We contacted the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) to see if a person under the age of 18 is permitted by state laws to purchase, register and insure a motor vehicle. The RMV representative responded that yes, that someone under the age of 18 could indeed purchase a car and register and title it solely in their name in Massachusetts.

As for obtaining insurance as a teenager the guidelines for that are up to the individual insurance companies in MA the RMV noted. In general auto insurance companies do not allow minors, those under the age of 18, to sign on a policy without a parent or legal guardian since it is a legal contract. The insurance company wants to protect themselves in that laws usually allow minors to get out of contracts if they request to do so are they were under 18 when the contract was signed. Thus with a parent or guardian signing on as well the contract can be enforced with the parental party if the teen tries to back out of it.

So if you are under the age of 18 in Massachusetts you can purchase, register and title a car in your name but will typically need a parent or guardian to sign on with you to obtain an insurance policy for the car. As you likely are aware obtaining insurance is part of the registration process in MA so you would need to get insurance on your car before you are able to register it.

The RMV lists the first 2 steps of registering a car as 1 - Have the dealer complete and sign an Application for Registration and Title (RMV-1). Then 2 - You then must go to a licensed Massachusetts insurance agent to obtain an active insurance policy and have the agent stamp and sign the RMV-1 application. The last step of the registration process is to take the completed RMV-1 application and supporting documents to the nearest full service RMV center.

To see what your auto insurance rates would be in MA as a young driver, click here.