What This License Is
A Colorado Property line of authority covers insurance against loss of or damage to real and personal property — homeowners, dwelling fire, commercial property, inland marine and the property half of a package policy.
Colorado splits Property and Casualty into genuinely separate lines with separate 50-hour courses and separate exams. There is no combined P&C exam here. That makes Property-only a real path rather than a technicality, and it is the right one if you will write property risks and nothing that turns on liability.
The third option is Personal Lines, which covers property and casualty but only as sold to individuals and families for non-commercial purposes. One useful wrinkle: the Division's candidate handbook exempts producers who already hold Property and Casualty from the Personal Lines pre-licensing training — though not from the Personal Lines exam. In practice a full P&C licence already lets you write personal-lines business, so the separate line is rarely worth adding.
Exam Options & Format
Colorado's Property exam is a single Pearson VUE sitting with two sections: 50 scored General Knowledge questions and 25 scored Colorado-specific ones, plus ten unscored pretest items — 85 items for 75 scored. It is the shortest of Colorado's producer exams.
The score is scaled and the cut score is unpublished. Raw scores convert to a scale of 0 to 100, and the handbook states that what you see "is neither the number of questions you answered correctly nor the percentage of questions you answered correctly." No number appears in the handbook, the content outlines, DOI's pages, or 3 CCR 702-1. Numeric scores are reported only to candidates who fail. There is no published time limit either — "the time allotted for each examination varies" — and Colorado publishes no exam series or code numbers.
If full P&C authority is the goal, plan for two courses, two exams and two application lines: Casualty is 81 scored questions across 91 items, at another $41 and another $44.
Most Tested Topics on the Colorado Property Exam
Twenty-five scored questions are Colorado-specific, and Colorado's property law has changed more in the last four years than most states' has in twenty. Wildfire legislation from 2022 through 2026 rewrote the homeowners statute, and a FAIR Plan that did not exist in 2023 is now writing policies. Every row below is verified against the cited statute or regulation:
| Concept | The Colorado rule |
|---|---|
| Homeowners cancellation and nonrenewal notice | 60 days, by first-class mail to the last address in the insurer's records, and the notice must specifically state the reasons — twice the auto period. Nonpayment drops it to 10 days, still with reasons (§ 10-4-110.7(3)) |
| Grounds for cancelling a homeowners policy | None are enumerated. Unlike auto, § 10-4-110.7 sets out no closed list of permitted reasons — the discipline is the 60-day notice and the stated reason. There is one early window, narrower than auto's: § 10-4-110.7(5) gives the insurer 30 business days from the effective date of conditional coverage to evaluate issuing the policy, extendable on an articulable and reasonable basis |
| Wildfire coverage offers | Extended replacement cost of at least 50% of the dwelling limit, and law and ordinance coverage of at least 20%, must be offered. From January 1, 2025 the declarations page must show, in bold twelve-point type, whether the consumer bought or rejected each (§ 10-4-110.8(6)(a)) |
| Additional living expense | 12 months minimum as standard, with a 24-month option that must be offered. For a total loss from a wildfire in a declared disaster: 24 months minimum plus two optional 6-month extensions, with 36 months to submit reconstruction receipts and ALE paid within 20 days of documentation (§ 10-4-110.8(6)(b), (13)) |
| Contents without an itemised inventory | 30% of the contents coverage limit as standard, rising to 65% for a wildfire-disaster total loss; the policyholder has 365 days to submit an inventory (§ 10-4-110.8(11)(a), (14)(a), (11)(c)(I)) |
| Rebuilding somewhere else | Choosing to rebuild in a new location cannot be grounds to deny building-code-upgrade cost (§ 10-4-110.8(13)(a)) |
| Wildfire risk scores | Effective July 1, 2026, an insurer using a wildfire risk model must file it, offer mitigation discounts, send an annual written wildfire risk score, and decide an appeal of that score within 30 calendar days (§ 10-4-124) |
| Refusing fire coverage by location | Prohibited. An insurer may not refuse to issue a fire policy based on zip code, county, or distance from any wildfire — unless the property sits in an immediately threatened area (3 CCR 702-5, Reg 5-1-17) |
| The FAIR Plan | The Colorado FAIR Plan Association, created by HB23-1288 and operational since April 10, 2025 (residential) and June 17, 2025 (commercial). Eligibility needs proof that three different insurers declined. Limits $750,000 residential, $5,000,000 commercial, written at actual cash value with no liability coverage |
| Standard fire policy and appraisal | Colorado has neither. It adopts no standard fire policy form and mandates no appraisal clause — a 2026 bill that would have required a binding appraisal process was postponed indefinitely in committee |
| Rate regulation | Open competition (Type II) for fire, casualty, inland marine and the rest. The enumerated prior-approval (Type I) kinds are workers' compensation pure premium rates filed by a rating organization and assigned-risk motor vehicle insurance — plus anything the Commissioner separately orders classified as Type I (§ 10-4-401(3)) |
| Credit information | Permitted with disclosure. Any adverse action triggers the federal FCRA notice, including the consumer's right to a free credit report for 60 days (§ 10-4-616 — note it sits in Part 6, the automobile part) |
The wildfire package is where Colorado's property exam earns its keep, and the numbers reward precise memory rather than a general sense of the topic. The pattern to hold onto is that almost every figure has a standard version and a wildfire-disaster version: ALE is twelve months normally and twenty-four after a declared wildfire disaster; contents without inventory is thirty percent normally and sixty-five after one. Learn them in pairs and the questions become much easier.
The two most useful negative facts are the ones national material will never tell you. Colorado has no standard fire policy — the 165-line form that anchors property questions in many states simply is not adopted here, and the only fire-specific sections in Article 4 concern federally declared disaster areas and FAIR Plan qualification. And Colorado mandates no appraisal clause. That second one is not guesswork from silence: HB26-1247 would have required homeowners policies issued or renewed after January 1, 2027 to carry a binding appraisal process for disputes over the amount, cause and scope of loss, and the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee postponed it indefinitely on a 9–4 vote in March 2026. A legislature that has to introduce a bill to create a requirement — and then kills it — has told you the requirement does not exist.
Colorado Test Centers, Scheduling and the End of Online Testing
Colorado changed how its insurance exams are delivered at the start of 2026, and this is the single most out-of-date fact on competing sites. You can no longer test online.
What happened. The Division of Insurance announced that it "will cease accepting new registrations for online insurance licensing examinations as of December 15, 2025," and that candidates already registered could sit "if the examination is scheduled to be administered on or prior to January 6, 2026." The Division's stated reasoning was that, "After a program review, Colorado, like many other states, decided to stop offering online licensing examinations." The notice sets no sunset and names no review date, and it reverses the Division's own 2020 decision to allow online delivery — but it does not call itself permanent and carries no publication date, so treat it as the Division's current position rather than a settled one.
Why you may still see the opposite. The July 2026 candidate handbook contains a surviving sentence saying candidates "have the option to register to take their exams online or at a physical Pearson VUE testing location." Treat that as vestigial boilerplate. Three things contradict it: the DOI's notice; Pearson VUE's Colorado insurance program page, which offers only "Find a test center" and "Find a test center on a military base"; and the handbook's own fee table, which prints a single $41 examination fee — the test-center price — with no separate online line, and carries no remote-proctoring section, system requirements or online check-in procedure at all.
Where you test. The Division states Colorado has 37 physical testing centers located throughout the state. The candidate handbook does not print their addresses, and neither does Pearson VUE's Colorado insurance page: the handbook says only that "candidates should contact Pearson VUE to confirm specific locations and examination schedules." Nobody publishes a Colorado insurance test-center table, so treat any site that shows you one as guessing. You find your centre through the scheduling flow itself, which lists available sites and times against your postcode, and military-base testing is offered as a separate search.
How to book. Two channels, both official: online at pearsonvue.com/us/en/co/insurance.html, or by phone on (800) 274-2616, staffed Monday to Friday 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mountain Time. The handbook asks you to book online at least 24 hours before the date you want. You will need your pre-licensing training school code at the moment of booking — your provider reports your completion to Pearson VUE, but the reservation system still asks you for the code, and people are regularly stopped at this screen.
Paying. The $41 fee is due when you reserve, by credit card, debit card or voucher. The handbook is explicit that fees "will not be accepted at the test center" and that they are "non-refundable and non-transferable."
Changing or cancelling. Call (800) 274-2616 at least 48 hours before your appointment. Do that and the fee transfers to a new reservation or is refunded. Miss the window — or simply not turn up — and you forfeit it and are not admitted. The exception is a genuine excused absence: illness of the candidate or an immediate family member, a death in the immediate family, a disabling traffic accident, a court appearance or jury duty, military duty, or a weather emergency. Written verification and supporting documentation must reach Pearson VUE within 14 days of the original examination date.
Retaking. If you fail, you must wait 24 hours before making a new reservation, and — a detail that catches people out — "reservations for reexamination cannot be made at the test center." You leave, wait a day, and book through the normal channels. Each attempt is another $41. Colorado publishes no limit on the number of attempts.
On the day. Report at least 30 minutes before your examination to complete registration, and bring two current forms of signature identification — the primary must be government-issued with a photograph, and the name on it must match your reservation exactly. Nothing goes into the testing room with you: the handbook's list runs "cellular phones, hand-held computers or other electronic devices, pagers, watches, wallets, purses, firearms or other weapons, hats, bags, coats, books, and/or notes." Your score report is handed to you before you leave. The Life & Health guide covers exam-day procedure in full.
What It Costs
$41 to Pearson VUE for the exam, $44 to the Division for the Property line of authority, and nothing for fingerprints — Colorado takes none from resident producers. That is about $85 in state fees on a first-time pass.
The 50-hour pre-licensing course is a separate private cost and is by far the largest item. If you intend to add Casualty, price both courses now: Colorado will not let you top up from Property to full P&C, so it is two complete 50-hour cycles.
Continuation later is $27 per line of authority, every other year.
Eligibility Requirements
You must be at least 18, be a Colorado resident, complete the 50-hour Property pre-licensing course with a Division-approved provider, pass the examination, and apply with the $44 fee inside both one-year clocks — course to exam, exam to application (C.R.S. § 10-2-404).
CPCU waives the Property examination except the Colorado property, casualty and health law portion (§ 10-2-403). The Colorado law portion is never waived. Separately — a different list doing a different job — the candidate handbook exempts holders of AAI, ARM, CIC or CPCU from property and casualty pre-licensing training. CIC gets you out of coursework, not out of an exam.
Colorado does not fingerprint resident producers, so the application's background questions carry the whole weight of the background review — the Accident & Health guide covers how to answer them and what to attach.
Keeping Your License Active
Important CE details: 24 hours every two years including 3 hours of ethics. Property producers carry a second Colorado-specific mandate: 3 of the 24 hours must cover homeowner's insurance coverage.
Your Colorado licence is perpetual. It continues on a $27 per line fee due by the last day of your birth month in the second year after issuance and every other year thereafter.
CE is 24 hours every two years, including 3 hours of ethics counted inside the 24. Property producers carry one extra Colorado mandate that most states have no equivalent for: 3 of your 24 hours must be on homeowner's insurance coverage, required of everyone licensed to sell property or personal lines (3 CCR 702-1, Reg 1-2-4 §5.A). It sits inside the 24, not on top — so a property producer's 24 hours are effectively 3 ethics, 3 homeowners and 18 free.
Up to 12 hours may carry into the next cycle, but only hours earned in the 120 days before your continuation date. The Property & Casualty guide owns the renewal mechanics in full.
Quick Reference
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