Roadway Insurance would also like to announce that coming soon, April 15th, we should be able to write Maryland policies online without even speaking to an agent.

By law, MAIF is restricted to Maryland residents who have been refused coverage by two private insurers or had their current policy cancelled. One unique feature of MAIF is that policyholders who are accident-free for a period of three consecutive years are required to leave the system unless the policyholder attempts to obtain coverage from at least two private insurance carriers and is refused. Under these conditions, policyholders are permitted to re-apply to MAIF for coverage.

Maryland’s approach is somewhat different from that of most other states, which handle uninsurable motorists through the use of a designated pool of drivers who are then randomly assigned (at higher rates) to an insurance carrier doing business in that particular state. In this way, insurance companies in other states can still find themselves required to insure drivers they originally declined coverage for.

In general, MAIF is a self-financing entity which depends on its rate structure for revenue, much like any other insurance company. MAIF does possess the ability to cover any annual operating deficit through an assessment upon the policyholders of all other automobile insurance companies in Maryland, but this assessment has been used rarely and has never exceeded a sum of five dollars per policy assessed.

One significant difference between MAIF and ordinary auto insurance policies is that MAIF cannot be sold on an installment plan. Its policyholders must either pay in full upfront or else make use of a third-party policy premium finance company. More than 1500 private insurance agents are authorized to sell MAIF policies, making it widely available to all qualified Maryland residents no matter in what part of the state they reside.