Last Look 2020: The Private Passenger Auto Insurance Marketplace in Massachusetts

Our last update of the year features the latest CAR data as of September 2020

The latest numbers for our last bi-monthly market share update on the Massachusetts Private Passenger Auto Insurance marketplace are here. All of the data focuses on September 2020, the latest date for which complete data is available.

As always, many thanks to the Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers, which acts as the statistical agent for motor vehicle insurance in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and provides Agency Checklists with all the data presented here.

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An overview of the private passenger marketplace in the United States

The Private Passenger Auto Insurance marketplace continues to be the largest line of insurance in the U.S. with a total of $253,238,614,669 in Direct Written Premiums in 2019. This represents approximately 36% of all reported written premiums in the U.S. It is an increase in Direct Written Premiums of $7,166,220,843 when compared to 2018 which had a total of $246,072,393,826.

As for Direct Premiums Earned, the amount also increased to $251,011,648,078 versus $242,054,605,219 in 2018. View Agency Checklists’ NAIC 2020 Market Share Report here.

An overview of the private passenger marketplace in Massachusetts

In addition to CAR’s updates on the Private Passenger Auto Insurance Marketplace throughout the year, the Division of Insurance also publishes an official statement on the state of this market each year.

Unlike CAR’s raw data, however, the Division’s Market Share Report’s most recent report on this marketplace dates from 2018 and reflects an official tally and analysis of complete data for that year. For those interested in accessing the DOI’s latest numbers please refer to Agency Checklists MA Market Share Report 2020: Private Passenger Auto Insurers.

A breakdown of the Marketplace in Massachusetts by Exposures and Market Share

A list all the current writers of Private Passenger Auto Insurers as ranked by premiums and corresponding market share.

COMPANY	EXPOSURES	MA MARKET SHARE
1. COMMERCE	832,959	22.29%
2. GEICO	571,869	15.30%
3. LIBERTY MUTUAL	318,587	8.53%
4. SAFETY	317,631	8.50%
5. ARBELLA	292,292	7.82%
6. PLYMOUTH ROCK	237,154	6.35%
7. PROGRESSIVE	192,541	5.15%
8. U S A A	137,932	3.69%
9. STANDARD FIRE	137,871	3.69%
10. METROPOLITAN	114,873	3.07%
11. AMICA MUTUAL	112,671	3.02%
12. HANOVER	107,639	2.88%
13. ALLSTATE	63,751	1.71%
14. QUINCY MUTUAL	63,401	1.70%
15. NATIONAL GRANGE	45,866	1.23%
16. NORFOLK AND DEDHAM MUTUAL	41,801	1.12%
17. VERMONT MUTUAL	41,055	1.10%
18. PREFERRED MUTUAL	18,262	0.49%
19. STATE FARM	16,058	0.43%
20. GREEN MOUNTAIN	13,476	0.36%
21. BANKERS STANDARD	10,007	0.27%
22. INTEGON	8,630	0.23%
23. ELECTRIC	7,835	0.21%
24. PURE	7,570	0.20%
25. ESURANCE	7,120	0.19%
26. FARM FAMILY	6,041	0.16%
27. TRUMBULL	4,226	0.11%
28. AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL	2,505	0.07%
29. CINCINNATI	1,931	0.05%
30. OCCIDENTAL INS	1,335	0.04%
31. HARLEYSVILLE WORCESTER	1,114	0.03%
32. MIDDLESEX	922	0.02%
33. MARKEL AMERICAN	30	0.00%
TOTALS	3,736,955	100.00%

A look at the shifts & trends in this marketplace over the past 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 for the month of September 2020, followed by the same graph from five years earlier in 2015, and then finally from a decade ago in 2010.

GEICO continues to increase its market share in Massachusetts and now claims a 15.30% share of the private passenger auto insurance marketplace, a .30 increase since our last look at the July 2020 data. As we mentioned in previous reports, if you notice in the 2010 graph, this insurer does not even make an appearance in the top ten on the September 2010 CAR Graph. Five years later in 2015, it has a 7% market share.
The Commonwealth’s largest auto insurer MAPFRE/Commerce continues to lead the marketplace place with a 22.3% market share. It should be noted, however, that at this same point in September 2010, the insurer had a 30.6% share of the market.
Progressive also continues to grow its market share in the Commonwealth with a 5.2% share of the market. As noted in the graphs below, it did not appear on the top ten list of insurers in 2015 but is now the 7th largest Private Passenger Auto Insurer in Massachusetts. In comparison, Amica, which was the eight largest private passenger insurer in both 2010 and 2015, is no longer on the list as of 2020.

The goal is to present a more complete perspective on how the Massachusetts automobile insurance market has shifted during this highlighted period. Unlike in past years, all of the past years included in this review have now been during “Managed Competition.” With that, the following are some shifts worth noting based on the graphs below.