Massachusetts Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance and MAIP
This chapter covers Massachusetts compulsory motor vehicle insurance: the four coverages every policy must include, their minimum limits, how a vehicle owner proves insurance, and the residual market plan for drivers the voluntary market will not insure. The next chapter covers personal injury protection (PIP) and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage; the one after it covers cancellation and nonrenewal, repairs and parts, appraisal and auto rates. The chapter on Massachusetts State Regulations gives the 25/50/30 liability minimums.
Massachusetts law specific to auto insurance
Massachusetts Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, §§ 1A, 34A–34R; ch. 175, §§ 113A–113V)
Massachusetts ties insurance to registration. Apart from listed exempt vehicles (such as those owned by the commonwealth or a city or town), a motor vehicle or trailer may not be registered unless the application comes with a certificate of insurance, or the registrar is otherwise satisfied the compulsory insurance requirement is met. The registrar may revoke a registration without a hearing if the certificate has not been maintained for the whole registration period (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 1A).
To register a car in Massachusetts you must have automobile insurance, and by law you must buy four compulsory coverages (Massachusetts Division of Insurance):
| Compulsory coverage | What it does | Where the rule is |
|---|---|---|
| Bodily Injury to Others | Pays your legal liability, or that of someone you allow to drive, for accidentally injuring or killing someone else | Ch. 90, § 34A |
| Personal Injury Protection (PIP) | Pays medical expenses, lost wages and replacement services regardless of fault | Ch. 90, §§ 34A, 34M |
| Bodily Injury Caused by Uninsured Auto | Pays for injuries caused by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver | Ch. 175, § 113L |
| Damage to Someone Else’s Property | Pays your liability for damaging another person’s property | Ch. 90, § 34O |
The compulsory Bodily Injury to Others coverage is narrower than the liability coverage in the base course. It covers only accidents in Massachusetts, and it does not cover injury to a passenger in your car (Massachusetts Division of Insurance). The statute’s definition of the policy excludes a “guest occupant” of the insured vehicle (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34A).
Every company also offers optional bodily injury coverage that raises the limit to $40,000 for one person and $90,000 for all those hurt in the accident, covers passengers in your car and covers you if the accident happens outside Massachusetts (Massachusetts Division of Insurance). By law, the insurer must make a mandatory offer of additional bodily injury coverage of at least $15,000 per person and $40,000 per accident beyond the § 34A minimum, and of medical payments coverage to a limit of at least $5,000 (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113C).
A few more rules about the compulsory policy:
- Form filing and exclusions. A motor vehicle liability policy form must be on file with the Commissioner for at least 30 days before it is issued, unless approved sooner, and a policy may not contain exceptions or exclusions as to specified accidents or injuries or their causes (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113A).
- No medical examination. A company issuing a motor vehicle liability policy may not require a medical examination of the applicant (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113N).
- Minors. A minor 16 or older may contract for a motor vehicle liability policy as though of full age (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113K).
- Newly acquired vehicle. When a registration is transferred to a newly acquired vehicle under ch. 90, § 2, the policy covers the new vehicle until 5 p.m. on the seventh calendar day after the transfer, as long as the plates from the old vehicle are put on the new one (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113A).
- Disclosure. Insurers and producers must explain in simple language to every person they insure or solicit that person’s coverage options, including the option to exclude oneself and household members from PIP (211 CMR 79.09(2)).
Required limits of liability (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, §§ 34A, 34O)
A 2024 law raised the minimum compulsory limits for policies written or renewed on or after July 1, 2025 (Massachusetts Division of Insurance, Filing Guidance Notice 2025-A). The minimums are:
| Coverage | Minimum | Law |
|---|---|---|
| Bodily Injury to Others | $25,000 for injury to or death of one person; $50,000 for one accident injuring or killing more than one person | Ch. 90, § 34A |
| Personal Injury Protection | $8,000 per person (unchanged by the 2024 law) | Ch. 90, § 34A; Filing Guidance Notice 2025-A |
| Bodily Injury Caused by Uninsured Auto | $25,000 per person; $50,000 for all people injured by the uninsured auto in the accident | Massachusetts Division of Insurance; ch. 175, § 113L |
| Damage to Someone Else’s Property | $30,000 for injury to or destruction of others’ property in any one accident | Ch. 90, § 34O |
Property damage (ch. 90, § 34O). Everyone with a motor vehicle liability policy must also keep property damage liability insurance (or a bond providing equivalent coverage), and every insurer issuing a motor vehicle liability policy must provide it (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34O). The property damage insurer has the right and duty to defend any suit against the insured for that damage, even if the suit’s allegations are groundless, false or fraudulent (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34O).
Required proof of insurance (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, §§ 34A, 34B)
The proof is the certificate filed with the registrar. It can take three forms (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34A):
- An authorized insurer’s certificate that it has insured, or will insure, the vehicle for at least the registration period (or has bound coverage pending the policy)
- A surety company’s certificate of a motor vehicle liability bond
- The state treasurer’s certificate that cash or securities have been deposited. Instead of a policy or bond, an applicant may deposit $10,000 in cash, or securities worth at least $10,000, as security for bodily injury judgments (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34D)
Who may sign a certificate (ch. 90, § 34B). An insurer’s certificate is on a form the Commissioner prescribes. It may be executed only by an officer of the company, an employee the company has authorized in writing, or a licensed insurance agent of the company (or an employee the agent has authorized in writing). No other person may execute or issue one (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34B). Three further rules follow:
- Once a certificate executed in the company’s name by an authorized person (or by anyone else under the company’s authorization) is filed with the registrar, the company is estopped to deny that the certificate or the policy was issued (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34B).
- When a company or its agent executes a certificate for an existing registered owner, the company notifies the registrar within 15 calendar days (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34B).
- Issuing a certificate knowing that the policy has not been issued or is not in force, or forging one, is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34B).
Driving uninsured (ch. 90, § 34J). Operating, or permitting the operation of, a vehicle without the required policy, bond or deposit is punishable by a fine of $500 to $5,000, up to one year in a house of correction, or both. On conviction the registrar suspends the person’s license for 60 days, or one year for a second offense within six years, and the person owes the residual market plan the greater of $500 or one year’s premium for the highest-rated territory and class (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34J). A person never before found responsible for or convicted of the offense is punished by a fine of not more than $500 (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34J).
Massachusetts Automobile Insurance Assigned Risk Plan (MAIP)/CAR (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H)
Every insurer that writes motor vehicle liability policies must cooperate in a plan that provides motor vehicle insurance to applicants who have been unable to get it in the voluntary market (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H(A)). The statute does not name the plan. The Division’s rate regulation does: Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers (CAR) operates the § 113H plan as the residual market mechanism, and the residual market is the private passenger vehicles insured under § 113H and assigned to an insurer through the Massachusetts Automobile Insurance Plan (MAIP) (211 CMR 79.02).
Who may be refused. The plan need not insure an applicant if the applicant or a usual driver of the vehicle failed to pay any auto insurance premium due in the preceding 12 months, or if a usual driver does not hold, or is not eligible for, a license (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H(A)).
Who shares the risk. Every company writing private passenger auto insurance in Massachusetts must accept assignments of risks under the plan, in the proportion its voluntary business bears to all companies’ voluntary business, as adjusted for any credits the plan calculates (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H(A)).
What the plan offers. At the applicant’s option, the plan must make available (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H(A)):
- Bodily injury and property damage liability in at least the legal minimums
- PIP
- Medical payments to at least $5,000
- Increased bodily injury limits up to $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident
- Increased property damage limits up to $50,000
- Uninsured motorist limits up to the policy’s bodily injury limits
- Physical damage coverage (collision or limited collision, fire and theft, or comprehensive)
The plan may refuse physical damage coverage, or rate it at the insurer’s discretion, in listed cases (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H(A)). Among them: a vehicle customarily driven or owned by someone convicted within the most recent five years of vehicular homicide, auto insurance fraud or motor vehicle theft; collision coverage where the driver had four or more accidents more than 50 percent at fault in the preceding three years; one conviction for driving under the influence within three years; and a vehicle with a salvage title.
Price. Plan premiums for vehicles rated under the Massachusetts Private Passenger Automobile Insurance Manual and other nonfleet private passenger vehicles may not exceed what the risk’s servicing carrier would charge if the risk were not in the plan. Plan risks are subject to the safe driver insurance plan the same way as other risks (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H(D)).
What it means for producers. The plan is built around agents:
- Every licensed agent or broker must be assigned to at least one servicing carrier, but the plan’s governing committee need not make the assignment if, under its reasonable standards, the agent or broker was convicted of a dishonest act related to the occupation, had a broker’s license revoked, materially breached a contract with a servicing carrier, or has an uncured default in remitting premiums. The plan must keep no fewer than 20 servicing carriers (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H(C)).
- Independent agents and brokers earn a commission on plan business equal to the average percentage commission paid on business outside the plan by companies that use independent agents (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H(D)).
- A producer certified to place business in the plan owns the insured’s producer-of-record information. If the assigned carrier later offers the insured voluntary coverage and the insured accepts, the producer of record keeps representing the insured, with listed exceptions (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113H(D)).
- An applicant who goes to the plan cannot choose an insurer but is assigned to one, and in some cases may not get coverage identical to what was not renewed. Almost all agents and all insurance companies are authorized to help an applicant apply (211 CMR 97.06(2)).
Notice of eligibility in the plan (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113F)
An insurer’s notice that it will not renew an auto policy must tell the insured that, under the § 113H plan, the insured is eligible for the nonrenewed coverages if unable to get them in the voluntary market (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 113F). A later chapter covers when and to whom that notice is sent.
Lesson summary
- A vehicle cannot be registered without a certificate of insurance (ch. 90, § 1A). The four compulsory coverages are bodily injury to others, PIP, uninsured auto and property damage.
- For policies written or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, the minimums are $25,000/$50,000 bodily injury, $25,000/$50,000 uninsured auto and $30,000 property damage; PIP stays at $8,000 (ch. 90, §§ 34A, 34O; Filing Guidance Notice 2025-A).
- Compulsory bodily injury covers only accidents in Massachusetts and not your own passengers; optional bodily injury (40/90) adds both.
- Only a company officer, an authorized employee or a licensed agent may sign a certificate; the company is estopped to deny it (ch. 90, § 34B). Driving uninsured is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 (up to $500 for a first offense) and, on conviction, a 60-day license suspension (§ 34J).
- CAR operates the § 113H residual market plan and assigns risks through MAIP; every insurer shares in proportion to its voluntary business, and every licensed agent is assigned a servicing carrier unless a listed exception applies (ch. 175, § 113H; 211 CMR 79.02). A nonrenewal notice must tell the insured about plan eligibility (§ 113F).