Liability insurance for non-car-owner - difficulty level: Massachusetts

February 20, 2016 7:36 AM

I've called local agents, national insurers, automobile associations, insurance.com, etc, and everyone says they offer non-owners policies but specifically not in Massachusetts.

I'm going to be renting cars frequently when I travel and need decent liability insurance (let's say at least 250K). I don't currently have a car and don't plan to buy one soon so I don't have my own car insurance.

I don't want to pay for the daily liability insurance from the rental company as it will be much more expensive than what I used to pay annually for car insurance with fairly high coverage.

Have any other Massachusetts folks on the green faced this issue? Do you know of some obscure insurance company that will write this type of policy for Mass. residents or are you aware of some alternative type of insurance that would give me the coverage I need (umbrella would be great, but it needs to be a layer sitting on top of existing car insurance)?

If nothing else, can anyone throw my sanity a bone and at least help me understand what it is about Mass. insurance commission regulations that makes insurers not want to write non-owners policies in the state? What I'm looking for is exactly the same as normal auto liability coverage but just not tied to a vehicle... why in the world would a state's regulations discourage that?

posted by duoshao to Travel & Transportation (15 answers total)

Most credit cards that offer rental car insurance offer it only secondary to your own policy, which you don't have, but there are a couple of credit cards that offer primary insurance on rental cars as one of their perks. Perhaps one of those would work for you? I'm not sure if this NerdWallet article is up to date, but it's got a couple of examples that would give you a place to start looking.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:56 AM on February 20, 2016

Response by poster: Not threadsitting, I promise :)

I forgot to mention in my post that I have a solution for LDW/CDW (coverage for damage to the rental car itself), so I only need liability coverage for damage/injuries to other people.
posted by duoshao at 8:12 AM on February 20, 2016

I totally had this in Boston!

I had a non-owned-auto policy from state farm, and it was cheap. State farm has only weird outposts in MA because the insurance market there is so strange, but you should be able to call them up and ask for that exact thing.

Good luck!
posted by bensherman at 9:56 AM on February 20, 2016

Best answer: I have the same issue--not a car owner, but rent cars a lot for work where they tell us specifically not to buy the daily insurance through the rental company, which squicked me out. I bought my policy through my local AAA in Boston. I remember there were some types of standard coverage you just can't get in MA for a vehicle you don't own, but my policy covers bodily injury, property damage, un/underinsured motorists, and towing.

That said, it IS more expensive than my personal car insurance in CA when I had a car.
posted by smirkette at 10:17 AM on February 20, 2016

Insurance in MA in general is odd; I don't pretend to understand the ins and outs, but my mother works in insurance and treats MA and a few other states as a whole nother realm from the country in general.

I haven't had your specific issue, but I also found going through AAA for insurance issues, as smirkette suggests, to be generally helpful when things didn't make sense...
posted by Tandem Affinity at 11:26 AM on February 20, 2016

Most credit cards that offer rental car insurance offer it only secondary to your own policy, which you don't have, but there are a couple of credit cards that offer primary insurance on rental cars as one of their perks.

As I understand it (and I phoned my credit card company to ask), secondary coverage means that it applies after your own policy maxes out, but if you don't have your own policy, it applies immediately.
posted by hoyland at 12:41 PM on February 20, 2016

I have an American Express card I use for rentals. Amex offers an insurance plan for rentals for a flat $24.95 per rental. I think it covers for up to a month.
posted by leaper at 1:55 PM on February 20, 2016

I do not know specific MA answer but for everyone recommending credit card coverage, the poster requested *liability* insurance and I do not know of a single credit card which offers liability for rental cars. So unless you know of a specific card which covers liability, it unfortunately won't be an answer.
posted by bsdfish at 4:07 PM on February 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Massachusetts has one of the most complicated auto insurance markets in the country.

Call the insurance commissioner's office and ask them who offers this product, if it IS offered in Massachusetts.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 7:01 PM on February 20, 2016

The insurance commissioner won't be able to give any names, lest that be seen as a recommendation.

Until relatively recently, MA actually had formal regulation of auto insurance rates. It's left the market a little odd.
posted by praemunire at 7:51 PM on February 20, 2016

I previously asked the same question for DC. If you qualify for USAA that seems to be a best bet. Otherwise try Progressive, State Farm, and maybe an independent insurance agent who works with Chubb. And do this on the phone. This isn't a thing you can do online.
posted by fedward at 8:22 PM on February 20, 2016

Would it be possible for another person (a family member perhaps), who owns a car and has liability insurance, to add you as an additional driver on their policy? The increase in premium may be much smaller than if you got your own policy.
posted by alexei at 10:14 PM on February 20, 2016

Is there any way you could buy a super old beater for $500 and park it somewhere? Then just get regular liability-only insurance.
posted by serelliya at 11:17 PM on February 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If nothing else, can anyone throw my sanity a bone and at least help me understand what it is about Mass. insurance commission regulations that makes insurers not want to write non-owners policies in the state?

Because up until 2008, Massachusetts set the rates for auto insurance. There was no competition. You had a car, you wanted to pahk your cah in Hahvahd Yahd or dash to the spa for some tawnic, there was no pricing competition between insurance companies because the State didn't allow it.

Then Deval Patrick deregulated the industry - sort of, with the introduction of Managed Competition, which threw open the floodgates of the Bay State and welcomed in all insurance companies who wanted to peddle their wares under a Rube Goldbergesque system of No-Fault rules, minimum Required Coverage and boatloads of other constraints that made very few insurance companies eager to set up shop in Beantown.

So they didn't. The country's largest auto insurer, State Farm, refused to set up shop here.

Much like the paved cow paths that make up the nonsensical main grid of downtown Boston, to the highway system where one could simultaneously drive on Rt 128 South AND Rt 93 North, not much about cars or car insurance makes sense in Massachusetts.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 4:23 AM on February 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Just an update on the outcome:
I called around to many other insurance companies and the only one to offer this insurance is AAA as Smirkette suggested.

I bought a policy from AAA which is exactly what I need. For reference it's almost exactly the same price that I paid for full auto insurance (comprehensive and liability) 8 years ago in a different large city.
posted by duoshao at 9:50 AM on March 26, 2016