3rd Look 2021: The Commercial Auto Insurance Massachusetts Marketplace

Our third update of the year features the latest CAR data as of January 2021

The following is Agency Checklists’ second bi-monthly update on the current state of the Commercial Auto Insurance marketplace. Every two months, Agency Checklists reports on the latest data to give a snapshot of the current state of the Commercial Automobile insurance marketplace in Massachusetts.

All of the data presented here is provided courtesy of the Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers and represents the state of the market as of March 2021. For those unfamiliar with the Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurer, “CAR” is the official statistical agent for motor vehicle insurance in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

An overview of the U.S. commercial auto insurance marketplace as a whole

According to the latest data from The National Association of Insurance Commissioners and outlined in our 2021 report, the Commercial Auto Insurance marketplace is the seventh-largest line of insurance in the U.S. As of March 2021, the Direct Written Premium for the top 25 commercial auto insurers in the U.S. was approximately $45,788,021,304.

Of this group of the nation’s largest commercial auto insurers, Liberty Mutual was the only company based in Massachusetts who made the list. The Boston-based insurer is the fourth-largest writer by market share. In 2020, it reported $1,689,377,411 in Direct Premiums Written and $1,762,177,865 in Direct Premiums Earned nationwide, representing a 3.69% share of the enitre U.S. Commercial Auto insurance marketplace.

An overview of the Commercial Auto insurance marketplace

According to the latest data on the Commercial Auto Insurance marketplace in the Commonwealth, there are currently 193 companies that are licensed to write commercial auto insurance here.

The latest figures from the Division of Insurance (based on 2019 data) state that the Total Direct Written premium for the entire marketplace was $916,026,841 in 2019, an increased from 2018 when it was $855,021,922.

Commercial Auto Filing Rate Withdrawn

In an update to those who work in this marketplace, CAR issued the following Executive Update with respect to commercial auto insurance rates:

In light of Filing Guidance Notice 2021-A issued by the Division of Insurance on March 11, 2021, CAR has withdrawn its commercial rate filing applicable to commercial policies with effective dates of July 1, 2021. This withdrawal includes the Commercial Automobile Insurance Manual Rules and Rates, and the Commercial Experience Rating Plan, originally filed on January 12, 2021

For those interested in learning or more or in contacting CAR, please continue on to read the full notice here.

A look at the state of the Commercial Auto Insurance Marketplace

Seven of the top 10 commercial auto carriers operating in the Commonwealth are headquartered in Massachusetts. The following is the complete list of Commercial Auto insurers as of January 2021.

Company	Premiums	Market Share
1. COMMERCE	38,938,141	16.18%
2. SAFETY	31,324,892	13.02%
3. ARBELLA	26,515,600	11.02%
4. TRAVELERS	20,000,163	8.31%
5. PROGRESSIVE	18,798,510	7.81%
6. PLYMOUTH ROCK	12,861,192	5.35%
7. FIREMAN’S	10,846,764	4.51%
8. TOKIO MARINE & NACHIDO	9,177,966	3.81%
9. HANOVER	7,546,471	3.14%
10. LIBERTY MUTUAL INS	6,248,090	2.60%
11. ZURICH	5,748,691	2.39%
12. TWIN CITY FIRE INS	4,367,222	1.82%
13. SELECTIVE INSURANCE	4,163,400	1.73%
14. UTICA	4,026,282	1.67%
15. NATIONAL GRANGE	3,903,037	1.62%
16. GREAT AMERICAN	2,786,352	1.16%
17. FARM FAMILY	2,570,790	1.07%
18. AMERICAN CASUALTY	2,416,365	1.00%
19. GREEN MOUNTAIN	2,404,667	1.00%
20. EMPLOYERS MUTUAL	2,374,790	0.99%
21. N&D MUTUAL	2,328,610	0.97%
22. US FIRE	1,863,009	0.77%
23. FEDERATED MUTUAL	1,767,135	0.73%
24. BANKERS	1,691,906	0.70%
25. NEW HAMPSHIRE	1,498,965	0.62%
26. CENTRAL MUTUAL INS	1,383,424	0.57%
27. MERCH MUTUAL	1,375,445	0.57%
28. OLD REPUBLIC	1,358,313	0.56%
29. ARCH	1,192,136	0.50%
30. QUINCY MUTUAL	1,100,946	0.46%
31. HARLEYSVILLE INS	944,288	0.39%
32. CINCINNATI	862,325	0.36%
33. MIDDLESEX INS CO	829,218	0.34%
34. GEICO	665,041	0.28%
35. PREFERRED MUTUAL	633,011	0.26%
36. MOTORISTS	631,792	0.26%
37. STATE AUTO	529,835	0.22%
38. NEW YORK AND GENERAL INS	333,218	0.14%
39. PENN MNFCT ASSC INS	308,692	0.13%
40. LANCER INSURANCE CO	304,998	0.13%
41. STAR INDEMNITY	265,800	0.11%
42. ATLANTIC SPECIALTY	251,272	0.10%
43. SOMPO AMERICA	198,239	0.08%
44. EVEREST NATIONAL	157,175	0.07%
45. CHURCH MUTUAL	134,495	0.06%
46. PENN LUMBERMENS	118,213	0.05%
47. QBE	98,443	0.04%
48. ARGONAUT INSURANCE COMPANY	92,479	0.04%
49. GREENWICH	87,085	0.04%
50. RLI	78,886	0.03%
51. IMPERIUM	70,876	0.03%
52. BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY	68,051	0.03%
53. AXIS REINSURANCE	57,897	0.02%
54. AMICA MUTUAL	56,884	0.02%
55. AMERICAN ALTERNATIVE	52,741	0.02%
56. SECURITY NATIONAL	45,673	0.02%
57. STARSTONE NATIONAL	36,492	0.02%
58. CUMIS	27,065	0.01%
59. MITSUI SUMITOMO	23,975	0.01%
60. HARCO NATIONAL	23,398	0.01%
61. GUIDEONE	19,974	0.01%
62. STATE FARM	10,344	0.00%
63. MARKEL	5,797	0.00%
64. ALLIED WORLD SPECIALTY	3,132	0.00%
65. AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE	782	0.00%
TOTALS	240,606,860	100%

Shifts & trends in the Commercial Auto Insurance Marketplace

The following three graphs show the evolution of this marketplace over the past decade. In order to give some perspective on the shifts in the Marketplace, the three graphs depict the Top Ten Commercial Auto insurers for the month of March 2021, followed by the same graph from five years earlier in March 2016, and then finally from a decade ago in March 2011.

The goal is to present a side-by-side comparison on how this Marketplace has shifted during this highlighted period. For example, ten years ago in March 2011, the number one Commercial Auto insurer in Massachusetts was the Travelers Indemnity Co. which is now the fourth-largest insurer in this marketplace as of March 2021. Five years ago, Progressive was the ninth-largest commercial auto insurer in the Commonwealth. Five years later, it is the fifth-largest.

MARCH 2021

MARCH 2016

MARCH 2011

2021 Market Share CAR Commercial Auto Reports

Compare all of our 2020 CAR Commercial Auto Market Share Update Reports

For those interested in reviewing all of our bi-monthly updates throughout 2020 to get a sense of how the Commercial Auto Insurance marketplace has evolved over the past year, please find links to Agency Checklists’ five other updates below: