First Look 2020: The Private Passenger Auto Insurance Marketplace in Massachusetts.

Our bi-monthly look at this highly competitive marketplace begins again

While this is technically Agency Checklists’ first look at the private passenger marketplace in 2020, all of the tables and graphs being reviewed here focus on the penultimate month of 2019, November, as this represents the latest date for which complete data on this 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.

An overview of the private passenger marketplace in Massachusetts

Since no new data has been issued by the Division of Insurance (2017) with respect to the official state of the Private Passenger Auto Insurance Marketplace in Massachusetts, we have not yet updated this market share data.

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

The major trend we have been tracking in the private passenger auto insurance marketplace is GEICO’s continuing growth as the second-largest private passenger auto insurer in Massachusetts. This latest update confirms the insurers continued upward trend in the Commonwealth.

In looking at the CAR Reports from January of 2019 through November 2019, the on-line direct writer started the year with a 10.75% market share increasing to 13.51% as of November.

As for the Commonwealth’s largest insurer, MAPFRE/Commerce, the Webster-based company had a 24.59% market share at the end of 2018 representing a healthy lead over the second-place GEICO. As of November 2019, it appears that while the Webster-based insurer may have ceded some percentage points, it more or less has been able to maintain its market share this past year.

COMPANY NAME	EXPOSURES	MARKET SHARE
1. COMMERCE/MAPFRE	1,037,498	23.53%
2. GEICO	595,709	13.51%
3. SAFETY	382,969	8.69%
4. LIBERTY MUTUAL	379,603	8.61%
5. ARBELLA	346,040	7.85%
6. PLYMOUTH ROCK	278,260	6.31%
7. PROGRESSIVE	210,003	4.76%
8. U S A A	160,516	3.64%
9. STANDARD FIRE	151,472	3.44%
10. METROPOLITAN	144,823	3.28%
11. AMICA MUTUAL	140,920	3.20%
12. HANOVER	130,141	2.95%
13. QUINCY MUTUAL	73,826	1.67%
14. ALLSTATE	72,346	1.64%
15. NORFOLK AND DEDHAM MUTUAL	52,549	1.19%
16. VERMONT MUTUAL	50,292	1.14%
17. NATIONAL GRANGE	40,342	0.92%
18. PREFERRED MUTUAL	28,058	0.64%
19. OCCIDENTAL INS	22,660	0.51%
20. STATE FARM	18,203	0.41%
21. GREEN MOUNTAIN	14,442	0.33%
22. INTEGON	13,681	0.31%
23. BANKERS STANDARD	12,140	0.28%
24. IDS	10,736	0.24%
25. ELECTRIC	9,874	0.22%
26. ESURANCE	9,278	0.21%
27. PURE	8,123	0.18%
28. FARM FAMILY	7,366	0.17%
29. AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL	3,354	0.08%
30. TRUMBULL	1,837	0.04%
31. HARLEYSVILLE WORCESTER	1,698	0.04%
32. MIDDLESEX	8	0.00%
TOTAL	4,408,769	100%

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 November 2019, followed by a graph from five years ago in November 2014, as well as another one from ten years ago in November 2009.

The goal is to present a 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.”