Liberty To Add Agents To Meet Mass. Rule Change

Boston-based Liberty Mutual said it plans to add 30 direct agents to the Massachusetts market selling auto insurance.

The company said the move is in response to reforms the state is making to create an automobile insurance market that is more competitive.

Liberty said the additions would increase its automobile insurance sales force by 50 percent. The sales representatives would be in place when new regulations hit the market on April 1.

The company said it plans to hold a recruitment event at Gillette Stadium on Nov. 16 from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. to help attract applicants.

"In less than 60 days, consumers across the state will be able to enjoy many of the same advantages of being a Liberty Mutual customer as their fellow drivers in 49 other states," said James MacPhee, Liberty Mutual senior vice president and general manager, New England Region, in a statement.

Mr. MacPhee added, "With an expanded sales force we will be able to introduce these additional Liberty Mutual benefits to more Massachusetts consumers."

Sixty-one Liberty Mutual sales representatives currently offer auto, home and life insurance products from 13 Massachusetts offices. All offices will see sales force expansion, including growth in the company's downtown Boston office.

Liberty Mutual said it announced last week that it is giving 200,000 customers the first look at consumer benefits that managed competition will bring to the state.

Beginning Jan. 1, Liberty Mutual will renew Massachusetts policies that carry collision coverage (and will write new ones) with its Liberty Advantage endorsement at no additional cost.

The plan gives drivers such previously unavailable benefits as improved car replacement coverage, better rental car coverage, enhanced towing and labor coverage, and fully covered replacement of damaged mechanical parts (such as tires, mufflers and batteries), rather than at their depreciated value.

Liberty said it is the only Massachusetts carrier that offers consumers the option to purchase insurance through a local sales representative, independent agents, a national call center, or over the Internet.

According to Highline Data, Liberty is the fourth-largest auto insurer in the state, with close to 8 percent of the market. It is the ninth-largest nationally, with just over 2 percent of the private passenger auto insurance market.