How do I get a personal lines insurance license?

A personal lines license covers property and casualty insurance sold to individuals and families for primarily noncommercial purposes, such as auto and homeowners policies. You earn it by completing your state's required prelicensing education and passing the personal lines exam; New York requires not less than 40 hours of Department-approved instruction, and Georgia requires an 8-hour course. California requires a one-time 12-hour course on ethics and the California Insurance Code before the exam.

You must pass the Pearson VUE Personal Lines exam, which has a general portion of 75 scored questions and an Alaska Property and Casualty portion of 49 scored questions. You must be 18 or older, apply through NIPR with a $75 fee, and submit a fingerprint card with a $48.25 evaluation fee. If you already hold Property and Casualty authority, you may not also apply for Personal Lines, because Personal Lines is covered by Property and Casualty in Alaska.

In Delaware, Personal Lines is a major line of authority, so you must pass the Pearson VUE Delaware Personal Lines Producer exam, which has 75 scored general questions and 40 scored state questions. The exam fee is $90, and unlike other major lines it cannot share a single same-day fee with another exam. You must also submit a State Criminal Background Report and apply online through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR); the producer license fee is $125.

DC does not offer a stand-alone personal lines exam. You earn personal lines authority by passing the Pearson VUE Property and/or Casualty exams (passing scaled score 70), then completing fingerprinting and a background check through Fieldprint ($31.50) and applying online at nipr.com for the $100 biennial license.

In Idaho, Personal Lines is a major line of authority held on a producer license. You must pass the ID Personal Lines Producer exam, submit fingerprints for a background check, and apply online through NIPR. The exam costs $65, lasts 120 minutes, and has 97 scored questions with a 70% passing score; the application fee is $80. Idaho requires no pre-licensing education.

In Maine, Personal Lines is one of the producer lines that requires an exam. You present a certificate showing 16 credit hours of prelicensing education (or 6 months of relevant experience), then pass the Pearson VUE Personal Lines exam (12-ME-55), which costs $55, runs 2 hours, and has 100 scoreable questions, with a passing scaled score of 70. After passing, submit the application through NIPR with the $25 resident producer fee.

Resident applicants pass the Personal Lines producer exam (PSI series 12-86, $59) and then apply online through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) with the $210 license fee. New Hampshire requires no prelicensing course. Note that applicants already holding the Property and Casualty line of authority are not eligible to apply for Personal Lines separately.

To get a North Dakota personal lines license, pass the PSI Personal Lines exam, which costs $58, allows 150 minutes, and requires a 70% score to pass. North Dakota requires no prelicensing education, so self-study is enough preparation. After passing, complete the fingerprint background check and apply through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) with the $100 fee. Adding personal lines to an existing active license costs nothing.

Personal lines is a producer line of authority in Rhode Island that requires an exam. You must be at least 18, obtain a certified background check from the Rhode Island Attorney General, and pass the Pearson VUE Personal Lines Producer exam, which has 100 scoreable questions (75 general plus 25 state) with a passing score of 70 on a 0-100 scale. The exam costs $80; you then apply through NIPR, where the resident license fee is $120 for a 2-year term.

Personal lines is one of South Dakota's recognized lines of authority, covering property and casualty insurance sold to individuals and families for primarily noncommercial purposes. To get licensed, you pass the personal lines licensing exam through Pearson VUE and file the resident producer application online through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR), paying the $25 fee plus a service fee. South Dakota requires no pre-licensing education.

In Vermont, you must be at least 18 years old, pass the Personal Lines exam, and submit an application with fees; no prelicensing education hours are required. Prometric, the state's exam vendor, charges $52 for the Series 14-39 Personal Lines exam. Residents must wait 48 hours after passing the exam before submitting an electronic application through NIPR.

Wyoming does not require a separate personal lines license if you already hold the property and casualty lines of authority. To add personal lines on its own, pass the Wyoming Insurance Licensing Exam for that line, apply online through Sircon, and pay the $100 resident fee ($150 for nonresidents). Resident applicants must also submit fingerprints for a background check ($39).