Massachusetts Senate Attempts to Increase Accident Surcharge Threshold Limits

Current Law

Suppose you have an at-fault accident causing between $500 and $2,000 in damage to someone else’s property, collision, limited collision, or bodily injury to others. In that case, it is considered a Minor Accident, resulting in 3 surcharge points on your driving record.  If the damages are $2,001 or more, it is considered a major accident, resulting in a 4-point surcharge.  If you’ve had an accident, you know exceeding the current limits doesn’t take much. Given how vehicles are built, even a minor fender bender could result in thousands of dollars of damage, easily exceeding the current thresholds.

Murphy Insurance has long felt that the current thresholds need to be higher. We are pleased to see this action and fully support this positive move to benefit consumers. The challenge now is to get this amendment passed and enacted into law.

Please Support the Amendment

The budget is now being finalized through the conference committee process, which will determine if this amendment remains part of the budget.  To help ensure that the amendment survives the conference committee, you can voice your support by contacting members of the conference committee and urging them to approve the budget amendment increasing Auto Accident Property Damage Surcharge Thresholds.  Members of the committee are:

Sen. Karen Spilka          617.722.1640
Rep. Brian Dempsey      617.722.2990
Sen. Sal DiDomenico     617.722.1650
Rep. Stephen Kulik        617.722.2380
Sen. Vinnie deMacedo   617.722.1330
Rep. Todd Smola           617.722.2100

The Wording of the Amendment:

Increase Surcharge Threshold for Minor Accidents

Messrs. Montigny, Joyce, Moore, and Rodrigues moved that the bill be amended by inserting after section 8, the following new section:

SECTION 8A. Paragraph (b) of section 57A of said chapter 6C, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following two sentences: For an at-fault accident claim, a minor accident shall be an accident for which the claim payment exclusive of any deductible exceeds $1,000 but is not more than $5,000 under (i) property damage liability coverage, (ii) collision coverage, (iii) limited collision coverage, (iv) for accidents occurring on or after January 1, 2006, bodily injury liability coverage if there is neither a surchargeable property damage liability coverage claim nor a surchargeable collision coverage claim, or (v) as a result of an incident with a bodily injury liability coverage claim. For an at-fault accident claim, a major accident shall be an accident for which the claim payment exclusive of any deductible exceeds $5,000 under either (i) property damage liability coverage, (ii) collision coverage, (iii) limited collision coverage, (iv) for accidents occurring on or after January 1, 2006, bodily injury liability coverage if there is neither a surchargeable property damage liability coverage claim nor a surchargeable collision coverage claim or (v) as a result of an incident with a bodily injury liability coverage claim.

More Information can be found on the Mass.GOV website