A Massachusetts livery plate carries no figure of its own. Ten seats in charter service is a second license.
Chapter 90 section 34A, the bodily injury figure every registered vehicle carries and the certificate the Registry registers a livery plate against. 540 CMR 2.05 sets no higher figure for a livery vehicle. We set the coverage up and produce the certificate — usually the same day.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
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What Massachusetts requires
Does Massachusetts set a minimum for limo insurance?
The livery plate carries no figure of its own. What Massachusetts requires is the compulsory policy every registered vehicle carries: chapter 90 section 34A sets $25,000 for one person and $50,000 for one accident, and section 34O adds $30,000 for damage to the property of others. No higher livery minimum was found in chapter 90 or 540 CMR.
malegislature.gov·checked 2026-09-07
Who licenses a limousine in Massachusetts?
A Massachusetts limousine runs on a livery plate. 540 CMR 2.05 defines a livery vehicle as any limousine or other vehicle designed to carry 15 or fewer passengers including the driver that carries passengers for hire on a pre-arranged basis and is not required to hold a taxicab license, and the Registry issues the plate.
law.cornell.edu·checked 2026-09-07
Does the policy have to be filed with the state in Massachusetts?
The proof is the insurer’s certificate at registration. Chapter 90 section 1A will not register a vehicle without a certificate as defined in section 34A, so the livery plate is issued against the policy rather than against a separate filing, and a bond can stand in for it.
malegislature.gov·checked 2026-09-07
Ten seats is a second regulator. Chapter 159A section 11A requires a Department of Public Utilities license to carry ten or more persons including the driver in charter service, so a stretch or a Sprinter seating ten to fifteen is a livery vehicle at the Registry and a charter vehicle at the DPU at the same time, and the DPU may ask for a bond of its own.
malegislature.gov·checked 2026-09-07
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
Limits
What to carry, and why that number.
- Liability, compulsory policy$25,000 / $50,000
- Property damage, compulsory policy$30,000
- Chapter 90 section 34O. Massachusetts prints its property damage floor in a separate section from the injury figure, which is why the two do not appear as one line.
- What a hotel, venue or airport contract asks for$1,000,000 combined single limit or more
- Not a Massachusetts figure. A hotel, a wedding venue, an airport concession or a corporate account asks for a million on the certificate and often names itself as additional insured, and a policy written at the state floor cannot produce that certificate. Party buses and anything over 15 seats are asked for $5,000,000 by the customers that book them.
Coverage
Eight lines. Each one closes a specific hole.
Commercial auto liability at the filed limit
Injury and property damage caused by the vehicle, at the limit your filings demand. For-hire passenger carriers in interstate commerce need $5,000,000 of liability coverage on any vehicle seating 16 or more including the driver, and $1,500,000 on any vehicle seating 15 or fewer including the driver.
Without it — A personal auto policy excludes a vehicle carrying people for a fee, and a commercial policy written below the filed limit leaves the operator holding the difference after a serious loss.
Physical damage on stretch conversions
Collision and comprehensive on a stated value that reflects the coachbuilder’s invoice as well as the chassis, so a totaled stretch pays out as a stretch.
Without it — A policy that values the vehicle as the sedan it was built on pays for the sedan. The conversion, which is most of the cost, is your loss.
Hired and non-owned auto
Liability for rides farmed out to affiliate operators and for owner-drivers who bring their own vehicle under your name.
Without it — The dispatcher’s name is on the booking. When the affiliate’s vehicle crashes, the suit names the company the client hired.
General liability
A client hurt stepping off the curb, a slip in your office, a claim about the champagne and not the driving.
Without it — The auto policy answers for the vehicle in motion. What happens beside it and around it needs its own policy, and every hotel and venue contract asks for one.
Abuse and molestation
Defense and damages for an allegation involving a passenger, which for a chauffeur alone with a minor on prom night is a real exposure.
Without it — General liability commonly excludes abuse outright. An allegation with no coverage means paying your own lawyer from the first letter.
Liquor liability
Injury caused by an intoxicated passenger you served or allowed to drink on board, including to someone they hurt after you dropped them off.
Without it — A stocked bar in the back of the vehicle is a liquor exposure, and the auto policy does not answer for it.
Workers compensation
Chauffeurs hurt lifting luggage, in a collision, or assisting a passenger in and out.
Without it — A chauffeur you call a contractor is still an employee to most state boards, and an unpaid injury claim becomes a penalty plus the claim.
Umbrella
A limit above the primary auto and general liability policies, for the contract that asks for more than the filing does.
Without it — A stretch carries ten people. One collision produces ten claimants against one limit.
In Massachusetts
The organizations that will ask for your certificate.
- Massachusetts Division of Insurance · Licenses the carriers and agents that write the coverage.
Questions
Does Massachusetts set a minimum for limo insurance?
Not beyond the compulsory policy. Chapter 90 section 34A sets $25,000 for one person and $50,000 for one accident, and section 34O adds $30,000 for damage to property; 540 CMR 2.05 defines the livery vehicle and sets no higher figure for it. A vehicle carrying ten or more including the driver in charter service needs a Department of Public Utilities license on top, and the DPU can ask for a bond of its own.
Does the state minimum in Massachusetts match what a hotel or venue asks for?
No, and not in any state. A hotel, wedding venue, airport concession or corporate account asks for a $1,000,000 combined single limit on the certificate and names itself as additional insured, and a party bus is asked for $5,000,000 by the customers that book one. The Massachusetts figure is the floor for holding the permit or the plate; the contract figure is the floor for getting paid. The policy is written to the higher of the two, and the state filing, where Massachusetts has one, is satisfied on the way.
What else does a Massachusetts limo company need beyond the auto policy?
Workers comp for the chauffeurs, because a driver on your schedule in your car is an employee whatever the contract calls them. General liability for the office and the curb, which the auto policy does not cover once the passenger is out of the car. Hired and non-owned auto for the affiliate car you send when your own fleet is booked out. Garage keepers if you store anyone else’s vehicle. We place all of it for Massachusetts operators, with the state rule read first.
Will my personal auto policy cover a limousine I drive for hire?
No. The standard personal auto policy excludes liability while the vehicle is used to carry people or property for a fee, which the form calls public or livery conveyance. A limousine booked by the hour is the definition of it. The exclusion applies whether the carrier knew about the business or not, so the discovery happens at the claim.
What livery insurance is, and why the personal policy excludes it
What limits does a limousine service have to carry?
For-hire passenger carriers in interstate commerce need $5,000,000 of liability coverage on any vehicle seating 16 or more including the driver, and $1,500,000 on any vehicle seating 15 or fewer including the driver. California charter-party carriers file their limits with the Public Utilities Commission under General Order 115, which sets $5,000,000 at 16 seats or more, $1,500,000 at 9 through 15 seats and $750,000 at 8 seats or fewer, in every case counting the driver. A six-passenger sedan and a twenty-passenger stretch SUV are therefore filed at different numbers, and a hotel or venue contract can ask for more than either.
How much does limo insurance cost?
There is no rate card, and a figure quoted without seeing the fleet is a guess. The price moves on seat count, because the seat count sets the limit. It moves on the drivers, the radius, the claims history, whether alcohol is on board, whether you carry minors, and on what a stretch conversion costs to replace. The guide walks through each one and what you can do about it before you ask for a quote.
We also run a party bus. Is that the same policy?
Usually the same carrier and a different conversation. A party bus crosses sixteen seats, which raises the federal filing to $5,000,000, and it carries alcohol and standing passengers, which are the two things a limousine underwriter did not price. Disclose it as its own vehicle with its own use.
What about executive sedans and SUVs with no stretch?
Black car work is livery at the sedan end. The federal band is the lower one, California files a sedan at $750,000 rather than $1,500,000, and the underwriting questions are about drivers, airports and affiliate work rather than conversions and prom nights.
Who actually writes limousine insurance?
A short list of specialty passenger carriers, and it is the same list for the whole public auto class. National Indemnity treats limousines and party buses as target business. Berkshire Hathaway Homestate writes limo alongside taxi and school bus. Lancer is strongest on charter and coach. A decline from a general commercial auto carrier says nothing about whether the account is placeable with them.
Do you write motorcoaches and charter buses too?
Yes, and the charter page is the one to read for a coach. Everything at sixteen seats or more files at $5,000,000, and a motorcoach adds the MCS-90B endorsement, the physical damage value of a coach and the school and tour contracts that ask for more.
Read next
The coverage itself, explained.
Massachusetts decides what you must carry. These explain what you are buying, what it excludes, and what moves the price.
Coverage
Nearby states
Tell us what you do. We’ll tell you what it costs.
Licensed in Massachusetts. Have your payroll figures and a list of services on hand — those are the two things that slow a quote down.
Start a quoteLast reviewed 2026-09-07