Contrary to article by conservative lobbying group, Massachusetts does not have "anti-steering" legislation

Stephen Richer, director of outreach of conservative lobbying group The Washington Legal Foundation, has sent me a link to an article protesting so-called anti-steering legislation that prohibits auto insurers from recommending particular body shops to insureds.

According to the article, six states, including Massachusetts, prohibit this practice. I was puzzled to read this as insurers have recommended auto body shops to me on the several occasions that my car has suffered property damage.

The Massachusetts statute cited by the article, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 34O, does not "prohibit insurers from 'steering' policyholders to body shops with unsolicited recommendations," as claimed by the article.

To the contrary, the statute states that the insurance commissioner may require that insurers give to insureds "a list of at least five registered repair shops, geographically convenient for the insured, from which the insured may at his or her option selected a shop . . . "