The New York 17-71 Auto Damage or Theft Appraiser exam

An exam about one job

Series 17-71 licenses the Auto Damage or Theft Appraiser, the person who inspects a damaged vehicle and works out what the repair or the loss should cost. The exam is 60 questions in 1 hour and you need 70% to pass, which is 42 correct.

Most adjuster outlines are spread across many policy forms. This one is not. The bulletin gives it three topics:

• Appraising Auto Physical Damage Claims, 80%
• Insurance Regulation, 10%
• Insurance Basics, 10%

So 48 of the 60 questions are about the appraisal itself.

Inside the big topic

The outline breaks the appraisal topic into practical pieces. It starts with the appraiser's role, duties, and relationship to adjusters, then the insured's duties after a loss, such as giving notice and protecting the vehicle from further damage.

From there it moves to working out value and loss: salvage, depreciation, repair or replacement, like kind and quality, aftermarket parts, and how to decide between a partial loss, a total loss and a constructive total loss. The outline cites Regulation 64, Part 216.7 for total loss valuation methods.

The last part is the vehicle itself. Identifying the vehicle and its options, judging damage against how the accident happened, filling in the estimate of repairs, and the parts of the car: body, front end, rear body, quarter panels, doors, roof and bumpers. The mandatory inspection rules for private passenger cars under Regulation 79 are listed here too.

The other twenty percent

The regulation section covers licensing, renewal, unfair claim practices and claim settlement rules. The basics section covers insurable interest, direct and indirect loss, and actual cash value against replacement cost. These twelve questions are shared ground with the other adjuster exams, and they are the easiest to prepare for from a book.

Who usually sits it

Body shop estimators and people moving into insurer auto claims often know the vehicle side well and the insurance side less well. If that is you, do not skip the twenty percent: twelve questions is most of the margin between 42 and a fail.

Pacing

Sixty questions in sixty minutes is one minute each. Our three practice exams for 17-71 use the same length and time, with the same 80/10/10 split, and every wrong answer is explained.