This is the first in a short series. Each post takes one finding from the rate filings Massachusetts carriers submit to the Division of Insurance, says which exhibit it came from and when, and says what it means for a household. One finding per post, and the exhibit is named so you can check it.
The finding
In the Division of Insurance's own example household, adding a driver licensed one year raises the filed premium from about 32% at one carrier to about 118% at another.
The exhibit and its vintage
Every private-passenger auto rate filing submitted to the Division has to include premiums for the same set of standardized example households. We used two of them, Example 3 and Example 7, as defined in the Division's Filing Guidance 2010-C. Example 7 has two experienced drivers and two cars. Example 3 is that same household with a third driver added: licensed one year, driving occasionally. Nothing else differs, so the gap between the two is what that carrier's filing says the added driver costs.
We read the gap, as a percentage, for each major carrier whose filing we could compare on these two examples, in every town its filing lists, and took the middle one: the typical town. The filings took effect between March 2024 and August 2026. Carriers refile their rates, so these figures belong to those filings, and a later filing can read differently.
What it means for a household
If someone in your household is about to be licensed, the number your current carrier gives you for adding them is one answer among a wide range. In a filed example, the same added driver raises the premium by about a third at one carrier and more than doubles it at another. The example defines the driver by years licensed, not age, so a teen is the common case, not the only one.
These are percentage changes in carriers' filed examples, not a price for your household and not a number to expect for yourself. We can't tell you where yours falls without looking at everything you hold.
Talk to your current carrier before the license date and ask what adding the driver will do to your premium. We open in January 2027 and can't place policies before then. When your turn comes, we look at the whole household and tell you plainly whether to switch or stay.
The short version of this finding, with the same source, is on What does adding a newly licensed driver cost? The other three findings are in The carriers don't agree about you.
Source: Division of Insurance Filing Guidance 2010-C, Examples 3 and 7, priced in filings effective March 2024 through August 2026.