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March 18, 2024 Clear | 38°F
The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Section 113F: Notice of intent to not issue, extend or renew motor vehicle liability policy or to execute or act as surety on motor vehicle liability bond

Section 113F. Any company which does not intend to issue, extend or renew a motor vehicle liability policy or to execute or act as surety on a motor vehicle liability bond, both as defined in section thirty-four A of chapter ninety, in favor of the insured or the principal named in an existing policy or bond issued or executed by it shall, if said policy or bond is in full force and effect forty-five days prior to the termination date of the policy, give written notice of its said intent on or before the aforesaid forty-fifth day as hereinafter provided. Such notice shall, except as hereinafter provided, be sent to the registrar of motor vehicles, and it shall be irrefutably presumed to be the notice of cancellation, and such notice shall also be sent either to said insured or principal or to the insurance agent of the company or insurance broker who negotiated the issue of the policy or the execution of the bond. If the certificate, as defined in said section thirty-four A, in respect to such policy or bond was executed by or on behalf of an insurance agent of the company, such notice shall be sent to said insurance agent. If when said notice is to be sent any such insurance agent is not then so licensed, the company shall send such notice to said insured or principal. Such notice shall be in a standard form prescribed by the commissioner and shall include the following statement: ''This notice shall not be deemed a refusal under section one hundred and thirteen D of chapter one hundred and seventy-five of the General Laws of the commonwealth of Massachusetts to issue a motor vehicle liability policy or to execute a motor vehicle liability bond as surety.''

Every such insurance agent or broker receiving such a notice from a company shall, within fifteen days of its receipt, send a copy of such notice to the insured or the principal, unless another company has executed a certificate, as defined in said section thirty-four A, evidencing the issue or the execution of a policy or bond covering the motor vehicle or vehicles specified in the existing policy or bond.

If the commissioner is satisfied that an insurance agent or broker has failed to send a copy of the notice as hereinbefore provided he may revoke any license issued to such agent or broker under section one hundred and sixty-three and section one hundred and sixty-six.

The insured or principal shall be advised in any such notice that, in accordance with the provisions of the plan established by section one hundred and thirteen H, he shall be eligible for nonrenewed coverages if he is unable to obtain such coverages by the method which insurance is voluntarily made available. Any company failing to send notice as hereinbefore provided, or which sends such notice and subsequently renews such policy or bond, shall, upon request of such insured or principal, issue a new policy or execute a new bond as surety to at least the amount of coverages provided by the expiring policy covering said insured or principal and the same or replacement motor vehicle or vehicles and shall recognize the agent or broker designated by the insured in the same manner as provided by any contract, custom, or usage then in effect between such agent or broker and such company.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to require notice if an insurer within the same group of insurers issues a succeeding policy to the insured that provides coverage on the same terms and conditions as the preceding policy. Insurers that offer or issue a succeeding policy to the insured through a different company within the same company group shall notify the insured in writing of any changes in coverage from the preceding policy at the time of issuance.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect any of the provisions of said section one hundred and thirteen D.