As many of you know, or may not know, Indiana became a licensed state for independent insurance adjusters as of July 1, 2011. They gave a six month grace period allowing for all independent adjusters currently working in the state with five or more years of experience time to submit their applications and be grandfathered in to the licensing process without taking an exam.
If you did not submit your application by December 31, 2011, you are required to take an exam. There have been many questions overly exactly who is giving the Indiana exam. In the beginning, the state was going to administer the exam but have now turned this process over to AdjusterPro. To prepare for the exam AdjusterPro offers a 40-hour pre-licensing online course or actual classroom training.
I recently read an article written by AdjusterPro which brought up many good points that adjusters or prospective adjusters may not be aware of. This is something I have intended to write about for some time so this seems like as good a time as any.
For many years the most sought after license in the independent adjusting industry has been the Texas adjuster license. Everyone wanted to obtain the Texas license due to the reciprocity between states. Keep in mind…if you live in a state which requires an adjuster license, you should always first and foremost, obtain your home state license. But, if you live in one of the 16 states which do not require a license you need to start somewhere. This is where the Texas license always came in to play. Everyone always said, “Get the Texas license first, it’s the best one to have.” In the past, this may have been true, but today it’s not necessarily the case.
Texas offers a 40-hour online course. Upon successfully passing the exam at the end, their paper application requires that non-resident adjusters submit either a complete criminal history background check which includes fingerprints, or actual fingerprints which must be done through an outside source. Before you can submit your application you must wait for the outside vendor to process your fingerprints and send you a receipt. This alone can take 2-4 weeks. Texas then has to process your application. At this point, you are now looking at a time frame of anywhere from five to eight weeks before you receive your Texas adjuster license. Don’t take this the wrong way, Texas is still a desirable state license to have as an independent adjuster.
Now let’s take a look at Indiana. Indiana offers the same 40-hour pre-licensing course and upon successfully passing the exam at the end of the course, you receive your “Certificate of Completion,” to be signed by your proxy. Indiana does not require that you submit fingerprints and you submit your application online. They will process your application in approximately 3-5 days.
What about reciprocity? The state of Indiana also allows adjusters living in non-licensed states to designate Indiana as their home state. This will allow them to apply for additional licenses online versus paper applications like in the old days. Indiana’s license is just as reciprocal as the Texas license. Both have a few states who do not reciprocate, but those states do not reciprocate with any other state either.
To summarize, compared to Texas, the Indiana license can be obtained in a shorter period of time with slightly fewer requirements and has the same reciprocity.
To read the complete article written by AdjusterPro you can click on the following link: http://www.adjusterpro.com/insurance-adjuster-blog/indiana-adjuster-license-vs-texas. For additional information on their Indiana Adjuster Online or Classroom training classes, visit their Indiana home page at http://www.adjusterpro.com/insurance-adjuster-training/indiana-adjuster-license.html. They also have a live Online Chat if you have any questions or you can contact their customer service by calling (214) 329-9030.
About Xeneros: Xeneros helps organizations maintain business entity and independent adjuster licenses and the associated requirements. Xeneros uses an innovative web-based software program which is supported and maintained by a knowledgeable compliance staff. For more information go to www.xeneros.net.