The New York personal lines exam, Series 17-54

The license for selling to households

Series 17-54 licenses you to sell personal lines: the property and liability coverage that individuals and families buy, chiefly homeowners and auto. It is 100 questions in 2 hours, and you need 70%. It is a subset of the full property and casualty license, 17-56, which adds commercial coverage.

Homeowners coverage

Expect questions on what a homeowners policy covers and excludes, how covered causes of loss are listed, and how a claim is settled: whether the insurer pays replacement cost or actual cash value, and what that difference means for an old roof. Renters and condominium owners have their own forms, and questions ask what each one needs that a house owner does not.

Auto coverage

An auto policy has separate parts for liability to others, medical payments, damage to the car itself, and drivers who carry too little insurance. Questions often describe an accident and ask which part pays. Work out whose injury or whose property it is first.

The general rules

The rest of the exam covers ideas shared by every policy: insurable interest, the difference between a hazard and a peril, how deductibles work, and the agent's duties when selling and servicing a policy.

Where candidates slip

• Collision against comprehensive. Hitting something is collision. Most other damage to the car, such as theft or a falling branch, is comprehensive.
• Replacement cost against actual cash value, which is replacement cost less depreciation.
• Liability against the insured's own losses. Liability coverage pays other people.

Is 17-54 enough for you?

Only if you will never quote coverage for a business. If there is a chance you will, sit 17-56 now rather than coming back later.