Massachusetts
The
Under
the new SDIP, accidents and convictions of traffic violations are tracked by
the Merit Rating Board and used by insurance companies to determine a surcharge
or discount "factor" to be
applied to the policy premium when a policy is initially written and at
each policy renewal. In addition to
adopting the new SDIP, the state adjusted the entry-level insurance rates for
all drivers to rates that assume 0 at fault accidents
or convictions of traffic violations (one non-criminal driving violation is
assigned 0 points).
The
new SDIP will feature a range of surcharges from 0 to
45 points. Experienced drivers (those
with six or more years of driving experienced) will be charged 15% per point
for accidents and moving violations. Inexperienced
drivers will be charged 7.5% per point for accidents and moving
violations. The reduced surcharge for
inexperienced drivers recognizes that they already pay a higher rate based on the
assumption that, as new drivers, they are more likely to have accidents or
violations.
The point values assigned to at-fault accidents and conviction of
moving violations are:
|
Major Moving Violation: |
5 Points |
|
Major Accident: |
4 Points |
|
A claim payment of more than $2,000, exclusive of any deductible,
under Collision, Property Damage or Bodily Injury. |
|
|
Minor Accident: |
3 Points |
|
A claims payment of more than $500, exclusive of any deductible, under
Collision, Property Damage or Bodily Injury. |
|
|
Minor Moving Violation:** |
2 Points |
|
**No points will be assessed for the first
non-criminal moving violation; however, it will not be counted as an
incident-free year. |
|
The new SDIP offers two excellent driver awards:
·
A driver with no accidents or violations in the six years preceding the
effective date of the policy will earn the "Excellent Driver
Discount Plus" (Code 99) which provides a discount of 17%
from the published rates for Part 1: Bodily Injury Liability,
Part 2: Personal Injury Protection, Part 4: Damage to Someone Else's Property
and Part 7: Collision.
·
A driver with no accidents or violations in the
five years preceding the effective date of the policy will earn the "Excellent
Driver Discount" (Code 98) which provides a discount of 7%
from the published rates for Part 1: Bodily Injury Liability,
Part 2: Personal Injury Protection, Part 4: Damage to Someone Else's Property
and Part 7: Collision. In addition, an
experienced operator (six or more years) with exactly one incident in
the past five years which is a non-criminal traffic
violation and is more than three years old will be awarded the "Excellent
Driver Discount."
As an incentive to drive safely, the-new SDIP will allow the "aging" of incidents. When a driver has three or fewer accidents or violations in the past five years; and the most recent accident or violation is more than three years old, the number of points for each accident or violation will be reduced by one. Accidents or violations may only be "aged" once.
