Safety Insurance Company agrees with the Massachusetts Association of Independent Agents ("MAIA") in their opposition to House Bill 5021. As pointed out by the MAIA, we believe that this bill has a number of troubling aspects that would make the Massachusetts's private passenger auto market inferior to the current system.

Many of the problems in the Massachusetts private passenger auto system can be traced directly to the residual market sharing mechanism and distribution of Exclusive Representative Producers ("ERPs"). In late 2005, the Commissioner of Insurance began the reform of the residual market by ordering a physical redistribution of ERP's that at long last started the process toward a fair and equitable residual market burden for all companies, and has encouraged insurance companies to extend voluntary contracts to many ERPs throughout the state. Safety appreciates the effort of the MAIA in helping to bring about residual market reform.

We believe that the current private passenger auto system in Massachusetts, with the reform ordered by the Commissioner provides the best balance for all parties involved. The current system has a number of benefits for consumers including:

• A very low incidence of uninsured motorists
• A transparent residual market mechanism
• No availability problems

Safety, along with the MAIA opposes this legislation. Please voice your opposition to H-5021.