SDIP Incentives and Your Policy
For years the Safe Driver Insurance Plan (SDIP) set the specific credits and surcharges that your insurance company was required to apply to your premium. With the introduction of managed competition on April 1, 2008, insurance companies are no longer required to use the SDIP to determine surcharges for at-fault accidents and traffic violations and apply credits for incident-free years. Instead, insurers may choose to develop their own merit rating plans or to continue using the SDIP.
If your insurer uses the SDIP, the following incentives are given to ensure that drivers with clean driving records pay less for their auto insurance.
Excellent Driver Discount Plus (99):
6-year credit
The Merit Rating Board (MRB) will assign the 6-year credit code to you if:
(1) you have 6 years of driving experience, and
(2) you have no surchargeable incidents in your 6-year policy experience period.
(Refer to SDIP Definitions for an explanation of policy experience period and other terms associated with the Safe Driver Insurance Plan.)
Excellent Driver Discount (98):
5-year credit
The MRB will assign the 5-year credit code to you if:
(1) you are not eligible for the Excellent Driver Discount Plus (99) 6-year credit,
(2) you have at least 5 years of driving experience, and
(3) you have no surchargeable incidents in the 5 years immediately preceding your policy’s effective date.
Excellent Driver Discount (98):
5-year credit with 1 (one) incident
The MRB will assign the 5-year credit code to you if:
(1) you have at least 5 years of driving experience,
(2) you have exactly 1 surchargeable incident in your 6-year policy experience period,
(3) this 1 surchargeable incident is a minor traffic law violation with a disposition of non-criminal, and
(4) this 1 surchargeable incident has a surcharge date at least 3 years before your policy’s effective date.
The value of surcharge points assigned to 1 (one) or more surchargeable incidents may be reduced for an operator as follows:
Surcharge points reduced by 1 – “Clean in 3” provision
The value of surcharge points for each surchargeable incident is reduced by 1 point if:
(1) you have 3 or fewer surchargeable incidents on your driving record in the 5 years immediately preceding your policy’s effective date,
(2) the most recent surcharge date is at least 3 years before your policy’s effective date, and
(3) you have at least 3 years of driving experience.
In no event shall the surcharge points
of any incident be reduced to below 0 (zero).
No surcharge points for incidents in the sixth (oldest) year
No surcharge points are assigned to any surchargeable incident in the sixth (oldest) year of the policy experience period.
No surcharge points for the first minor traffic law violation in five years
No surcharge points are assigned to your first minor traffic law violation in the 5 years immediately preceding your policy’s effective date (determined by the surcharge date) if:
(1) it is the first traffic law violation in the five year period, and
(2) the disposition of the violation is non-criminal
Note: Any operator with a revoked or invalid license is not eligible for SDIP incentives.
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For more information about the Safe Driver Insurance Plan, please call the Merit Rating Board’s Consumer Service Section at 617-351-4400.
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