Insurance Adjuster in Your Home State
Insurance Adjuster in Your Home State
Simply put, the best license is your home state license.
- Which license is easiest or fastest to obtain?
- What license is good in other states?
- What is going to give me the most bang for my buck?
So we wanted to answer this question once and for all. As well as provide a little history on how this became an issue and why it shouldn’t be any longer.
Once Upon a Time in Insurance
Certain states like Texas and Indiana allowed residents of licensing states to take their exam. Also, they can become licensed as ‘nonresident adjusters’. A would-be adjuster in say, Oklahoma, might choose to skip getting his OK license and instead, get licensed as a nonresident adjuster in Texas. This is because there are more claims and more opportunities.
The industry has spent a long time establishing what the reciprocity landscape would look like. The Texas license became accepted by most other states when they found themselves in need of adjusters for any particular event. Thus Texas licensed became known as ‘the best’ due to it’s reciprocity value.
And for a while, that was true. Licensed Texas adjusters could receive reciprocal licensing privileges in more states than other licensed adjusters. But as the industry moved to more uniform standards, things changed.
What’s Changed and Why It Matters
Many of the nonresident licensing loopholes have closed in the past few years, but not all. In some states, you can still get a nonresident license without getting your home state first. And you can work claims in that state. But here’s the important part:
You can NOT get a reciprocal license in most other states unless you have your home state license or a DHS license.
In today’s industry, reciprocity predicates not on what state license you have. But, on whether it’s your home state. In this sense, the term reciprocity is somewhat ill-cast. It’s not true reciprocity. This is because there isn’t a quid pro quo or a mutual agreement of exchange between two specific parties. Rather, its a more general, nation-wide acceptance that says ‘if you have your home state license, you can get our license too’. Again, it doesn’t have anything to do with which state, as long as it is your home state.
This is especially important for those folks who reside in a non-licensing state. And it’s one of the reasons we strongly recommend you obtain a designated home state license. A non-resident adjuster license is not the same. States will not grant you reciprocity based on holding that license. It must be the correct license type – designated home state.
Exceptions
There always has to be a few right? Florida does have agreements with specific states. They will only grant reciprocal licenses to adjusters from those states.
California, Hawaii, and New York do not offer reciprocal licenses at all. Some states have written their statutes to exclude those state’s adjusters. Exclude them from receiving reciprocal licensing privileges in return.
For the most part, states have moved to a consistent reciprocity model.
If you have any questions about obtaining your license, contact us today!
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