Alabama Adjuster Insurance Exam Guide 2026

The Independent Adjuster License

Alabama's adjuster regime is Title 27 chapter 9A, 'Independent Adjusters', eighteen sections running from § 27-9A-1 to § 27-9A-18, created by Act 2011-637 and implemented by Regulation 482-1-151.

§ 27-9A-3(a) defines an independent adjuster as a person who, 'for compensation as an independent contractor or as an employee of an independent contractor, undertakes on behalf of an insurer to ascertain and determine the amount of any claim, loss, or damage payable under a contract of property, casualty, or workers' compensation insurance or to effect settlement of such claim, loss, or damage.'

Read that definition carefully, because it does the work of three separate rules in other states. The adjuster must be an independent contractor or an independent contractor's employee, which is why the carrier's own staff are exempt. The work must be on behalf of an INSURER. And the coverage must be property, casualty or workers' compensation — so life, accident and health, annuity and disability claims are outside this license entirely, confirmed again by the separate exclusion at § 27-9A-3(b)(11).

The same subsection closes with a sentence adjusters forget: 'This chapter shall not be construed to permit persons not licensed as attorneys to engage in activities constituting the practice of law.'

Alabama issues four things under this chapter: the individual independent adjuster license, a business entity license, an apprentice license, and an emergency independent adjuster REGISTRATION that the insurer files rather than the adjuster.

There is a second adjuster chapter and it is REPEALED

Title 27 chapter 9, 'Adjusters', §§ 27-9-1 through 27-9-8, was repealed by Act 2011-637 § 3 effective 1 January 2012. It set out an adjuster license, its own qualification rules at § 27-9-3 and its own fees at § 27-9-2, and none of it has been law for fourteen years. Its eight sections are still reproduced by legal websites under a current-looking heading, and a chapter index will list all eight with no repeal marker at all. If a source cites a section numbered 27-9-something for adjuster licensing, it is citing repealed law.

Alabama Does Not License Public Adjusters

The Department states it in terms: Alabama does not license or recognize public adjusters.

This is a proved structural negative rather than a gap in the research. Title 27's chapter list contains no public adjuster chapter. The Department's regulation index, which runs from Regulation 3 to Regulation 168, contains no public adjuster regulation. Chapter 9A itself is captioned for INDEPENDENT adjusters and its definition runs only to persons acting 'on behalf of an insurer'.

That last phrase is the doctrinal reason. A public adjuster works for the insured, against the insurer's valuation. Alabama's licensing act simply never creates a credential for that role.

The practical consequence for a candidate is that questions about public adjuster fee caps, contract rescission periods, or solicitation windows have no Alabama answer. Do not import one from a neighboring state's rules.

The practical consequence on the job is different and more important: a person soliciting Alabama policyholders to represent them against their own carrier for a fee is not operating under a license Alabama issues.

Adjusting Without a License

§ 27-9A-3(b) excludes fourteen categories from the definition of independent adjuster. If you fall inside one, you are not an unlicensed adjuster — you are simply not an adjuster for the purposes of this chapter.

The largest by far is (b)(2): 'A salaried employee of an insurer.' Alabama's staff adjusters, the carrier's own claim people, need no license. It is reinforced by (b)(9), which excludes any 'officer, director, manager, or employee of an authorized insurer, surplus lines insurer, a risk retention group, or an attorney-in-fact of a reciprocal insurer', and by (b)(12), which excludes an employee adjusting claims for his or her own employer under a self-insured arrangement.

Note that (b)(2) keys on the word SALARIED. An insurer employee paid purely on commission or per claim does not obviously sit inside it, though (b)(9) will usually catch them anyway.

The rest of the list is worth knowing because it marks the boundary of the license: attorneys acting in their professional capacity; a person employed solely to obtain facts or furnish technical assistance to a licensed adjuster; a fraud investigator who does not adjust losses or determine payments; someone doing only executive, administrative, managerial or clerical work who does not investigate, negotiate or settle with policyholders or claimants; licensed health care providers and managed care organizations providing managed care services, so long as those services do not include determining compensability; a person settling only reinsurance or subrogation claims; a United States manager of a United States branch of an alien insurer; and a licensed producer appointed to represent the insurer to whom claim authority has been granted.

The final exclusion, (b)(14), is a modern one: staff who collect portable consumer electronic device claim information and enter it into an automated claims adjudication system. It carries a hard cap of 25 such individuals per supervising licensed adjuster or producer, requires the system to be used only under that supervision and to comply with the insurance code's claims payment requirements, and obliges the supervisor to file a report with the commissioner of an intention to operate under it.

Read the exclusions before you read the license requirement

§ 27-9A-4 requires a license, but § 27-9A-3(b) decides whether you are the kind of person it is talking about. A candidate who reads the sections in numerical order gets the analysis backwards.

Three Lines, Four Exams

§ 27-9A-7(a): 'An independent adjuster may qualify for a license in one or more of the following lines of authority: (1) Property and casualty. (2) Workers' compensation. (3) Crop.'

Regulation 482-1-151-.02-1 repeats the three and pins each to a definition elsewhere in the code — property and casualty by reference to §§ 27-5-5 and 27-5-6, workers' compensation by reference to the description of 'workmen's compensation and employer's liability' in § 27-5-6(a)(3), and crop by reference to § 27-7-14.1.

But Rule 482-1-151-.06(1)(a) lists FOUR examinations, not three: Property and Casualty excluding Workers' Compensation and Crop; Workers' Compensation; Crop; and Property and Casualty INCLUDING Workers' Compensation and Crop.

So the property and casualty line is issued two ways, and the question a candidate actually faces is not 'one exam or two' but which of the four to sit. Someone who wants all three lines sits the single combined exam. Someone who wants property and casualty alone sits the excluding version — and that version does not carry workers' compensation authority with it.

Workers' compensation is a genuinely separate line here. There is no Alabama workers' compensation adjuster license as a distinct credential, but there is also no assumption that a property and casualty adjuster may handle comp claims. The excluding exam says so on its face.

Adding a line later costs the whole fee again

Rule 482-1-151-.07(3): 'subsequent applications for additional lines of authority are treated the same as initial applications. All license and application fees apply for each application submitted.' Coming back for workers' compensation after you are already licensed costs another $30 application fee and another $80 license fee, on top of another $75 exam. The combined exam taken up front is materially cheaper than the same authority assembled in pieces.

Prelicensing Education Was Abolished

Alabama requires no prelicensing education for the independent adjuster license. Act 2023-104, effective 1 January 2024, deleted the prelicensing course of study for insurance producers, independent adjusters, apprentice independent adjusters and title insurance agents.

The negative is structural rather than the result of a search that came up empty. § 27-9A-6 tells the commissioner what to find before issuing a license, and the list runs to exactly five items: that the individual is at least 18; is eligible to designate this state as a home state; has not committed a ground under § 27-9A-12; 'Has successfully passed the examination for the line of authority for which the individual has applied'; and has paid the fees set out in § 27-4-2. Education is not among them.

§ 27-9A-8, the examination section, covers the written exam, its scope, the fee, the commissioner's power to contract with an outside testing service, reapplication after a failure or a no-show, and the retake bars. It imposes no education requirement either.

Rule 482-1-151-.06 covers examinations, exemptions from examination, the passing grade, retake waiting periods, certificates and the exam fee. It imposes none.

Alabama also firewalls prelicensing away from continuing education in the other direction: Rule 482-1-151-.12(3)(a) forbids the Commissioner from approving as CE any course 'designed to prepare an individual to receive an initial license under Chapters 7 or 9A'.

One orphaned sentence survives, and you should know about it

Rule 482-1-151-.08(2), the apprentice rule, still reads: 'The applicant must be actively engaged in a prelicensing course for the line or lines of authority.' Its own effective date is 1 January 2024 — the same date the rewrite REPEALED rule .03 (Prelicensing Course), rule .04 (Prelicensing Course Providers) and rule .05 (Approval and Content of Prelicensing Courses). The sentence therefore requires enrollment in something that has no regulatory definition, no approved provider scheme and no content standard behind it, and that the authorizing statute no longer requires. Treat it as a live but unsatisfiable cross-reference and confirm current practice with the Department before relying on it in either direction. Do not answer a flat 'Alabama requires no prelicensing education for adjusters' without knowing this sentence is there, and do not assert that apprentices must complete a course either.

The Examination

The exam vendor is The University of Alabama. Not Prometric, not PSI, not Pearson VUE. Registration runs through the University's insurance testing portal, and the Department's exam page directs candidates to click a city to be taken there. The statutory hook is § 27-9A-8(d): 'The commissioner may make arrangements, including contracting with an outside testing service.'

Test sites are Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa. Because the vendor is a state university rather than a national chain, there is no national candidate handbook for Alabama — the Department publishes its own content outline instead.

The four exams and their specifications: Property and Casualty excluding Workers' Compensation and Crop is 125 questions in 150 minutes and needs 88 correct. Workers' Compensation is 100 questions in 120 minutes and needs 70. Crop is 100 questions in 120 minutes and needs 70. The combined Property and Casualty including Workers' Compensation and Crop is 150 questions in 180 minutes and needs 105.

The passing standard itself is in the regulation rather than in a vendor bulletin, which makes it the better citation. Rule 482-1-151-.06(4): 'Prior to an examination, each question will be valued with the sum of the values equaling 100', and 'After an examination, the value of each question answered correctly will be counted and the sum of the values totaling 70 or more shall constitute a passing grade.'

The exam fee is $75 for each examination scheduled and is non-refundable, under Rule 482-1-151-.06(8). § 27-4-2 authorizes an examination fee 'not to exceed' $100, so the $75 sits under a statutory ceiling and can move without an act of the Legislature.

Retakes: after two failures you must wait at least 90 days from the last failure, and after two more at least 180 days. Rule .06(5)(c) then adds a provision most summaries omit — those waiting periods 'expire twenty-four (24) months after the date of the last failed examination.' Note that § 27-9A-8(f) states the same bars as three months and six months; the rule's day counts are the operative ones.

Your result certificate is valid for one year from the date of issuance, and Rule .06(6) requires you to keep it and produce it on request.

The score is RAW, not scaled

Rule 482-1-151-.06(4)(b) sets the standard as the sum of correctly answered question values 'totaling 70 or more' out of a total of 100. The words scaled, equating, converted and raw score appear in no Alabama statute, regulation or Department publication checked. When a question asks whether Alabama uses a scaled passing score, the answer is no. One live discrepancy worth knowing: the Department's own outline prints 88 as the number correct needed on the 125-question exam while the vendor's portal rendered 87. Seventy percent of 125 is 87.5, so 88 is the first passing whole number.

Exemptions From Examination

§ 27-9A-9 provides exemptions from the examination requirement, and it is the most heavily amended section in the chapter — its history line names Act 2016-341, Act 2017-431 and Act 2023-104 on top of the original Act 2011-637.

The routes that survive are for adjusters already licensed in another state and for applicants with long documented experience in adjusting. Rule 482-1-151-.06 carries the operating detail.

Because the section has moved three times, treat any pre-2024 description of Alabama's exemption routes as suspect and read the current text before relying on a specific route.

An exemption from the examination is not an exemption from anything else. The § 27-9A-6 findings still apply: age, home state eligibility, no disqualifying ground, and the fees.

Fingerprints and Background Checks

Fingerprinting is governed by § 27-9A-17 and Regulation 482-1-157.

Who must be printed is narrower than most candidates assume. Rule 482-1-157-.01 reaches initial resident applicants, resident licensees adding a line of authority, and nonresident individuals applying for an initial independent adjuster license BY DESIGNATING ALABAMA AS THEIR HOME STATE. It expressly does not apply to emergency independent adjusters or to apprentice independent adjusters.

So an ordinary nonresident who holds a genuine home state license elsewhere and is licensed in Alabama on that basis is outside the rule. A nonresident who uses Alabama as a designated home state is inside it, and must also pass the Alabama examination.

For business entities, § 27-9A-17(b) reaches all executive officers and directors, any individual owning 51 percent or more of the outstanding voting securities, and the executive officers and directors of any entity owning 51 percent or more.

The Department's page names Fieldprint as the only processor it can use. The regulation itself names no vendor, referring only to 'the approved third party contractor designated by the Alabama Department of Insurance'. § 27-9A-17(c) lets the commissioner agree a reasonable fingerprinting fee and makes it payable directly to the contractor — which is why no statute, rule or Department page publishes an amount.

An apprentice converting to a full license must have completed fingerprinting; conversion on passing the exam is automatic in the statute but the background check still has to be in place.

The validity window is published two different ways

Rule 482-1-157-.03 says a criminal history background check 'shall be valid for any applicable application filed within 365 days.' The Department's own fingerprinting and adjuster pages say results 'remain in our system only 30 days after you are fingerprinted.' Both are current and they cannot both be describing the same thing — the likeliest reading is that one states legal validity and the other describes system retention, but no instrument says so and that is inference. Work to the 30 days. The Department's own operational advice is to get fingerprinted after passing the state exam and one day before applying for the license.

What It Costs

State Exam $75 for each examination scheduled, non-refundable, under Rule 482-1-151-.06(8). § 27-4-2 authorizes an examination fee 'set by the commissioner not to exceed' $100, so the $75 sits below a statutory ceiling and can move without an act of the Legislature. The vendor is The University of Alabama rather than a national testing company.

Fingerprinting Required for resident applicants, for residents adding a line of authority, and for nonresidents who apply by DESIGNATING ALABAMA AS THEIR HOME STATE — and expressly NOT required of emergency independent adjusters or apprentice independent adjusters under Rule 482-1-157-.01. THE FEE IS PUBLISHED NOWHERE. Rule 482-1-157 refers only to 'the required nonrefundable and nontransferable fee' and § 27-9A-17(c) only to 'a reasonable fingerprinting fee to be charged by the contractor', payable directly to that contractor. The Department names Fieldprint as the only processor it can use; the regulation names no vendor. Note the conflicting validity windows: Rule 482-1-157-.03 says a check is valid for an application filed within 365 days, while the Department's pages say results remain in its system only 30 days. Work to the 30 days.

Application $30 to file an initial application, individuals and business entities alike, plus the license fee: $80 for an individual and $200 for a business entity (§ 27-4-2, 'Adjusters (resident or nonresident)'). So $110 to get an individual license and $230 for an entity. Renewal is $80 and $200 respectively. Late and reinstatement amounts are derived rather than separately set: § 27-9A-7(c) makes late renewal 'one and one-half times the renewal fee' ($120 individual, $300 entity) and § 27-9A-7(d) makes reinstatement 'double the renewal fee' ($160) — and there is NO doubled tier for business entities. A late name or address change costs $50 under § 27-9A-7(h). ADDING A LINE OF AUTHORITY LATER IS PRICED AS A NEW APPLICATION under Rule .07(3): another $30 and another $80. The emergency independent adjuster registration is $60, filed and paid by the INSURER, against a $50 statutory cap in § 27-9A-5(e) that Rule .09 escalates under the CPI authority in § 41-1-11.

Prelicensing No cost, because there is no requirement. Act 2023-104 deleted the prelicensing course of study for adjusters and apprentices effective 1 January 2024, and the same-day rewrite of Regulation 482-1-151 repealed rule .03 (Prelicensing Course), rule .04 (Prelicensing Course Providers) and rule .05 (Approval and Content of Prelicensing Courses). ONE SENTENCE SURVIVED THE REPEAL: Rule 482-1-151-.08(2) still says an apprentice applicant 'must be actively engaged in a prelicensing course for the line or lines of authority', with no rule left to define the course, approve a provider or set content. Confirm current practice with the Department before paying for anything.

Total: About $185 for an individual to get licensed on the first attempt — the $75 examination fee plus the $110 the Department charges for the license itself, which is a $30 application fee and an $80 license fee rather than one combined figure. A business entity pays $230, with no examination. Add the fingerprint fee, which Alabama publishes nowhere: no statute, no regulation and no Department page states an amount, because § 27-9A-17(c) makes it payable directly to the contractor. Renewal is $80 biennially for an individual and $200 for a business entity expiring 31 December of each odd-numbered year. Budget for the whole authority up front: a second line of authority bought later is priced as a fresh application at another $30 plus $80 plus $75, so the combined property-casualty-including-workers-compensation-and-crop exam is materially cheaper than assembling the same lines in pieces.

The fee schedule for adjusters lives in § 27-4-2, under the heading 'Adjusters (resident or nonresident)': a $30 application fee for filing an initial application, individuals and business entities alike; an $80 license fee for individuals for the original license and each biennial continuation; $200 for business entities; and an examination fee 'set by the commissioner not to exceed' $100.

So an individual pays $110 to get licensed — $30 plus $80 — with the $75 exam fee on top of that. A business entity pays $230.

Renewal is $80 for an individual and $200 for a business entity. Late and reinstatement amounts are not separate figures invented by the Department: § 27-9A-7(c) sets late renewal at 'one and one-half times the renewal fee' and § 27-9A-7(d) sets reinstatement at 'double the renewal fee'. That is where $120 and $160 come from for individuals, and $300 for a business entity.

There is an asymmetry in the rule worth noticing. Rule 482-1-151-.10(1)(b) gives business entities the one-and-one-half-times tier and stops. There is no doubled business entity tier corresponding to the individual's $160 reinstatement.

A late name or address change carries its own $50 penalty under § 27-9A-7(h), with the change itself due within 30 days.

The fingerprint fee is the one number Alabama does not publish anywhere. It is set at the vendor's scheduling portal.

The emergency registration fee is $60 against a $50 statutory cap

§ 27-9A-5(e) requires the commissioner to collect from the insurer 'a fee set by the commissioner not to exceed fifty dollars ($50) for each emergency independent adjuster registered', and deposits it entirely to the Insurance Department Fund. Rule 482-1-151-.09 charges $60, and says so expressly: insurers submit a registration fee 'adjusted according to Ala. Code §41-1-11, of $60'. § 41-1-11 lets a state agency raise fees it retains to fund its own operations by the Consumer Price Index, capped at two percent a year, by rule; the Insurance Department is not among the three agencies that section excludes; and ten years at that ceiling takes $50 to exactly $60. What no authority resolves is whether a power to escalate 'the fee' reaches a ceiling the Legislature wrote. Pay the $60 — it is what the Department collects — and know that the cap is still sitting in the statute.

Renewal and Lapse

Individual licenses renew biennially on a convention that uses both your birth month and whether your birth YEAR is odd or even. Rule 482-1-151-.10(2)(a): a licensee born in an odd-numbered year expires at the end of the birth month in every odd-numbered year, and one born in an even-numbered year in every even-numbered year.

The same paragraph adds a grace built into the front end: 'an initial individual license shall not expire within the first seventy-five (75) days of its effective date but will continue until the next biennial expiration date.'

Business entity licenses run on a fixed calendar instead: they expire 31 December of every odd-numbered year, except that an initial entity license issued on or after 15 October of an odd-numbered year survives to 31 December of the NEXT odd-numbered year.

The lapse ladder has four rungs and the second one contains a trap. Renew within 30 days after expiration at one and one-half times the fee and the reinstatement is retroactive to the expiration date. Reinstate after day 30 and before twelve months at double the fee, and § 27-9A-7(d) makes it effective 'as of the reinstatement' — NOT retroactive. That leaves a stretch of time during which you held no license and adjusted claims anyway.

Within twelve months you do not have to re-examine. After twelve months, § 27-9A-7(e) sends you back to the start: 'the person shall reapply pursuant to Section 27-9A-6 to again become licensed', and Rules .06(2) and .07(8)(d) require passing the examinations again.

Continuing education gates the renewal. Rule 482-1-151-.13(2) provides that a renewal application submitted without the CE 'will not be renewed until the licensee shall have complied with the educational requirements', and the Department's online renewal is simply rejected when the CE transcript is empty.

§ 27-9A-7(f) allows a waiver request from an adjuster unable to comply 'due to military service, long-term medical disability, or some other extenuating circumstance'.

The Department's own webpage misstates the renewal convention

The Department's adjuster requirements page says individuals renew 'based on their BIRTH MONTH whether the individual was born in an EVEN or ODD year', which reads as though parity is irrelevant. Rule 482-1-151-.10(2)(a)2 and 3 make parity decide WHICH biennium you renew in. The rule controls. Work from your birth year, not from the webpage's phrasing.

Continuing Education

24 hours biennially, of which 3 must be ethics. § 27-9A-13(a) requires 'a minimum of 24 hours of continuing education courses as may be approved by the commissioner, of which three hours must be in ethics, reported to the commissioner on a biennial basis in conjunction with the license renewal cycle.' Rule 482-1-151-.11(1) says the same in classroom hours.

The three ethics hours are inside the 24, not on top of them.

Ethics is the ONLY topic-specific requirement Alabama imposes. There is no flood or National Flood Insurance Program requirement, and no other named subject, in either the statute or the rule. Both were read end to end.

A classroom hour is not sixty minutes. Rule .11(5): 'classroom hour' means 'a unit of at least fifty (50) minutes of participation in an approved course', and 'Not more than ten (10) minutes of any sixty (60) minute period may be used for breaks, roll-taking, or administrative instructions.' The definition applies to classroom, correspondence and internet delivery alike.

You cannot bank the same course twice. Rule .11(4): 'No independent adjuster may receive credit for any approved course more than once in any reporting period.'

There are three exemptions, at § 27-9A-13(b). First, licensees not licensed for one full year before the end of the applicable continuing education biennium — note that Rule .11(7)(a) measures the same exemption to the license EXPIRATION DATE rather than the end of the biennium, so the two texts do not match exactly. Second, nonresidents who have met the CE requirements of their designated home state AND whose home state 'gives credit to residents of this state on the same basis' — a reciprocity condition, not an automatic pass. Third, licensees holding a certification from a commissioner-approved provider whose own requirements are substantially equivalent.

If you hold a producer license as well, Rule .11(6) is generous: 'Independent adjusters also licensed as insurance producers need only complete a total of 24 classroom hours in approved courses. Courses approved for insurance producers will also count toward the education requirement for independent adjusters.' One set of 24 hours covers both.

Teaching counts. § 27-9A-13(f) and Rule .11(3) give an instructor the same credit as an attendee.

There is no carry-over, and the source for that is thin

The Department states that beginning 1 January 2013 excess credit hours earned in the previous biennial renewal period cannot be carried over to the next reporting period. Neither § 27-9A-13 nor Rule 482-1-151-.11 addresses carry-over in either direction — the Department's webpage is the only source. Plan on losing anything above 24 hours, and do not treat the absence of a carry-over rule in the statute as permission to bank hours.

The Apprentice License

§ 27-9A-11(a) describes the apprentice license as 'a temporary license for an individual residing in this state who is qualified for an independent adjuster license except for taking and passing the examination'. It is a way to work while you prepare, not a shortcut around the exam.

The commissioner's findings are a closed list of five: at least 18; a resident of this state; a business or mailing address in this state; no ground under § 27-9A-12; and the fees for an individual license paid. The fees are the same $30 and $80.

The restrictions in § 27-9A-11(c) are the substance of the credential. An attestation from a supervising licensed adjuster holding the same lines must accompany the application, certifying that the apprentice will be subject to 'training, direction, and control' and that the supervisor 'assumes responsibility for the actions of the apprentice'. No adjuster may supervise more than five active apprentices at once.

The apprentice 'is only authorized to adjust claims in this state', and is 'restricted to participation in the adjusting of claims subject to the review and final determination of the claim by the supervising licensed independent adjuster'. Participation, not decision.

Compensation is constrained too: 'Compensation of an apprentice independent adjuster shall be on a salaried or hourly basis only.' No commission and no per-claim fee.

It runs twelve months at most, is nonrenewable, and an individual 'may only hold an apprentice independent adjuster license once in his or her lifetime'. Rule .08(7) adds that the once-in-a-lifetime bar applies across all lines of authority regardless of how long the license was actually held.

Passing the exam terminates the apprentice license automatically and an independent adjuster license issues in its place, with no additional fee, and Rule .08(8)(a) treats the new license as issued on the conversion date for renewal and CE purposes. If the apprentice license expires first, you start a fresh application.

An apprentice is bound by §§ 27-9A-12, 27-9A-14 and 27-9A-15 and by chapter 12 to the same extent as a fully licensed adjuster.

Conversion is automatic in the statute but not in practice

§ 27-9A-11(c)(5) says the license converts automatically on passing. Regulation 482-1-157 requires the fingerprinting to be complete first. Get the background check done before the exam result lands, or the automatic conversion will not happen.

Emergency Independent Adjusters

In a declared state of emergency, § 27-9A-5(a) lets a person 'who is otherwise qualified to adjust claims, but is not already licensed as an independent adjuster in this state' work Alabama claims for an insurer.

The paperwork is not yours. § 27-9A-5(b): 'The insurer shall file with the commissioner a registration of each individual that will act as an emergency independent adjuster on behalf of the insurer within five days of deployment to adjust claims arising from the state of emergency.'

The registration must give the individual's name and Social Security number, the insurer's name, the effective date of the contract between insurer and adjuster, the catastrophe or loss control number, the catastrophe event name, and anything else the commissioner requires.

It runs 'for a period not to exceed 90 days unless extended by the commissioner'.

The fee is $60 per registered adjuster in the rule, against a $50 cap in the statute — see the fees section.

Being unlicensed does not make you unregulated. § 27-9A-5(g) applies § 27-9A-12 (grounds for discipline), § 27-9A-14 (records), § 27-9A-15 (standards of conduct) and the whole of chapter 12 to a registered emergency adjuster 'to the same extent as if licensed as an independent adjuster in this state'.

Emergency adjusters are not fingerprinted — Rule 482-1-157-.01 excludes them expressly.

The statute says registration; the rule caption says license

§ 27-9A-5 uses the word registration throughout and never once says license. Regulation 482-1-151-.09 is captioned 'Emergency Independent Adjuster License'. Teach and answer registration. The distinction matters because the insurer files it, it expires by its own terms in 90 days, and there is no application by the adjuster at all.

Standards of Conduct and Discipline

§ 27-9A-15 binds 'each independent adjuster, apprentice adjuster, and emergency independent adjuster' to seven standards: be honest and fair in all communications with the insured, the insurer and the public; give policyholders and claimants 'prompt, knowledgeable service, and courteous, fair, and objective treatment at all times'; not give legal advice or engage in the unauthorized practice of law, and not deal directly with a policyholder or claimant represented by counsel without that counsel's consent; comply with privacy and information security laws; identify yourself as an independent adjuster and identify your employer when dealing with a policyholder or claimant; not have any financial interest in any adjustment or acquire any interest or title in salvage 'without first receiving written authority from the principal'; and comply with chapter 12 and its regulations.

The seventh is the one to remember, and it is discussed in the claims sections below because it is what makes the unfair claims regulation personally binding on you.

The sixth is the one people breach without noticing. Buying salvage from a file you adjusted requires written authority from the principal, in advance.

§ 27-9A-12 lists thirteen grounds for probation, suspension, revocation or denial: false information on an application; violating an insurance law, rule, subpoena or order; obtaining a license through misrepresentation or fraud; improperly withholding or misappropriating monies; misrepresenting the terms of a contract; a felony conviction; unfair trade practice or fraud; fraudulent, coercive or dishonest practices, or demonstrating incompetence, untrustworthiness or financial irresponsibility; license discipline in another jurisdiction; forgery; cheating on a licensing examination; failing to comply with a child support order; and failing to pay state income tax.

§ 27-9A-16 requires you to report administrative actions within 30 days of final disposition, and criminal actions within 30 days of the INITIAL PRETRIAL HEARING DATE, with copies of the relevant legal documents. The criminal trigger is unusually early — it is not conviction, and it is not charge.

Record Retention Has No Period

§ 27-9A-14 is two sentences and the first one is the whole rule: 'An independent adjuster shall maintain a copy of each contract between the independent adjuster and the insurer and comply with the record retention policy as agreed to in that contract.'

Alabama sets no number of years. Your retention obligation is whatever your contract with the carrier says it is, and it will differ from carrier to carrier.

The second sentence supplies the enforcement: 'Records retained by an independent adjuster shall be made available for review or inspection if requested by the commissioner or authorized representatives of the commissioner.'

Do not confuse this with the INSURER's obligation, which does carry a number. Rule 482-1-125-.04 requires an insurer's claim files to be retrievable for the current year plus the five preceding years, and requires documentation sufficient to permit reconstruction of the insurer's activity on the claim.

Two different duties, two different holders, two different rules. A question asking how long an Alabama ADJUSTER must keep records has no numeric answer.

This is a genuine outlier worth remembering

Most states impose a flat retention period on the adjuster by statute or rule. Alabama delegates it to private contract. If an answer choice offers three years, five years or seven years for an Alabama adjuster, none of them is right.

The Statute and the Regulation Do Different Jobs

Alabama never adopted the NAIC Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act. There is no fourteen-act enumeration anywhere in Title 27 chapter 12.

What chapter 12 has is one short section. § 27-12-24: 'No insurer shall, without just cause, refuse to pay or settle claims arising under coverages provided by its policies in this state and with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice in this state, which general business practice is evidenced by: (1) A substantial increase in the number of complaints against the insurer received by the Insurance Department; (2) A substantial increase in the number of lawsuits against the insurer or its insureds by claimants; and (3) Other relevant evidence.'

So the statute has a general business practice element and then goes further than most states by defining how the practice must be PROVED — through an evidence list joined by the word 'and'. A single refusal to pay does not violate § 27-12-24 no matter how egregious it is.

The actual claim-handling standards are not in the statute at all. They are in Regulation 482-1-125, 'Standards for Property/Casualty Insurance Claims', adopted under §§ 27-2-17, 27-1-17, 27-1-19, 27-12-21, 27-12-24, 27-14-8, 27-14-11 and 27-14-9.

And the regulation has NO frequency element. Its duties are stated per claim — 'Every insurer, upon receiving notification of a first party claim' — so a single act can breach the rule while never coming close to the statute.

The regulation does not reach everything. Rule .02 states it 'is not intended to cover claims involving workers' compensation, fidelity, suretyship or boiler and machinery insurance.'

Both halves or the answer is wrong

'Alabama requires a general business practice' and 'Alabama requires no general business practice' are each half right. The statute requires one; the regulation does not. A question that asks about Alabama's unfair claims rule without naming the instrument is ambiguous, and the safest answer names which one you are talking about.

No Private Right of Action, and No Evidence Either

No section of chapter 12 creates a claimant remedy. Enforcement runs through the Commissioner: § 27-12-18 supplies charges, hearing and order, § 27-12-20 provides for review of cease-and-desist orders, and § 27-12-21 vests enforcement in the Commissioner with injunctive relief available only 'through the Attorney General of this state'.

That much Alabama shares with most states. What it does next it does not.

Rule 482-1-125-.02 provides that evidence of a violation of the regulation 'shall be utilized for the purpose of administrative and regulatory proceedings conducted by the Department of Insurance and shall not be utilized for any other purpose or admissible as evidence for any purpose in any civil or criminal court proceeding. This is merely a clarification of original intent and does not indicate any change of position.'

In most states a claimant who cannot sue directly under the unfair claims rules can still put a violation in front of a jury as EVIDENCE of bad faith. Alabama forecloses that route too. The regulation is a regulatory instrument and nothing else.

The identical clause appears in Regulation 482-1-124-.02, the parallel rule for life, accident and health claims.

The practical effect for an adjuster is counterintuitive. Missing a deadline in Rule 482-1-125 is not something a plaintiff can wave at a jury — but it is squarely a licensing problem for you personally, because § 27-9A-15(7) requires you to comply with chapter 12 and its regulations as a condition of holding your license.

The Claim Clocks

Rule 482-1-125-.03(c) settles the day convention before you get to any number: 'DAYS. Calendar days calculated as set forth in the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure.' Every bare day count in the regulation is calendar days.

Acknowledge notification of a first-party claim within 15 days, unless payment is made within that period.

Answer other pertinent written communications from a first-party claimant that request a response within 15 days, and provide claim forms, instructions or reasonable assistance within 15 days of notification.

Advise the first-party claimant 'of the status of acceptance or denial of the claim' within 30 days of receiving properly executed proofs of loss, or the number of days specified in the policy. Note the wording — the duty is to advise of STATUS, and the trigger is properly executed proofs of loss rather than notice of the claim.

If you need more time, say so within the same 30 days and give the reasons. Then, while the investigation remains incomplete, send a further notification 45 days from the initial notification and every 45 days after that. Those may be in writing, verbally or by e-mail.

Once liability is accepted, the amount agreed and the documents received, tender payment within 30 days or the policy's period.

The single business-day clock in the entire regulation is the answer to the Department: a written inquiry from the Insurance Department gets an adequate response, in duplicate, within 10 WORKING days.

Two things switch the clocks off. Rules .07(1) and .07(2) are suspended where there is 'a reasonable basis supported by specific information available for review by the insurance regulatory authority' that the claimant 'fraudulently caused or contributed to the loss'. And: 'If the claim is in litigation for any reason, the above notification guidelines will no longer apply to that particular claim.'

You must warn an unrepresented claimant that time is running out

Rule 482-1-125-.07(5) requires written notice of a limitations period's expiration date and its effect approximately 45 CALENDAR DAYS BEFORE it expires, on an unresolved claim where the first-party claimant is not represented by counsel. Read it with .07(4): 'No insurer shall knowingly cease or prolong negotiations for settlement of a claim with the intention of allowing the statute of limitations to expire.' Alabama makes running out the clock an affirmative violation and then requires you to warn the claimant it is happening.

Denials Do Not Have To Be In Writing

This is the Alabama rule most often answered wrongly, because the national assumption is the opposite.

Rule 482-1-125-.07(1): 'No insurer shall deny a first party claim on the grounds of a specific policy provision, condition or exclusion unless reference to such provision, condition, or exclusion is included in the denial. The denial may be given to the first party claimant in writing, verbally or electronically (e-mail). If verbal, the file should clearly indicate the denial and reasons for the denial. If the denial is in writing or electronic (e-mail), the file should contain a copy of the denial letter or e-mail. If after the first party claim is denied, the first party claimant requests a written denial, a written denial shall be mailed within a reasonable time.'

So three things are true at once. The denial MUST cite the specific provision, condition or exclusion relied on. It may be delivered verbally. And a written denial is compelled only if the claimant asks for one — and then only 'within a reasonable time', with no day count attached anywhere.

A verbal denial that does not name the provision is a violation. A verbal denial that names it and is documented in the file is not.

Related prohibitions in the same rule are worth carrying together: no denial for failure to exhibit damaged property absent proof of a demand and an unfounded refusal; no denial for late written notice of loss unless the denial actually rests on a policy breach; no labelling a payment 'final' or 'a release' unless the policy limit is paid or a compromise is agreed; and no partial-settlement drafts containing releasing language.

Two more that reach third parties: no false statements suggesting a third-party claimant's rights may be impaired if a form or release is not completed in a given time; and no denial of an otherwise valid third-party claim for the insured's failure to cooperate 'unless the insurer proves the lack of cooperation is material, substantial, and to the prejudice of the insurer'.

And one that catches people out: no insurer 'shall request or require any insured to submit to a polygraph examination unless authorized under the applicable insurance contracts and state law.'

There Is One Bad-Faith Tort, Not Two

For thirty years Alabama material taught a 'normal' bad-faith case and an 'abnormal' one as though they were separate torts. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Brechbill, Docket 1111117, decided by the Supreme Court of Alabama on 27 September 2013, says otherwise: 'there is only one tort of bad-faith refusal to pay a claim, not two types of bad faith or two separate torts.'

The elements, as Brechbill sets them out, are an insurance contract between the parties and a breach of it by the defendant; an intentional refusal to pay the insured's claim; the absence of any reasonably legitimate or arguable reason for that refusal; and the insurer's actual knowledge of the absence of such a reason. A fifth element covers the investigation theory: an intentional failure to determine whether a legitimate or arguable reason existed.

Brechbill describes elements (a) through (d) as the normal case and (e) as the abnormal one — but they are routes through a single tort, and the third element governs all of them.

That is the holding that matters most on the job: 'A bad-faith-refusal-to-investigate claim cannot survive where the trial court has expressly found as a matter of law that the insurer had a reasonably legitimate or arguable reason for refusing to pay the claim at the time the claim was denied.' A poor investigation does not manufacture liability where an arguable reason for the denial existed.

The line runs back through Chavers v. National Security Fire & Casualty Co., Docket 79-280 (Ala. 1981), which created the tort; National Savings Life Insurance Co. v. Dutton, Docket 80-897 (Ala. 17 September 1982), which supplied the elements and the directed-verdict framing; Thomas v. Principal Financial Group, Dockets 88-834 and 88-925 (Ala. 3 August 1990), which pried open the abnormal category by noticing that Dutton had said 'In the normal case'; and State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Slade, Dockets 1961769 and 1961770 (Ala. 27 August 1999), which mapped the abnormal routes.

Dutton's directed-verdict rule survives in its own lane: 'In the normal case in order for a plaintiff to make out a prima facie case of bad faith refusal to pay an insurance claim, the proof offered must show that the plaintiff is entitled to a directed verdict on the contract claim.' And Dutton's gloss on the third element is the one adjusters should internalize: 'The debatable reason under (c) above means an arguable reason, one that is open to dispute or question.'

Limitations: two years for the tort under § 6-2-38, six years for breach of the policy under § 6-2-34.

An arguable reason is a low bar, and that is the point

Alabama does not ask whether the insurer was right. It asks whether there was a reason open to dispute or question at the time of the denial. Document the reason contemporaneously and the third element is where the claim usually dies.

Third Parties and the Judgment Route

The shorthand 'Alabama has no third-party bad faith' is imprecise enough to get a question wrong.

Alabama does recognize a bad-faith failure to settle, and a refusal to defend, arising out of third-party liability claims. The rationale runs back to Waters v. American Casualty Co. (Ala. 1953): the policy gives the insurer the exclusive right to make a settlement, and with that right comes a duty.

But the plaintiff on that claim is the INSURED, not the claimant. And it does not accrue until the claimant obtains a final judgment in excess of the policy limits.

A third-party claimant cannot sue the carrier for bad faith directly. What the claimant gets instead is statutory and comes after judgment.

§ 27-23-2: on recovery of a final judgment for loss or damage on account of bodily injury, death, or loss or damage to property, where the defendant was insured against the loss at the time the right of action arose, 'the judgment creditor shall be entitled to have the insurance money provided for in the contract of insurance between the insurer and the defendant applied to the satisfaction of the judgment, and if the judgment is not satisfied within 30 days after the date when it is entered, the judgment creditor may proceed against the defendant and the insurer to reach and apply the insurance money'.

So the sequence is judgment first, then 30 days, then a direct action to reach the proceeds. It is a collection mechanism, not a bad-faith remedy, and it does not open up extracontractual damages.

Adjuster Personal Liability Is Unresolved

There is no Alabama Supreme Court decision holding that an individual adjuster is personally liable for bad faith, and none holding that an adjuster is categorically immune from fraud or outrage. Anyone who teaches either as settled Alabama law is overstating the record.

What is reasonably clear is that the bad-faith tort itself does not fit an adjuster. Its first element is an insurance contract between the parties and a breach of it by the defendant. An adjuster is not a party to the policy. That is an inference from the element rather than a holding, but it is a strong one.

What is clear is that negligent claims handling does not exist in Alabama as a cause of action against anyone. A federal court sitting in Alabama put it plainly in Bevels v. American States Insurance Co., Docket 00-A-604-E (M.D. Ala. 20 June 2000), that a claim for negligent handling of a claim does not exist under Alabama law, citing Kervin v. Southern Guaranty Insurance Co. (Ala. 1995).

What is NOT foreclosed is fraud, fraudulent suppression and outrage pleaded against an adjuster personally. Federal courts sitting in Alabama have repeatedly declined to hold such claims foreclosed when deciding whether a non-diverse adjuster was fraudulently joined, which is a low bar but a meaningful signal.

And adjusters do get named. In Ex parte Alfa Mutual Insurance Co. and Jeffery Dimoff, Docket SC-2025-0478 (Ala. 27 February 2026), bad-faith, fraud and fraudulent-suppression claims were pleaded against both the carrier and its adjuster by name, and were resolved on limitations grounds. The court did not reach whether the adjuster could be personally liable.

The exposure that is certain is not civil at all. § 27-9A-15(7) requires you personally to comply with chapter 12 and its regulations, and § 27-9A-12 lets the commissioner discipline you for violating an insurance law or rule. The claims regulation may be inadmissible in a courtroom; it is fully admissible in a licensing proceeding against you.

The right answer is the structure, not a verdict

When a question asks whether an Alabama adjuster can be held personally liable, the defensible answer describes the structure: bad faith effectively blocked by its first element, negligent claims handling nonexistent, fraud and outrage undecided, and licensing exposure certain.

Punitive Damages

§ 6-11-20 sets the standard: punitive damages may not be awarded 'other than in a tort action where it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant consciously or deliberately engaged in oppression, fraud, wantonness, or malice with regard to the plaintiff.' The section then defines clear and convincing evidence as producing 'a firm conviction as to each essential element of the claim and a high probability as to the correctness of the conclusion' — 'greater than a preponderance of the evidence or the substantial weight of the evidence, but less than beyond a reasonable doubt.'

§ 6-11-21 caps the award. The general cap is three times the compensatory damages or $500,000, whichever is greater. For a physical injury case it is three times compensatory or $1,500,000, whichever is greater. For a small business — net worth of $2,000,000 or less at the time of the occurrence — it is $50,000 or 10 percent of net worth, whichever is greater.

There is NO insurer exception and no bad-faith exception. The only carve-outs in the section are small business, class actions, wrongful death, and intentional infliction of physical injury. A first-party bad-faith award against an insurer sits under the general cap.

The jury never hears about any of it: § 6-11-21(g) provides that 'The jury may neither be instructed nor informed as to the provisions of this section.'

Two cautions on the figures. First, § 6-11-21(f) escalates the dollar amounts by the Consumer Price Index every three years from 1 January 2003, so the statutory numbers above are base figures rather than today's operative caps. Second, the caps have constitutional history: the 1987 version of § 6-11-21, a flat $250,000, was held unconstitutional under Ala. Const. 1901 art. I § 11 in Henderson v. Alabama Power Co., Dockets 1901875 and 1901946 (Ala. 25 June 1993), on the ground that it rendered the jury's function nugatory. The current tiered caps were re-enacted by Act 99-358.

Pure Contributory Negligence

Alabama is one of a handful of states in which any contributory fault by the plaintiff is a complete bar to recovery. Not a reduction. A bar.

It is judge-made. No Alabama statute adopts contributory negligence, and the Supreme Court declined to abandon it in Golden v. McCurry, Docket 79-78 (Ala. 3 October 1980), reasoning that even though the Court has 'the inherent power to change the common law rule of contributory negligence, it should, as a matter of policy, leave any change of the doctrine to the legislature.'

The counterweights are the doctrines rather than a comparative statute: last clear chance, subsequent negligence, and the rule that contributory negligence is no defense to wanton or willful conduct. In a serious file the wantonness count is where the plaintiff goes to escape the bar.

The one statutory carve-out an adjuster meets every week is the seat belt. § 32-5B-7: 'Failure to wear a safety belt in violation of this chapter shall not be considered evidence of contributory negligence and shall not limit the liability of an insurer, nor shall the conviction be entered on the driving record of any individual charged under the provisions of this chapter.'

Read the second clause. Most states' seat-belt statutes only make non-use inadmissible on negligence. Alabama's also says non-use 'shall not limit the liability of an insurer' — which forecloses the damages-mitigation argument as well as the fault argument. There is no seat-belt discount on the evaluation.

No vulnerable-road-user exception was located. Cyclists and pedestrians face the same complete bar.

Contributory negligence is a valuation fact, not just a defense

Because any fault bars recovery entirely, the difference between one percent and zero percent of claimant fault is the difference between a full verdict and nothing. Alabama files are evaluated on liability far more sharply than comparative-fault files.

Auto Limits, UM and Stacking

Minimum limits are 25/50/25 under § 32-7-6(c): not less than $25,000 for bodily injury or death to one person, not less than $50,000 for two or more persons in any one accident, and not less than $25,000 for injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident.

Alabama is a pure tort state. There is no personal injury protection chapter in Title 27's 91 chapters, the financial responsibility scheme in Title 32 chapter 7 is the Motor Vehicle Safety-Responsibility Act, and § 32-7-23 conditions uninsured motorist recovery on being 'legally entitled to recover damages' — a tort predicate a no-fault regime removes.

Uninsured motorist coverage is a mandatory OFFER. The named insured has 'the right to reject such coverage'. And here Alabama's writing requirement runs the opposite way from the usual rule: the statute does not on its face require the REJECTION to be written. The writing is what brings the coverage BACK — 'unless the named insured requests such coverage in writing, such coverage need not be provided in or supplemental to a renewal policy where the named insured had rejected the coverage in connection with the policy previously issued to him or her by the same insurer.'

Underinsurance is not a separate coverage. § 32-7-23(b) sweeps it into the definition of an uninsured motor vehicle at subdivision (4): a vehicle is uninsured where 'The sum of the limits of liability under all bodily injury liability bonds and insurance policies available to an injured person after an accident is less than the damages which the injured person is legally entitled to recover.'

That is a damages-based trigger, not a difference-in-limits one. The comparison is between the available liability limits and the DAMAGES, not between the liability limits and the UM limit. The coverage functions as an excess layer on top of whatever the liability carriers pay.

Stacking is permitted and statutorily capped. § 32-7-23(c): recovery 'under the uninsured provisions of any one contract of automobile insurance shall be limited to the primary coverage plus such additional coverage as may be provided for additional vehicles, but not to exceed two additional coverages within such contract.' Three coverages, maximum, on one contract.

Travelers Insurance Co. v. Jones and McNish, Docket 86-672 (Ala. 24 June 1988) held that the right extends beyond the named insured to everyone covered as an insured, and that 'any one contract' reaches a multi-vehicle policy. It expressly reserved whether a passenger may stack coverages under a SEPARATE policy — that question is still open. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Faught, Docket 88-1638 (Ala. 16 February 1990) held that a passenger may not stack coverages under separate single-vehicle policies on vehicles he neither owned nor occupied.

One more gate: 'legally entitled to recover' is a real requirement. Ex parte Carlton, Docket 1001781 (Ala. 11 April 2003) held that an employee barred by workers' compensation exclusivity from suing a co-employee is not legally entitled to recover and therefore cannot reach uninsured motorist benefits.

The 75 Percent Rule and What Switches It On

Alabama's 75 percent total-loss figure is genuine and it is in the statute — but nearly every summary describes it wrongly, because it governs only one half of a disjunctive sentence.

§ 32-8-87(b)(1)a.: 'When the frame or engine is removed from a motor vehicle and not immediately replaced by another frame or engine, OR when an insurance company has paid money or made other monetary settlement as compensation for a total loss of any motor vehicle, the motor vehicle shall be considered to be salvage.'

The first branch has no percentage in it at all. Pull the frame or the engine and fail to replace it immediately, and the vehicle is salvage regardless of the numbers.

The second branch is where the 75 percent lives, and it is conjunctive: it needs BOTH a payment and the damage threshold. § 32-8-87(d)(1): 'a total loss occurs when an insurance company or any other person pays or makes other monetary settlement to a person when a vehicle is damaged and the damage to the vehicle is greater than or equal to 75 percent of the fair retail value of the vehicle prior to damage as set forth in a current edition of a nationally recognized compilation of retail values, including automated databases.'

So it is not the insurer's unilateral declaration, and it is not a bare damage test. Both have to be present.

The same subsection tells you what does not count toward the calculation: 'The compensation for total loss as defined in this subsection shall not include payments by an insurer or other person for medical care, bodily injury, vehicle rental, or for anything other than the amount paid for the actual damage to the motor vehicle.'

Theft overrides the percentage. A payment made because of the theft of the vehicle is a total loss without reference to 75 percent — subject to § 32-8-87(d)(2): 'A vehicle that has sustained minor damage as a result of theft or vandalism shall not be considered a total loss.'

Clocks: the owner applies for a salvage certificate within 72 hours after the total loss or salvage occurs, and a person who acquires a qualifying damaged vehicle for which no salvage title was issued applies within 30 days after acquiring ownership. The section also carries the rebuilt title and decal process and a flood vehicle designation where an insurer 'has paid a total loss due, in part, to being damaged by water.'

Act 2025-120, effective 1 October 2025, amended this section to let an owner apply for an Alabama salvage certificate where the vehicle was declared a loss in ANY state. The 75 percent definition survived the amendment unchanged.

Saying 'Alabama's total loss threshold is 75%' misdescribes the statute

It is accurate only where an insurer or other person has paid. Where the frame or engine has been removed and not replaced, the vehicle is salvage with no percentage applied. Where the payment is for theft, it is a total loss with no percentage applied. Confirming that a number exists in a statute is necessary and not sufficient — read the clause that switches it on.

Auto Total Loss, Betterment and Diminished Value

Regulation 482-1-125-.08 is Alabama's automobile physical damage rule, and it is more prescriptive than the general claims standards.

On a first-party total loss settled on actual cash value or like kind and quality, the insurer must use one of three methods: offer a comparable replacement automobile of the 'same manufacturer, same or newer year, similar body style, similar options and mileage'; make a cash settlement 'based upon the actual cost, less any deductible provided in the policy, to purchase a comparable automobile by the same manufacturer, same model year'; or deviate, in which case the deviation 'must be supported by documentation'.

Then the sentence that decides most disputes: 'Any deductions from such cost, including deduction for salvage, must be measurable, discernible, itemized and specified as to dollar amount.' A lump-sum salvage deduction with no arithmetic behind it does not comply.

Betterment is constrained by a two-part test at .08(8). Deductions are allowable only if they 'Reflect a measurable decrease in market value attributable to the poorer condition of, or prior damage to, the vehicle' AND 'Reflect the general overall condition of the vehicle, considering its age', for wear and tear or rust and for missing parts — with missing parts 'limited to no more of a deduction than the replacement costs of such part or parts.' Both limbs, not either.

Any reduction for betterment or depreciation must have supporting information in the claim file.

Aftermarket and replacement crash parts must comply with § 32-17A-1 and following.

First-party diminished value is not recoverable. Pritchett v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., Docket 2000850 (Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, 22 February 2002) held that the policy's repair-or-replace obligation does not carry a duty to restore VALUE — the word repair 'does not discuss the concept of value', and the obligation is to restore the vehicle to substantially the same physical and operating condition.

Do not over-read the regulation's diminished value sentence

Rule 482-1-125-.08(6) ends 'This Paragraph is not intended to and does not create a duty on the insurer to pay for any alleged diminution in value of the automobile.' The disclaimer is scoped to THAT PARAGRAPH — the designated-repair-shop and restore-as-nearly-as-possible duty — so that the repair obligation is not read as a value obligation. It is not a freestanding regulatory declaration that diminished value is never owed in Alabama. The general first-party answer comes from Pritchett, not from the rule. Third-party diminished value has no Alabama appellate authority in either direction.

Alabama Prescribes No Standard Fire Policy

There is no Alabama standard fire policy. This is established by enumeration rather than by a search that found nothing.

Title 27 has 91 chapters and none of them prescribes a fire form. Title 27 chapter 14, 'The Insurance Contract', has 35 sections, §§ 27-14-1 through 27-14-32 including 27-14-11.1, 27-14-19.1 and 27-14-19.2, and none is a standard-form section. Title 27 chapter 22, 'Property Insurance Contracts', consists of §§ 27-22-1 and 27-22-2 in Article 1, §§ 27-22-20 through 27-22-25 in the Property Insurance Clarity Act, §§ 27-22-40 through 27-22-45 in the Alabama Homeowners Bill of Rights Act, and Article 4 on insurance payments to lenders. No standard fire policy, no prescribed suit clause.

Alabama is a file-and-approve state instead. § 27-14-8 governs the filing and approval or disapproval of forms and § 27-14-9 lists the grounds for disapproval. § 27-14-11, 'Contents of Policies — Generally', requires only that a policy state the parties, the subject, the risks insured, the effective period, the premium and the conditions. There is no form mandate and no suit-limitation requirement.

The Department's own regulation index, running from Regulation 3 to Regulation 168, contains no regulation prescribing a fire form.

Regulation 482-1-9 is the closest thing and it points the other way. Rule 482-1-009-.04 provides that 'An insurer issuing an industrial fire policy may not use the caption The Standard Fire Policy. When policy designation is made, the words Industrial, Monthly, Weekly Premium, or Home Service must be incorporated as a part of such caption. All policies and endorsements are subject to specific approval by this Department.' The rule assumes such a document circulates in the market. It does not adopt it and it does not set its terms.

The consequence for claim handling is precise. A suit-limitation clause in an Alabama fire policy binds as a matter of CONTRACT, enforceable or not under ordinary contract law. It is not an Alabama-prescribed minimum, and there is no statutory floor stopping a policy from writing a shorter one.

A multi-state form is not a state adoption

Forms captioned for several southeastern states circulate in this market, and the caption tells you nothing about whether Alabama adopted the terms. It did not. Read the policy you actually have, and do not attribute its suit clause to any Alabama statute or regulation.

Valued Policy, Matching and Actual Cash Value

Alabama has no valued policy law. Enumerating Title 27's chapter list, chapter 14's 35 sections, every section of chapter 22 and the Department's full regulation index turns up nothing. Alabama is an actual cash value indemnity state, and a total fire loss to a dwelling is not automatically payable at the face amount of the policy.

Alabama has no matching rule either. Nothing in chapter 22 and nothing in the regulation index requires undamaged adjoining materials to be replaced for appearance.

The nearest provision is Rule 482-1-125-.09(1), and it should not be called a matching rule: 'When the policy provides for the adjustment and settlement of first party losses based on replacement cost, and a loss requires repair or replacement of an item or part, any consequential physical damage necessarily or reasonably incurred in making such repair or replacement not otherwise excluded by the policy shall be included in the loss. The insured shall not have to pay for betterment nor any other cost except for the applicable deductible, except as provided by the policy.'

That is a consequential-damage rule about what the repair OPERATION breaks, not a continuous-appearance rule. It is genuinely useful — tear-out and access damage belong in the estimate — but it will not carry an argument about undamaged siding on an adjacent elevation.

Actual cash value is defined for residential fire and extended coverage at Rule 482-1-125-.09(2): the insurer 'shall determine actual cash value as replacement cost of property at time of loss less depreciation'. And the transparency obligation in the same sentence is one adjusters should expect to be held to: 'Upon the insured's request, the insurer shall provide a copy of the claim file worksheets detailing any and all deductions for depreciation.'

Whether labor may be depreciated in reaching actual cash value has no Alabama authority in either direction. The regulation is silent on whether the depreciable base includes labor, and no statute, rule, bulletin or decision addresses it.

Rule .09(3) carves out property with nominal or no economic value, or value disproportionate to replacement cost less depreciation, from the .09(2) calculation.

Note also Regulation 482-1-150, 'Estimation of Replacement Cost of Insured Dwellings'. It is an underwriting and insurance-to-value rule about how carriers must estimate replacement cost when the policy is sold. It is not a claims rule and does not govern your settlement.

Coverage Restrictions and Nonrenewal

Regulation 482-1-136 is captioned 'Notice Requirements for Coverage Restrictions of Existing Policies at Renewal and for Non-Renewal of Coverage', and it is not the rule most people assume it is.

Its scope, at Rule .03, is 'property insurance in the state of Alabama for residential and/or commercial properties'. It does not reach personal automobile insurance.

Its day counts are long: written notice to the Commissioner no less than 150 days before the effective date of a proposed coverage restriction or nonrenewal, and written notice to the named insured no less than 120 days before the renewal date or before the policy is set to expire. Days are calendar — the rule never uses the word business.

But read what the rule requires the notice to contain and who it is about: a 'category or group of existing insureds', the number of policyholders to be affected, and the names of the Alabama counties in which affected policyholders reside. Rule .05(3) applies the requirements each time an insurer decides to restrict or nonrenew 'a separate and/or additional category or group of existing insureds'.

This is a book-of-business rule. It governs an insurer withdrawing or restricting a whole class of property policies, and it tells the Department before it tells the insureds. It is not the per-policy cancellation notice an adjuster or underwriter sends on one account.

A general per-policy personal-lines cancellation and nonrenewal notice provision was not located in chapter 14, chapter 22, chapter 23 or the regulation index. Do not answer that Alabama gives 120 days on a personal auto cancellation.

Watch Bulletin 2025-08

The Department has barred canceling or nonrenewing a personal or commercial property or automobile policy on account of catastrophe-related claims, and barred premium surcharges and moves to higher-tier ratings or affiliated insurers for qualifying-event claims. It replaces the Department's 2010 bulletin on the subject and phases in across 1 January, 1 February and 1 April 2026 for cancellations and nonrenewals, new business and renewals respectively. It is the newest claims-adjacent instrument in the state and it is directly about how catastrophe claims affect the policy afterwards.

The Disaster Claim Mediation Program

Regulation 482-1-135 creates a mediation program for disputed personal lines claims arising from hurricane, tropical storm, tornado and other disaster damage. It matters to adjusters because the insurer pays for it and can lose by not turning up properly.

The threshold is $500: unless the parties agree to mediate a smaller matter, a claim qualifies where the insured is requesting $500 or more to settle, or the difference between the parties' positions is $500 or more.

A claim is excluded where the insurer has reported allegations of fraud, based on its own investigation, to the Department.

Either side may request mediation if the claim is unresolved 21 days from the date of the mediation notice the insurer is required to give. The Department notifies the insurer within 48 hours of receiving a request.

The insurer pays $350 to the Department on or before the conference date, to defray the Department's costs including the mediator's fee. A party canceling within 48 hours pays the mediator $175. A party who fails to appear without good cause pays the $350.

The settlement-authority requirement is the trap. The insurer's representative must know the facts and circumstances of the claim and have authority to settle it — and the insurer 'will be deemed to have failed to appear if the insurer's representative lacks authority to settle the claim and the ability to disburse the settlement amount at the conclusion of the conference'. Immediate access to a person who has that authority satisfies the rule. Arriving more than 30 minutes late is a failure to appear.

Fortified Roofs and Strengthen Alabama Homes

Alabama has built more insurance machinery around wind mitigation than almost any part of its code, and an adjuster on a coastal roof claim meets it directly.

Title 27 chapter 31D requires the discount. § 27-31D-2(a): 'insurance companies shall provide a premium discount or insurance rate reduction in an amount and manner as established in subsection (g)' for an owner who retrofits insurable property 'to resist loss due to hurricane or other catastrophic windstorm events.'

Qualifying construction is defined by reference to the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety: the Fortified Home Hurricane standards or the Fortified Home Highwind and Hail standards, another mitigation program or construction technique or standardized code approved by the commissioner, or for zone three HUD-code manufactured homes the Fortified Home Hurricane Manufactured/Modular Home guidelines. Certification to a Fortified standard is valid only 'after inspection and certification by an IBHS certified inspector'.

There is no published percentage. § 27-31D-2(g) makes insurers 'submit actuarially justified rating plans', applies the adjustment only to policies providing wind coverage, and confines it to the premium for the improved property. Any figure quoted as 'the Alabama fortified discount' is an individual carrier's filing, not a statutory rate.

The provision that reaches your file is § 27-31D-2.1. Insurers 'shall offer a fortified bronze roof endorsement to upgrade a nonfortified home, which is otherwise eligible for a fortified standard, to a fortified standard' — 'when the insured incurs damage covered by the policy requiring the roof to be replaced.' The offer is made at new business and at first renewal following 1 January 2020.

Title 27 chapter 31E is the Strengthen Alabama Homes Act, implemented by Regulation 482-1-159. Grants go to owner-occupied single-family primary residences, not condominiums or mobile homes, in counties where grants are being approved. The home must be in good repair unless damaged by hurricane, non-hurricane wind or hail, and grant funds cannot be used for maintenance or repairs though they may be used alongside repairs necessitated by such damage.

The owner must retrofit to FORTIFIED Roof or FORTIFIED Silver, hold in-force wind insurance, and hold flood insurance if the home is in a special flood hazard area. Projects must be completed within three months of the grant approval notification. Three contractor bids are required, funds are released only after certification and are paid directly to the contractor, and irregularities found on random re-inspection go to the Department's Fraud Unit.

The endorsement offer is triggered by YOUR claim

§ 27-31D-2.1 attaches to the moment covered damage requires a roof replacement. That is a claim event, not an underwriting event, and it is the point at which the insured has to be told the upgrade endorsement exists.

The Guaranty Association

Title 27 chapter 42 creates the Alabama Insurance Guaranty Association and § 27-42-8(a) sets the limits.

The association is obligated on covered claims existing before the order of liquidation and arising within 30 days after it, or before the policy expiration date if that is sooner, or before the insured replaces the policy or causes its cancellation within 30 days of the order.

Three limits, and one of them is not a limit at all. Workers' compensation covered claims are paid at 'the full amount'. Return of unearned premium is capped at $10,000 per policy. And everything else is capped at 'three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) or the policy limits, whichever is less, per claim'.

Alabama does NOT have the NAIC model's $100 claimant deductible. The model parks it in the covered-claim definition; Alabama's definition at § 27-42-5(7) does not contain it, and neither does § 27-42-8. Reading both sections is how that negative is established.

The single-claim rule is the one that changes the arithmetic on a serious file. § 27-42-8(a): 'For purposes of this limitation, all claims of any kind whatsoever arising out of, or related to, bodily injury or death to any one person shall constitute a single claim, regardless of the number of claims made or the number of claimants.' A derivative consortium claim or a wrongful death claim brought by multiple survivors does not buy a second $300,000.

§ 27-42-8(b) caps the association at the insolvent insurer's own obligation: 'In no event shall the association be obligated to pay a claimant an amount in excess of the obligation of the insolvent insurer under the policy or coverage from which the claim arises.'

A covered claim requires the insurer to have become insolvent after 1 January 1981, and either that the claimant or insured was a resident of this state at the time of the insured event or that the property from which the claim arises is permanently located in this state.

The missing $100 is the exam point

National material teaches a $100 claimant deductible because the NAIC model has one. Alabama does not. If an answer choice offers $300,000 less a $100 deductible, the deductible half is wrong.

Fraud Warnings, Reporting and the Fraud Unit

Alabama's fraud chapter is Title 27 chapter 12A, the Insurance Fraud Investigation Unit and Crime Prevention Act.

The fraud warning is mandatory, which distinguishes Alabama from the states where it is optional — but the obligation is narrower than most people read it. § 27-12A-20(a) requires the warning on 'at least one of the following: Claim release forms, applications, reinstatements for insurance, participation agreements, declaration pages, and claim documents'. One of six, not all six.

The prescribed language, or a 'substantially similar statement', is: 'Any person who knowingly presents a false or fraudulent claim for payment of a loss or benefit or who knowingly presents false information in an application for insurance is guilty of a crime and may be subject to restitution, fines, or confinement in prison, or any combination thereof.'

And the omission is not a defense. § 27-12A-20(b): 'The lack of a statement required by subsection (a) shall not constitute a defense in any prosecution for insurance fraud.' A claimant who was never warned can still be prosecuted.

Reporting under § 27-12A-21 splits by who you are. 'Persons engaged in the business of insurance, having knowledge or a reasonable belief that insurance fraud is being, will be, or has been committed, shall provide to the department such information that is required by, and in a manner prescribed by, the department.' Everyone else 'may' report to the Attorney General, the Department, or both.

There is no deadline in the section. No number of days appears anywhere in § 27-12A-21 — the timing is delegated entirely to the Department's prescribed manner. An answer asserting a fixed statutory reporting deadline in Alabama is unsupported.

Immunity under § 27-12A-22 protects the act of reporting: no civil liability and no cause of action for furnishing or receiving information about suspected, anticipated or completed insurance fraud. It protects the reporting only — it 'does not limit civil liability against a person for committing fraud or other tortuous conduct' — and it falls away for false statements made with ACTUAL MALICE, which must be pleaded specifically.

The Fraud Unit is a police agency

§ 27-12A-40 gives the Insurance Fraud Unit power to issue and serve subpoenas, administer oaths, execute arrest warrants for criminal violations of the chapter or other state laws, and arrest on probable cause without a warrant a person found in the act of violating it. Its investigators 'shall have all the powers vested in law enforcement officers of the State of Alabama' and must meet the minimum standards set by the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission. When you refer a file, you are referring it to sworn officers.

Workers' Compensation

Workers' compensation is a line of authority on the independent adjuster license, not a separate credential. Rule 482-1-151-.02-1(b) defines it by reference to 'workmen's compensation and employer's liability' in § 27-5-6(a)(3).

The rates move every 1 July and are keyed to the DATE OF INJURY. For injuries occurring on and after 1 July 2026 the maximum is $1,219.00 per week and the minimum is $335.00 per week, determined from a state average weekly wage of $1,219.14 for calendar year 2025.

The mechanism is § 25-5-68(a): compensation is not less than '27 1/2 percent of the average weekly wage of the state as determined by the secretary, rounded to the nearest dollar' and 'no more than 100 percent of the average weekly wage'. § 25-5-68(b) requires the determination on or before 1 June each year, effective for the twelve months beginning the following 1 July.

But the permanent partial disability cap does not move with it, and this is the figure most summaries miss. § 25-5-68(a) continues: 'Notwithstanding the foregoing, the maximum compensation payable for permanent partial disability shall be no more than the lesser of two hundred twenty dollars ($220) per week or 100 percent of the average weekly wage.' The $220 is flat and unindexed.

The waiting period is three days, with compensation beginning on the fourth day; if disability lasts as much as 21 days, the first three days are added to and payable with the first installment due after the 21 days expire. And § 25-5-59(b) supplies the penalty: an installment 'not paid without good cause within 30 days after it becomes due' carries 'an amount equal to 15 percent thereof' on top.

Notice has two numbers and you need both. § 25-5-78 requires written notice within five days, excusable by physical or mental incapacity, fraud or deceit, or 'equal good reason' — then bars compensation entirely 'unless written notice is given within 90 days after the occurrence of the accident'. Five days is soft; ninety days is hard.

Limitations are two years under § 25-5-80, with an important extension: 'Where, however, payments of compensation, as distinguished from medical or vocational payments, have been made in any case, the period of limitation shall not begin to run until the time of making the last payment.' There is no limitations period on medical benefits.

There is no accept-or-deny deadline. Alabama runs a pay-or-explain system instead: if the first installment is not paid within 30 days after knowledge of the claim, a report setting out the reason for non-payment is due within 10 days after that 30-day period ends, and the 15 percent penalty backs it up. The employer's First Report of Injury is due within 15 days.

Benefit shape: injury claims are computed at 66 2/3 percent of average weekly earnings for the 52 weeks before the injury; death claims at 50 percent for one dependent and 66 2/3 percent for two or more. Where a deceased employee leaves no dependents the employer pays a $7,500 lump sum to the estate within 60 days. Burial expenses run to $6,500. Attorney fees are capped at 15 percent. Duration caps are 500 weeks for death, 300 weeks for permanent partial and for temporary partial, and unlimited for permanent total and temporary total. Coverage generally reaches employers of five or more.

Medical control sits with the EMPLOYER, which selects the treating physician; a dissatisfied employee may choose a second physician from a panel of four selected by the employer.

Comp bad faith is channelled, not available

Garvin v. Shewbart, Docket 82-898 (Ala. 2 December 1983) holds that actions against the employer or carrier for negligence or bad faith in processing or paying compensation claims are barred by the exclusivity provisions, leaving the Act's own expedited procedure and the 15 percent penalty as the remedy. The narrow escape is the tort of outrage, where conduct crosses from mere failure to pay into an intent to cause severe emotional distress. Do not answer that Alabama recognizes comp bad faith, and do not answer that it has been abolished by statute — the courts route it, and the legislature did not.

Reading Alabama Law Without Getting Burned

Alabama's Legislature meets EVERY year. Regular sessions convene the first Tuesday in February, except in the last year of a four-year term when they begin the second Tuesday in January. The 2026 regular session convened 13 January and adjourned 9 April 2026, and a first special session followed in May. A twelve-month-old summary of Alabama insurance law has always missed a session.

Alabama publishes no sections-affected table. There is no official index that enumerates every code section touched by every act of a session, so currency is readable only off the terminal history line printed at the foot of each section — the parenthetical list of acts that produced it.

That makes the history line the single most important thing on the page. Four sections of the adjuster chapter name Act 2023-104 and the rest name only Act 2011-637. A source that strips the history line has stripped the only currency signal the code gives you.

Watch out for chapter INDEX pages. A chapter index will list the eight repealed sections of Title 27 chapter 9 under a current-looking heading with no repeal marker at all; only the individual section pages carry 'Repealed by Act 2011-637, §3, effective January 1, 2012.'

Currency stamps on free reproductions are per section and are not consistent even inside one chapter. And a reproduction stamped with last year's code cannot contain this year's session at all.

The regulation moved more recently than the statute. Regulation 482-1-151 was rewritten effective 1 January 2024, repealing its definitions rule, all three prelicensing rules and its transitory provisions, and adding a lines-of-authority rule. Any commentary predating 2024 describes a rulebook that no longer exists.

One last trap that costs real money. The Department of Workforce publishes the workers' compensation rate letter at a stable, obvious address that currently serves a letter dated 31 May 2024 with the 1 July 2024 figures. The current letter is a differently named file reached from the division's documents index, and it sits in an upload folder labelled with the wrong year. Read the date printed inside the document, never the filename and never the path.

Three questions to ask of any Alabama source

When did the Legislature last meet, and has this source seen that session? What does the terminal history line on the section say? And is this a section page or a chapter index? Those three questions catch nearly every currency error in this state.

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Quick Reference

Licensing AuthorityAlabama Department of Insurance (ALDOI)

Governing StatuteAla. Code Title 27 ch. 9A, Independent Adjusters, §§ 27-9A-1 to 27-9A-18

Governing RegulationAla. Admin. Code ch. 482-1-151, rewritten effective 1 January 2024

Repealed ChapterTitle 27 ch. 9 (§§ 27-9-1 to 27-9-8) — repealed by Act 2011-637 § 3 eff. 1 Jan 2012

Exam ProviderThe University of Alabama — not a national testing vendor

Exam SitesBirmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa

Credentials IssuedIndependent adjuster; business entity; apprentice; emergency registration

Public Adjuster LicenseNONE — Alabama does not license or recognize public adjusters

Lines of AuthorityProperty and casualty; Workers' compensation; Crop (§ 27-9A-7(a))

Number of ExamsFOUR — P&C excluding WC and Crop; WC; Crop; P&C including WC and Crop

Exam — P&C excluding WC/Crop125 questions, 150 minutes, 88 correct to pass

Exam — Workers' Compensation100 questions, 120 minutes, 70 correct to pass

Exam — Crop100 questions, 120 minutes, 70 correct to pass

Exam — P&C including WC/Crop150 questions, 180 minutes, 105 correct to pass

Passing ScoreRAW 70 out of 100 — Rule 482-1-151-.06(4)(b). Not a scaled score.

Cut-score noteThe Department's outline prints 88 for the 125-question exam; the vendor portal rendered 87. 70% of 125 is 87.5, so 88 is the first passing integer.

Exam Fee$75 per examination scheduled, non-refundable (Rule 482-1-151-.06(8))

Exam Fee Cap$100 — § 27-4-2 authorizes an amount 'not to exceed' it

Retake — after 2 failures90 days minimum (Rule .06(5)(a)); the statute says three months

Retake — after 4 failures180 days minimum (Rule .06(5)(b)); the statute says six months

Retake bars expire24 months after the last failed examination (Rule .06(5)(c))

Exam Certificate ValidityOne year from the date of issuance (Rule .06(7))

Prelicensing RequiredNO — deleted by Act 2023-104 effective 1 January 2024

Prelicensing HoursNone

Prelicensing caveatRule 482-1-151-.08(2) still requires an apprentice to be 'actively engaged in a prelicensing course' — while rules .03, .04 and .05 defining it were repealed the same day

Application Fee$30 (§ 27-4-2, individuals and business entities)

Individual License Fee$80 (§ 27-4-2)

Business Entity License Fee$200 (§ 27-4-2)

Initial Total — Individual$110 ($30 + $80), plus the $75 exam fee

Initial Total — Business Entity$230 ($30 + $200)

Renewal — Individual$80 biennially

Renewal — Business Entity$200, expiring 31 December of every odd-numbered year

Late Renewal — Individual$120 within 30 days (one and one-half times), RETROACTIVE

Reinstatement — Individual$160 after day 30 (double), NOT retroactive

Late Renewal — Business Entity$300; there is no doubled business entity tier

Emergency Registration Fee$60 per adjuster, filed by the INSURER

Emergency Registration Cap$50 statutory cap in § 27-9A-5(e) — the $60 rests on § 41-1-11 CPI authority

Emergency Registration Term90 days unless extended by the commissioner

Emergency Registration DeadlineWithin five days of deployment (§ 27-9A-5(b))

Name/Address Change30 days; $50 penalty for late reporting (§ 27-9A-7(h))

Fingerprint FeeNot published in any statute, rule or Department page — set at the vendor portal

Fingerprint VendorFieldprint (named on the Department's page; the regulation names no vendor)

Fingerprint Window30 days per the Department; Rule 482-1-157-.03 says 365 days

Fingerprints — whoResidents, residents adding a line, and nonresidents designating Alabama as home state

Fingerprints — who NOTEmergency independent adjusters and apprentice independent adjusters

Business Entity FingerprintsOfficers, directors and any owner of 51% or more of voting securities

CE Hours24 biennially, of which 3 in ethics

CE Named SubrequirementsEthics only — no flood, no NFIP, no other topic requirement

CE Classroom HourAt least 50 minutes; no more than 10 minutes of any 60 for breaks

CE Carry-overNone, per the Department; neither statute nor rule addresses it

CE Course RepetitionNo credit for the same approved course twice in a reporting period

CE — Dual Licensees24 hours total; producer-approved courses count for the adjuster requirement

CE ExemptionsFirst partial term; reciprocating nonresidents; approved equivalent certifications

Renewal ConventionBiennial, birth month AND birth-year parity (odd year born, odd year expiry)

Initial License GraceAn initial license does not expire within its first 75 days

Lapse30-day grace at 1.5x retroactive; then 2x not retroactive; after 12 months, reapply and re-examine

Apprentice Term12 months maximum, nonrenewable, ONCE IN A LIFETIME

Apprentice SupervisionNo more than five active apprentices per licensed adjuster

Apprentice CompensationSalaried or hourly ONLY — no commission, no per-claim fee

Apprentice AuthorityMay participate; may not make the final determination on a claim

Apprentice TerritoryMay adjust claims only in Alabama

Staff AdjustersEXEMPT — § 27-9A-3(b)(2), a salaried employee of an insurer

Life and Health ClaimsOutside the license entirely — § 27-9A-3(a) and (b)(11)

Record RetentionNO statutory period — whatever the adjuster-insurer contract specifies (§ 27-9A-14)

Insurer Claim File RetentionCurrent year plus five preceding years (Rule 482-1-125-.04)

Reporting Administrative ActionsWithin 30 days of final disposition (§ 27-9A-16)

Reporting Criminal ActionsWithin 30 days of the initial pretrial hearing date (§ 27-9A-16)

Grounds for Discipline13, at § 27-9A-12 — including cheating on a licensing examination

Unfair Claims Statute§ 27-12-24 — HAS a general business practice element

Unfair Claims RegulationAla. Admin. Code ch. 482-1-125 — has NO frequency element

Private Right of ActionNone. Enforcement is Commissioner-only, injunctions through the Attorney General

Regulation as EvidenceINADMISSIBLE for any purpose in any civil or criminal proceeding (Rule .02)

Day ConventionCALENDAR days — Rule 482-1-125-.03(c)

Acknowledge a Claim15 days, unless payment is made within that period

Respond to a Department Inquiry10 WORKING days — the only business-day clock in the rule

Provide Claim Forms15 days from notification

Answer Other Written Communications15 days

Accept or Deny30 days from properly executed proofs of loss, or the policy's period

Status LettersEvery 45 days from initial notification while investigation is incomplete

Tender Payment30 days after liability accepted, amount agreed and documents received

Limitations WarningAbout 45 calendar days before expiry, to an unrepresented first-party claimant

Written DenialNot required unless the claimant asks; then 'within a reasonable time'

Denial ContentMust reference the specific policy provision, condition or exclusion relied on

Claims Rule Carve-outsWorkers' compensation, fidelity, suretyship, boiler and machinery

Litigation Suspends the ClocksYes — the notification guidelines stop applying once a claim is in litigation

PolygraphBarred unless authorized by the policy and state law (Rule .07(8))

Bad Faith — Current AuthorityBrechbill, Docket 1111117 (Ala. 27 Sept. 2013) — ONE tort, four elements

Bad Faith — ElementsContract and breach; intentional refusal; absence of an arguable reason; actual knowledge

Bad Faith — Fifth ElementIntentional failure to determine whether an arguable reason exists

Third-Party ClaimantCannot sue for bad faith directly

Failure to SettleRecognized — but the plaintiff is the INSURED, not the claimant

Judgment Creditor Route§ 27-23-2 — reach the insurance money if unsatisfied 30 days after judgment

Adjuster Personal LiabilityUnresolved. No holding either way on fraud or outrage; bad faith blocked by element one

Negligent Claims HandlingDoes not exist in Alabama against anyone

Bad Faith LimitationsTwo years (§ 6-2-38)

Contract LimitationsSix years (§ 6-2-34)

Punitive StandardClear and convincing evidence of oppression, fraud, wantonness or malice (§ 6-11-20)

Punitive Cap — General3x compensatory or $500,000, whichever is greater (statutory base, CPI-adjusted)

Punitive Cap — Physical Injury3x compensatory or $1,500,000, whichever is greater (statutory base)

Punitive Cap — Small Business$50,000 or 10% of net worth; small business is net worth of $2,000,000 or less

Punitive Cap — Insurer ExceptionNONE. Bad-faith awards fall under the general cap

Punitive Cap — JuryMay neither be instructed nor informed of the caps (§ 6-11-21(g))

Negligence RulePURE CONTRIBUTORY — a complete bar. Judge-made, not statutory

Seat BeltNon-use is not contributory negligence and 'shall not limit the liability of an insurer'

Auto Minimums25/50/25 (§ 32-7-6(c))

No-Fault / PIPNone. Alabama is a pure tort state

UM CoverageMandatory offer; the named insured may reject

UM RejectionThe WRITING requirement attaches to adding coverage back on renewal, not to rejecting

UIMNot separate — folded into the uninsured motor vehicle definition at § 32-7-23(b)(4)

UIM MeasureDamages-based: available limits compared to damages legally entitled to recover

StackingPermitted, capped at primary plus not more than two additional coverages

Inter-policy StackingExpressly reserved by the Supreme Court and not decided

Total Loss Threshold75% of pre-damage fair retail value — but only on the insurer-payment branch

Salvage — Other BranchFrame or engine removed and not immediately replaced — no percentage at all

Theft Total LossA theft payout is a total loss regardless of percentage

Minor Theft/Vandalism DamageExpressly NOT a total loss (§ 32-8-87(d)(2))

Salvage Title Deadline72 hours after the total loss or salvage occurs

Acquired Damaged Vehicle30 days after ownership is acquired

Auto Total Loss SettlementComparable replacement, cash on a comparable vehicle, or a documented deviation

Salvage DeductionsMust be 'measurable, discernible, itemized and specified as to dollar amount'

BettermentAllowed only for a measurable decrease in market value AND overall condition for age

Crash PartsMust comply with § 32-17A-1 et seq.

First-Party Diminished ValueNot recoverable — Pritchett, Docket 2000850 (Ala. Civ. App. 22 Feb. 2002)

Third-Party Diminished ValueNo Alabama appellate authority located

Standard Fire PolicyNONE. Alabama is a file-and-approve state (§§ 27-14-8 and 27-14-9)

Valued Policy LawNONE — proved by enumerating Title 27's chapters and ch. 14 and ch. 22 section lists

Matching RuleNONE. The nearest provision is a consequential-damage rule at Rule 482-1-125-.09(1)

Actual Cash ValueReplacement cost at time of loss less depreciation (Rule 482-1-125-.09(2))

Depreciation WorksheetsMust be provided to the insured on request

Depreciation of LaborNo authority in either direction

Property Suit LimitationNo statutory floor located; the general contract period is six years

Coverage Restriction Notice150 days to the Commissioner, 120 days to the named insured (Reg 482-1-136)

Cancellation Notice CaveatReg 482-1-136 is a book-of-business PROPERTY rule and does not reach personal auto

Disaster Mediation Threshold$500 (Regulation 482-1-135)

Disaster Mediation Fee$350 paid by the insurer; $175 for late cancellation

Disaster Mediation Trigger21 days from the mediation notice with the claim unresolved

Guaranty Cap — Per Claim$300,000 or the policy limits, whichever is less

Guaranty Cap — Unearned Premium$10,000 per policy

Guaranty — Workers' CompensationTHE FULL AMOUNT of a covered claim

Guaranty Claimant DeductibleNONE — Alabama does not have the NAIC $100 deductible

Guaranty Single-Claim RuleAll claims related to bodily injury or death to any one person are ONE claim

Guaranty Trigger DateInsolvency after 1 January 1981 (§ 27-42-5(7))

Fraud WarningMandatory, on at least one of six document types; substantially similar wording allowed

Missing Fraud WarningNot a defense in any prosecution for insurance fraud

Fraud Reporting — InsurersMandatory, in the manner prescribed by the Department; NO deadline stated

Fraud Reporting — OthersPermissive

Fraud Reporting ImmunityYes, for the act of reporting; lost for statements made with actual malice

Insurance Fraud UnitFull law enforcement powers including warrantless arrest on probable cause

Workers' Comp CredentialA line of authority, not a separate license

Comp Maximum$1,219.00 per week for injuries on and after 1 July 2026

Comp Minimum$335.00 per week for injuries on and after 1 July 2026

Comp State Average Weekly Wage$1,219.14 for calendar year 2025

Comp Rate Period1 July 2026 through 30 June 2027, keyed to DATE OF INJURY

Comp PPD Cap$220 per week — flat, unindexed, and unchanged by the annual adjustment

Comp Waiting PeriodThree days; retroactive if disability lasts as much as 21 days

Comp Late Payment Penalty15% of any installment unpaid without good cause for 30 days

Comp NoticeFive days (excusable) and ninety days (absolute)

Comp LimitationsTwo years; runs from the LAST compensation payment where payments were made

Comp Medical LimitationsNone

Comp Duration CapsDeath 500 weeks; PPD 300 weeks; TTD and PTD unlimited; TPD 300 weeks

Comp Physician ChoiceThe EMPLOYER selects; a panel of four on dissatisfaction

Comp Employer ThresholdGenerally five or more employees

Comp Death Benefit50% for one dependent; 66 2/3% for two or more

Comp No-Dependent Payment$7,500 lump sum to the estate within 60 days

Comp BurialUp to $6,500

Comp Attorney FeesCapped at 15% of compensation awarded or paid

Comp Bad FaithChannelled by exclusivity; narrow tort-of-outrage escape (Garvin v. Shewbart)

Fortified DiscountMandatory to provide, but the amount is set by actuarially justified filings

Fortified Roof EndorsementMust be OFFERED when covered damage requires roof replacement (§ 27-31D-2.1)

Beach AreaGulf front, beach and seacoast areas of Baldwin and Mobile Counties

LegislatureMeets EVERY year; 2026 convened 13 January and adjourned 9 April

Sections-Affected TableAlabama publishes none — currency is readable only off terminal history lines

Citator NoteNo citator pass was possible; free citators are blocked to automated access

Official Links

Alabama Department of Insurance — Adjuster Requirements→ALDOI — Licensing home→ALDOI — Licensing FAQs→ALDOI — Examination sites and vendor registration→ALDOI — Fingerprinting→ALDOI — Regulations index→ALDOI — Bulletins→ALDOI — Insurance Fraud Unit→Regulation 482-1-151 — Independent Adjusters→Regulation 482-1-125 — Standards for Property/Casualty Insurance Claims→Alabama Administrative Code (official publisher)→Alabama Legislature — ALISON→The University of Alabama — insurance testing→Alabama Department of Workforce — Workers' Compensation→

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