Trumbull on this list. As of July 2019, however, Midvale Indemnity, a subsidiary of the American Family/Homesite Group of companies, no longer appears on this list, while Trumbull, on the other hand, has grown its presence to include 994 exposures representing a 0.03% 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. The following market share numbers are based on the 2,904,983 exposures so far in 2019:

COMPANY NAME	EXPOSURES	MARKET SHARE
1. COMMERCE/MAPFRE	692,765	23.85%
2. GEICO	376,671	12.97%
3. SAFETY	259,886	8.95%
4. LIBERTY MUTUAL	253,047	8.71%
5. ARBELLA	227,333	7.83%
6. PLYMOUTH ROCK	182,595	6.29%
7. PROGRESSIVE	139,914	4.82%
8. USAA	101,713	3.50%
9. TRAVELERS OF MA	100,105	3.45%
10. METROPOLITAN	94,908	3.27%
11. AMICA MUTUAL	92,039	3.17%
12. HANOVER	86,180	2.97%
13. QUINCY MUTUAL	49,355	1.70%
14. ALLSTATE	45,054	1.55%
15. NORFOLK & DEDHAM	36,861	1.27%
16. VERMONT MUTUAL	32,901	1.13%
17. NATIONAL GRANGE	27,952	0.96%
18. PREFERRED MUTUAL	18,440	0.63%
19. OCCIDENTAL INS	15,078	0.52%
20. STATE FARM	12,282	0.42%
21. INTEGON	9,121	0.31%
22. GREEN MOUNTAIN	8,882	0.31%
23. BANKERS STANDARD	7,683	0.26%
24. IDS	6,863	0.24%
25. ELECTRIC	6,671	0.23%
26. ESURANCE	6,106	0.21%
27. PURE	5,449	0.19%
28. FARM FAMLY	4,860	0.17%
29. AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL	2,094	0.07%
30. HARLEYSVILLE WORCESTER	1,178	0.04%
31. TRUMBULL	994	0.03%
TOTAL	2,904,983	100.00%

The Private Passenger Auto Insurance Marketplace’s shifts and trends over the decade…

In order to give some perspective on the shifts in the marketplace over the past decade, the following three graphs depict the Top Ten Private Passenger insurers as of July 2019, followed by a graph from five years ago in July 2014, as well as another one from ten years ago in July 2009.

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, which includes the second year of “Managed Competition.”

July 2019

Private Passenger Auto Data - Massachusetts — Graph source Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers

July 2014

July 2009

Finally, the top 10 private passenger auto insurance companies in Massachusetts a decade ago, or the third month during the second year of “Managed Competition”.