How Long Does an Accident Stay on Your Insurance in Massachusetts?

An at-fault accident stays on your Massachusetts driving record for six years, but under the state’s Safe Driver Insurance Plan it adds surcharge points to your premium for only five of them, because no points are assigned for an incident in the sixth, oldest year of the record. That is the short answer, and it comes with three conditions. The accident has to be surchargeable in the first place, which means you were found more than 50 percent at fault and the insurer paid more than $1,000 beyond any deductible. The points can shrink sooner under the “clean in 3” rule. And your insurer is not required to use the state plan at all; it may use its own approved merit rating plan, which can count differently. A crash where you were not more than 50 percent at fault is not a surchargeable at-fault accident, and you have 30 days from the surcharge notice to appeal one you think is wrong.

If you were hurt in a Massachusetts crash and the at-fault question is also shaping your injury claim, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day. The first telephone consultation is free. This page is general information about Massachusetts law and regulations, not legal advice about your situation.

The System Behind the Answer

Massachusetts insurance law has rated drivers by their accident history for decades. M.G.L. c. 175, sec. 113B directs the Commissioner of Insurance to fix “classifications of risks, including classifications of risks based on accident involvement.” The tool that carries that out is the Safe Driver Insurance Plan (SDIP), the point system set out in the regulation 211 CMR 134.00, which assigns surcharge points for at-fault accidents and traffic violations and gives credits for clean years.

The record itself is kept by the Merit Rating Board (MRB), the state body that collects insurance claims and traffic violations for every licensed driver, established under c. 6C, sec. 57A. When an insurer decides you were more than 50 percent at fault, it notifies you and the Merit Rating Board, and the board adds the accident to your record.

Two separate questions are hiding inside “how long does it stay on my insurance”:

• How long the accident stays on your record at the Merit Rating Board.
• How long it raises your premium.

Under the SDIP, those answers differ by a year. That gap is the most common source of confusion.

What Makes an Accident Surchargeable

Not every crash goes on your record as an at-fault accident. According to the Registry of Motor Vehicles’ description of the plan, an accident is a surchargeable at-fault accident only if all four of these are true:

1. You, as the operator, were determined to be more than 50 percent at fault.
2. The vehicle was a private passenger vehicle.
3. The insurer made a claim payment of more than $1,000, in excess of any deductible.
4. The payment was under property damage liability (damage to someone else’s property), collision, or limited collision coverage. A bodily injury liability claim over $1,000 can count instead, but only where there is no surchargeable property damage or collision claim from the same accident.

The size of the payment then sets the class. A minor at-fault accident involves a claim payment of more than $1,000 and up to and including $5,000. A major at-fault accident involves a payment of more than $5,000. The same thresholds apply to an accident outside Massachusetts in a Massachusetts-insured private passenger vehicle; leaving the state does not take a crash off the table.

A few things are reported to the Merit Rating Board without being surchargeable accidents. Insurers must report comprehensive claims, such as theft, vandalism or a falling branch. They must also report at-fault Personal Injury Protection (PIP) claims with any monetary loss for incidents on or after April 1, 2008. Being reported is not the same as being surcharged; the point values below apply only to the surchargeable categories.

How Many Points, and What Each Point Costs

Every surchargeable incident carries a fixed number of surcharge points under the SDIP:

Incident	Surcharge points	Example
Minor traffic law violation	2	Speeding, failing to obey a traffic light
Minor at-fault accident	3	Claim payment over $1,000 and up to $5,000
Major at-fault accident	4	Claim payment over $5,000
Major traffic law violation	5	Operating under the influence, leaving the scene, refusing to stop for police

Your operator SDIP rating is the sum of the points from every surchargeable incident in your six-year policy experience period. If more than one surcharge comes out of the same event, it counts as one incident.

The points then act on four parts of your policy: bodily injury to others (Part 1), Personal Injury Protection (Part 2), damage to someone else’s property (Part 4), and collision (Part 7). Mass.gov describes each surcharge point as a 15 percent increase on those four coverages for an experienced operator, meaning someone actively licensed for six years or more, and a 7.5 percent increase for an inexperienced operator, licensed for fewer than six years. A major at-fault accident for an experienced driver therefore means four of those 15 percent increments on those coverages, for as long as the points count.

There is one more cost that does not show up as points. Under c. 90, sec. 34O, after a major at-fault accident on record with the Merit Rating Board, an insurer may require a $500 deductible on collision and limited collision coverage, but not for more than three policy years following the date of the accident.

The Timeline: Six Years on the Record, Five Years of Points

Here is how a single at-fault accident moves through the plan for a driver whose insurer uses the SDIP, assuming no other incidents:

1. The insurer pays the claim and decides fault. The determination is made by the insurer that makes the claim payment, using the standards of fault in 211 CMR 74.00.
2. You receive a surcharge notice. The insurer notifies you and the Merit Rating Board that you were found more than 50 percent at fault. Your 30-day appeal window starts on the date printed on that notice.
3. The accident enters your record. From your next renewal, its points are added to your operator SDIP rating and the surcharge applies to Parts 1, 2, 4 and 7.
4. The points can shrink after three clean years. Under the “clean in 3” provision, each incident’s points drop by one once the most recent surcharge date is at least three years before your policy’s effective date, provided you have three or fewer incidents in the preceding five years and at least three years of driving experience.
5. The sixth year carries no points. Mass.gov states that no surcharge points are assigned for incidents in the sixth, oldest year of your policy experience period. The accident is still in the six-year window, but it no longer adds to the rating.
6. The accident leaves the experience period. After the sixth year it no longer counts toward the rating at all, and a driver with no other incidents becomes eligible for the best credit the plan offers.

Answer Capsule

Under the Massachusetts Safe Driver Insurance Plan, an at-fault accident counts for six years, the length of the policy experience period kept by the Merit Rating Board, and adds surcharge points for five of them, because no points are assigned in the sixth, oldest year. It is surchargeable only when you were more than 50 percent at fault and the insurer paid more than $1,000 beyond the deductible. A minor accident (payment up to $5,000) is 3 points and a major one (over $5,000) is 4 points, and each point is a 15 percent increase on four coverages for drivers licensed six years or more. The “clean in 3” rule cuts each incident by a point after three clean years. Insurers may use their own approved plan instead of the SDIP. You can appeal within 30 days of the surcharge notice to the Division of Insurance Board of Appeal, with a $50 fee.

Clean Years Earn the Discount Back

The plan works in both directions. A driver with no surchargeable incidents does not simply sit at zero; the Merit Rating Board can assign a credit code that lowers the premium on the same four coverages.

	Excellent Driver Discount Plus (code 99)	Excellent Driver Discount (code 98)
Driving experience required	6 years	At least 5 years
Record required	No surchargeable incidents in the 6-year experience period	No surchargeable incidents in the 5 years before the policy date, or exactly 1 minor non-criminal violation with a surcharge date at least 3 years back
Premium effect on Parts 1, 2, 4 and 7	17 percent decrease	7 percent decrease

This is why an accident’s real cost can last longer than its points. For the five years it carries points, the accident raises the premium. For as long as it sits anywhere in the six-year window, it also keeps you out of the code 99 credit. A driver who was at code 99 before the crash loses the discount and takes on the surcharge at the same time.

Two further SDIP rules soften minor traffic tickets, though not accidents. No points are assigned to your first minor, non-criminal traffic violation in the five years before your policy’s effective date. And a driver with a revoked or invalid license is not eligible for SDIP incentives at all.

How Fault Is Decided for Surcharge Purposes

The single biggest lever on whether an accident stays on your insurance is the fault decision, and it is made under a specific regulation, not by general impressions. The standards of fault in 211 CMR 74.00, issued under c. 175, sec. 113P, list situations in which an operator is presumed more than 50 percent at fault “unless a showing to the contrary is demonstrated by the evidence.” Among them, from 211 CMR 74.04:

• Colliding with the rear of another vehicle.
• Colliding with a person or a parked vehicle, lawfully or unlawfully parked.
• Colliding while out of your proper lane, including while changing lanes.
• Colliding while failing to signal before turning or changing lanes.
• Failing to obey a traffic signal or sign and then colliding.
• Colliding while backing up.
• Colliding while making a left turn or U-turn across another vehicle’s path.
• Colliding while leaving a parked position, parking lot, alley or driveway.
• Colliding while merging onto a highway or into a rotary.
• Operating the only vehicle involved in the collision (a single vehicle collision).
• Causing a collision of other vehicles without touching any of them (the non-contact operator standard).

The word that matters is “presumed.” A presumption shifts the burden; it does not end the question. The driver who rear-ended another car because that car cut in front and braked hard has the same presumption against them as a driver who was simply following too closely, and the appeal is where the difference gets shown. Under 211 CMR 74.05, an insurer’s failure to apply these standards may be a violation of c. 176D, sec. 2, the unfair claim practices law.

For how fault works in the injury claim itself, which runs on different rules, see how fault is determined in a Massachusetts car accident.

How to Appeal an At-Fault Surcharge

Section 113P gives any insured “aggrieved by any determination of an insurer as to the application of” the safe driver plan the right to complain to the Board of Appeal on Motor Vehicle Policies and Bonds within thirty days. The Registry’s instructions turn that into a short process:

1. Find the date on the front of your surcharge notice. The 30 days run from that date, and the appeal must be filed and received within them.
2. Complete the appeal form printed on the back of the surcharge notice. State why you were not more than 50 percent at fault, and name the evidence: the police report, photographs, witness names, the other driver’s citation.
3. Mail the form with the $50 appeal fee to At-Fault Accident Appeals, Division of Insurance, One Federal St., Suite 700, Boston, MA 02110.
4. Keep paying the premium. If the surcharge is applied while the appeal is pending, you must pay the increase or your policy will be cancelled. If you win, you receive a refund or credit.
5. Attend the hearing. The Board schedules it and sends notice; the statute requires at least ten days’ notice to you and the insurer.
6. Read the Memorandum of Finding and Order. The Board “vacates” the at-fault accident if it finds you were not more than 50 percent at fault and notifies the Merit Rating Board to remove it, or “upholds” it and the surcharge stays.

Under section 113P, a party aggrieved by the Board’s decision may appeal to the Superior Court under c. 30A, sec. 14.

The 30-day deadline is the part people lose. It runs from the notice, which can arrive weeks after the accident, and it does not wait for the injury claim, the police report, or the other driver’s court date.

The Accident Record and an Injury Claim Are Separate Tracks

The surcharge decision and the injury claim ask a similar question in different systems. The surcharge decision is made by the paying insurer under 211 CMR 74.00, and reviewed by the Board of Appeal. An injury claim against the other driver is decided under the comparative negligence rule in c. 231, sec. 85, which reduces damages by the injured person’s share of fault and bars recovery only when that share is greater than the defendants’ combined share.

Because the systems are separate, the same crash can be argued in both, and the evidence gathered early serves both. That is one reason the reporting duty matters: under c. 90, sec. 26, a driver in a crash that kills or injures anyone, or causes more than $1,000 of damage to any one vehicle or property, must report it in writing to the Registrar within five days. Our article on reporting a car accident in Massachusetts walks through that report.

Common Misunderstandings

“Any accident raises my rate.” No. Under the SDIP, only an accident where you were more than 50 percent at fault and the insurer paid more than $1,000 beyond the deductible is surchargeable. A crash where the other driver was at fault does not add points to your rating.

“It falls off after three years.” The three-year mark matters, but it is when the “clean in 3” reduction can take one point off each incident, not when the accident disappears. The record runs six years.

“Paying the other driver in cash keeps it off my record.” Keeping the reported claim payment under $1,000 does keep an accident from being surchargeable, but it carries risks for both drivers, covered in our article on an at-fault driver paying out of pocket. It also does nothing to the separate duty to report the crash under c. 90, sec. 26.

“My insurer has to follow the state point chart.” Not necessarily. Insurers may develop their own merit rating plans, approved by the Division of Insurance, instead of using the SDIP. Policies written through the Massachusetts Automobile Insurance Plan (MAIP) use the SDIP. Ask your insurer or agent which plan applies to you.

“A no-fault PIP claim is an at-fault accident.” A PIP claim pays regardless of fault, and that payment alone does not make you the at-fault driver. At-fault PIP claims are reported to the Merit Rating Board, but the surcharge categories turn on property damage, collision, limited collision and bodily injury payments. See whether Massachusetts is a no-fault state for how the two halves of the system fit.

Key terms

• Safe Driver Insurance Plan (SDIP): the Massachusetts point system in 211 CMR 134.00 that adds surcharges for at-fault accidents and traffic violations and gives credits for clean records.
• Merit Rating Board (MRB): the state board, established under c. 6C, sec. 57A, that keeps each driver’s record of claims and violations for insurance rating.
• Surchargeable incident: an at-fault accident or traffic law violation that can raise your premium under the plan.
• Policy experience period: the six years of your record that the plan counts when computing your rating at each policy’s effective date.
• Standards of fault: the situations listed in 211 CMR 74.00 in which a driver is presumed more than 50 percent at fault unless the evidence shows otherwise.
• Board of Appeal: the Division of Insurance board that hears appeals of at-fault surcharges under c. 175, sec. 113P.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long does an at-fault accident stay on your record in Massachusetts?

A: Six years, the length of the policy experience period the Merit Rating Board uses. Under the Safe Driver Insurance Plan, no surcharge points are assigned for an incident in the sixth, oldest year, so the accident adds points for five years and sits on the record for six.

Q: How much does an at-fault accident raise insurance in Massachusetts?

A: Under the SDIP, a minor at-fault accident (claim payment over $1,000 and up to $5,000) is 3 surcharge points and a major one (over $5,000) is 4. Mass.gov describes each point as a 15 percent increase on bodily injury, PIP, property damage and collision coverage for a driver licensed six years or more, and 7.5 percent for a newer driver. Insurers using their own merit rating plan may differ.

Q: Does a not-at-fault accident go on your insurance in Massachusetts?

A: It is not a surchargeable at-fault accident. An accident is surchargeable only if you were more than 50 percent at fault and the insurer paid more than $1,000 beyond the deductible. Some claims, such as comprehensive claims, are reported to the Merit Rating Board without being surchargeable.

Q: What is the “clean in 3” rule?

A: If you have three or fewer surchargeable incidents in the five years before your policy’s effective date, your most recent surcharge date is at least three years before that date, and you have at least three years of driving experience, the points for each incident drop by one. Points cannot go below zero.

Q: How do I appeal an at-fault accident surcharge in Massachusetts?

A: Complete the appeal form on the back of the surcharge notice and mail it with a $50 fee to the Division of Insurance Board of Appeal within 30 days of the notice date. You must keep paying any surcharged premium while the appeal is pending; if the Board vacates the finding, you receive a refund or credit.

Q: Does an accident in another state count on my Massachusetts insurance?

A: It can. An accident outside Massachusetts in a Massachusetts-insured private passenger vehicle is surchargeable if you were more than 50 percent at fault and the payment under property damage, collision, limited collision or bodily injury coverage was more than $1,000.

Q: Can my insurer raise my collision deductible after an accident?

A: After a major at-fault accident on record with the Merit Rating Board, c. 90, sec. 34O allows an insurer to require a $500 deductible on collision and limited collision coverage, for no more than three policy years following the accident.

Q: Is Jimmy Knows AI giving me legal advice?

A: No. This page is general information about Massachusetts law and insurance regulations for educational purposes. It is not legal advice for your situation and does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your own crash, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS.

Talking to a Lawyer

A surcharge notice is often the first official word that someone has decided you caused a crash, and it arrives on a 30-day clock. If you were hurt in that crash, the same fault question is about to matter in a bigger way, in the injury claim under c. 231, sec. 85. Call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day. The first telephone consultation is free.