Massachusetts car insurance rates

Massachusetts requires four compulsory coverages on every registered private passenger car: bodily injury to others of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident (M.G.L. c. 90, s. 34A), personal injury protection of $8,000 per person (c. 90, s. 34A), bodily injury caused by an uninsured auto of $25,000/$50,000, and property damage of $30,000 per accident (c. 90, s. 34O). The bodily injury and property damage floors rose for policies written or renewed on or after July 1, 2025.

The Commonwealth runs a no-fault system for injuries, a pain-and-suffering threshold in tort, a registry-based enforcement model rather than a driver-filed SR-22, and an assigned market called the MAIP for drivers no company will write voluntarily.

The four compulsory coverages and where each one is set

The Division of Insurance describes the four parts as the coverages you must buy to register a car in Massachusetts. Each one has a different statutory home, which matters if you are reading your declarations page against the law.

One limit of the compulsory bodily injury part is easy to miss. The Division says it only covers accidents in Massachusetts and does not cover the injury or death of a passenger in your own car. Those gaps are filled by optional coverages, not by the compulsory part. For how these floors compare in structure with other states, see state minimum liability limits explained.

No-fault PIP and the $2,000 tort threshold

PIP in Massachusetts pays medical expenses, up to 75% of lost wages, and replacement services up to the $8,000 limit, regardless of who caused the crash. The Division lists who it reaches: you, anyone you let drive, household members, passengers and pedestrians. Under c. 90, s. 34M, those benefits are paid in place of tort damages for accidents inside the Commonwealth, and that exemption does not apply to an accident outside Massachusetts.

Suing for pain and suffering is limited by M.G.L. c. 231, s. 6D. A claimant may recover those damages only if reasonable and necessary medical, hospital, ambulance and funeral expenses exceed $2,000, or the injury causes death, loss of a body member, permanent and serious disfigurement, specified loss of sight or hearing, or a fracture.

Section 34M also lets the policyholder elect a PIP deductible of $100, $250, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $4,000 or $8,000, applying to the policyholder alone or to household members as well. A person subject to that deductible cannot recover the deducted amount from an at-fault driver who is exempt from tort liability.

PIP payment clock under c. 90, s. 34M

• Benefits are due as loss accrues, once the insurer receives reasonable proof of the fact and amount of the expenses and loss.
• After notice of disability from a licensed physician, the insurer must start medical payments within 10 days or send written notice of its intent not to pay, with reasons.
• If benefits that are due stay unpaid for more than 30 days, the unpaid party is treated as a party to a contract with the insurer and may bring an action in contract for the amount due.
• M.G.L. c. 176D, s. 3(9) separately lists unfair claim settlement practices, including failing to acknowledge and act reasonably promptly on claim communications. That section sets no day count.

What Massachusetts uses instead of a driver-filed SR-22

The statutes read for this page enforce coverage through the Registry of Motor Vehicles and the insurer, not through a separate certificate the driver must buy. Registration rests on an insurer certificate as defined in c. 90, s. 34A. When a company does not intend to renew, M.G.L. c. 175, s. 113F requires written notice on or before the 45th day before the policy ends, sent to the Registrar and presumed to be the notice of cancellation.

Under c. 90, s. 34H, once the Registrar receives a cancellation notice, the registration is revoked on the cancellation's effective date unless a new certificate covering the same vehicle arrives no later than two days before that date. A gap in coverage therefore reaches the plate, not only the policy. The general mechanics of a lapse are covered in what happens when car insurance lapses.

The Massachusetts Automobile Insurance Plan (MAIP)

The MAIP is the Commonwealth's involuntary market for private passenger auto. It is not an insurer and cannot quote a premium. Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers administers it under rules the Division approves, and generally every company selling private passenger auto in Massachusetts takes part.

Placement runs through an agent. You must first try the voluntary market; a company that declines you must say why in writing. Any licensed agent can then submit a MAIP application, and you do not choose the assigned company. Assignments track each company's share of voluntary business. The assigned company compares its own voluntary rate with the approved MAIP rate and charges whichever is lower. It can refuse an applicant without a valid license or whose license is suspended or revoked, and it may require full annual payment from a driver who failed to pay an auto premium in the last 24 months.

Complaints to the Division of Insurance

The Division's Consumer Service Unit takes complaints online or at 617-521-7794 and handles them in the order received. It can review whether a company followed the policy and state law and can require corrective action. It does not decide who was at fault in a crash, set the value of a claim, or step in where you already have an attorney. Contact the agent and company first and keep your claim number ready.

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