I was in an accident where I rear-ended another car, is it automatically my fault? If so how is the surcharge determined in MA and how long will it last?

In MA, you receive surcharge points after an accident if you are more than 50% at-fault for a motor vehicle accident that results in damage to property or bodily injury of more than $500.

The Massachusetts Division of Insurance states that insurers are required to determine if a driver is more than 50% at fault for an accident by applying the Standards of Fault (211 C.M.R. 74.00). These standards are common accident types under which you are presumed to be more than 50% at fault.

For example drivers are presumed to be more than 50% at fault when operating a vehicle which collides with the rear section of another vehicle, such as what you described with you rear-ending another vehicle. You can appeal the decision of the surcharge if there were extenuating circumstances that you believe does not make you at fault. The standards of fault presumption will normally determine the outcome of an appeal hearing unless you overcome the presumption by providing enough evidence that you were not more than 50% at fault.

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If your company determines that you are at fault for an accident, they will send you a Surcharge Notice. This notice includes instructions for appealing the surcharge to the Board of Appeals at the Division of Insurance. Surcharge points remain on your driving record unless you successfully appeal the surcharge.

If you disagree with your insurer's surcharge determination and believe that you are 50% or less at fault for the accident, you may appeal the surcharge to the Board of Appeals at the Division of Insurance. The filing fee for an appeal is $50. Appeals must be filed within 30 days of when you receive your Surcharge Notice. If you do not file your appeal within 30 days, you may lose your right to appeal the surcharge and the surcharge points will remain on your driving record.

The schedule of surcharge points is as follows for accidents in MA:

• Major At-Fault Accident (claim over $2000) is 4 points
• Minor At-Fault Accident (claim over $500 to $2000) is 3 points

If you have no more than 3 surchargeable incidents over the last 5 years, the point value for each of those incidents will go down by 1 when you have 3 years of incident free driving. So for many drivers, 3 years of safe, clean driving could lead to reductions in surcharges.

For more information on the insurance surcharge system in Massachusetts contact the Division of Insurance.