The Maine Personal Lines Producer License
24-A M.R.S. §1420-F(1)(F) defines Personal lines as "property and casualty insurance coverage sold to individuals and families." It is a full line of authority in Maine's statutory list, sitting alongside Property at (C) and Casualty at (D) rather than being carved out of them - and the definition is written by purpose, not by product. That is the point to hold on to: Personal Lines is a narrower authority, not an easier version of Property and Casualty.
What that means in practice is that a Personal Lines licensee can write a homeowners policy, a personal auto policy, a dwelling fire policy on a home and a personal umbrella - and cannot write the same building once it becomes a commercial risk. If your book will only ever be individuals and families, this is the shorter route in. If there is any chance of a contractor's general liability or a small business owner's package, take the full Property and Casualty authority instead, because you will otherwise be back at Pearson VUE.
Maine requires no pre-licensing course and does not fingerprint producer applicants. The order is exam first, application second, under 24-A M.R.S. §1410(1).
This guide owns the results, retakes and score-validity walkthrough for Maine. The other six line guides point back here.
Personal Lines, or the Full Property and Casualty Authority
The Personal Lines paper carries 100 scored questions: a 75-item General Knowledge part with 5 pretest items, and a 25-item Maine Laws and Rules part with 5 pretest items, which the content outline splits into 20 items common to property and casualty and 5 pertinent to personal lines.
That 75-item general part is the largest of any Maine paper. Life, Accident and Health, Property and Casualty all run 50-item general parts; only Personal Lines runs 75. The reason is structural rather than punitive - a Personal Lines paper has to cover both first-party property and third-party liability in one general section, where a Property candidate and a Casualty candidate each sit 50 items on half of it.
So the honest comparison, if you are choosing, is not "one exam or two." It is: Personal Lines is 100 scored questions and a narrower licence, while the combined Property and Casualty paper is 140 scored questions and an authority that never runs out. Forty more questions, one appointment either way, and no second trip to Bangor or Westbrook later.
Both are two-part examinations - General Knowledge, then Maine Laws and Rules - and 24-A M.R.S. §1410(6) lets you resit only the part you failed. The Results section below sets out how that works and what it costs, because Maine's answer to the second question is less generous than its answer to the first.
Passing is a scaled 70, not seventy per cent. The Results section below explains what the scale is doing and why a 68 does not mean you missed thirty-two per cent of the questions.
Counts come from content outlines #122006 (2 February 2026). Times do not appear in the outlines at all, and the handbook defers them to its own back cover - which does not survive text extraction from the published PDF. Get the time allowance from Pearson VUE on (800) 274-4959 rather than from a third-party site.
Most Tested Topics on the Maine Personal Lines Exam
Maine's cancellation law is the heart of the Personal Lines state section, and the thing to understand before any individual number is that Maine runs two separate cancellation control acts - one for personal property and one for automobile - plus a third regime at §3007 for everything commercial. Same subject, three sets of numbers. From the TESTivity Maine regulations curriculum, statute-verified:
| Concept | The Maine rule |
|---|---|
| Scope, Property Insurance Cancellation Control Act | Narrower than "homeowners." It reaches loss of or damage to real property "used solely for residential purposes," consisting of "not more than 4 apartments," and "owner-occupied"; the personal property of residents of such properties; and the personal liability of a natural person. Automobile, workers' compensation, commercial and industrial risks are all outside it (24-A M.R.S. §3048) |
| Cancellation notice, personal property | "A notice of cancellation of a policy is not effective unless received by the named insured at least 20 days prior to the effective date of cancellation" - and "when the cancellation is for nonpayment of premium, at least 10 days." Like notice must go to any mortgagee named on the policy (§3050) |
| Mailing presumption, personal property | A postal certificate of mailing "is conclusive proof of receipt on the 5th calendar day after mailing" (§3050) - and note the contrast with commercial property at §3007, where receipt is presumed on the 3rd calendar day |
| Reason and hearing right, personal property | For a policy in effect 90 days or more, the reason for cancellation must accompany the notice, together with notice of the right to apply for a hearing before the Superintendent within 30 days (§3050) |
| Underwriting window, personal property | 90 days, with a narrow 120-day exception that is usually misquoted. §3049 does not apply to coverage in effect "less than 90 days at the time notice of cancellation is received by the named insured, or 120 days in the case of residential property that is expected to be continuously unoccupied for 3 months in any 12-month period and that is other than the insured's primary residence, unless it is a renewal policy." So an ordinary owner-occupied homeowners policy gets 90 days; the 120 belongs to the camp, not the house |
| Enumerated cancellation reasons, personal property | Eleven grounds, three of them distinctively Maine: a trampoline on the premises and a non-compliant swimming pool (each cancellable 30 days after notice), and a dog bite loss (unless the insured removes the dog after notice). The rest are nonpayment; conviction of a crime increasing the hazard; fraud or material misrepresentation; negligent acts, omissions or failure to disclose material facts; violation of the policy's terms or conditions (ground 4-A, and easy to miss); physical changes rendering the property uninsurable; vacancy without custodial care; and failure to comply with loss-control recommendations within 90 days (§3049) |
| Nonrenewal notice, personal property | "A notice of intention not to renew is not effective unless received by the named insured at least 30 days prior to the expiration date," and the insurer must state a specific reason relating to insurability - "underwriting reasons" and "loss record" are expressly insufficient (§3051). Read §3049 and §3051 together rather than apart: §3049 says in terms that it "shall not apply to the nonrenewal of a policy," yet §3051 makes those same grounds available as nonrenewal reasons alongside any good-faith reason related to insurability - and §3049's dog-bite ground refers on its face to "notice of cancellation or nonrenewal" |
| Cancellation notice, personal auto | Also 20 days, and 10 days for nonpayment, with receipt likewise conclusive on the 5th calendar day after mailing - but the reason and hearing notice attach at 60 days in force rather than 90 (24-A M.R.S. §2915) |
| Permitted grounds, personal auto | Four only, after the window: nonpayment of premium; "fraud or material misrepresentation affecting the policy or the presentation of a claim"; violation of the policy's terms or conditions; and a named insured or operator whose driver's licence is suspended or revoked, with exceptions for certain first and second suspensions (§2914) |
| Underwriting window, personal auto | 60 days. §2914 "shall not apply to any policy or coverage which has been in effect less than 60 days at the time notice of cancellation is received" - half the residential property window |
| Nonrenewal, personal auto | 30 days, with specific reasons required on the same footing as property (§2917). Note exactly where the 60-day carve-out sits: §2915 excepts a policy in effect fewer than 60 days from the duty to give a reason and a hearing notice on a cancellation, while §2917 carries no such exception and §2920 gives "any named insured who has received a statement of reason" 30 days to request a hearing |
| Two prohibitions with different reach | Maine bars cancellation, nonrenewal or a change in an automobile policy because of age (§2916). On the property side §3057 reaches issuing, cancelling and renewing on the age of the dwelling - but §3058 is narrower and reaches refusal to issue only: an insurer "may not refuse to issue a property insurance policy ... for the sole reason that a previous owner of the property submitted claims for losses" |
| Credit information in personal lines | Permitted but fenced. An insurer may not use race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, income, address, ZIP code or marital status in a credit-based score; may not decline, cancel, nonrenew or set a renewal rate solely on credit; and must use a credit report no more than 90 days old (§2169-B) |
Learn the windows as a set, and read §3049's sentence to its end - this is where most material on Maine goes wrong. Personal property gets 90 days; personal automobile gets 60 (§2914). The 120 days is real but narrow: it reaches only "residential property that is expected to be continuously unoccupied for 3 months in any 12-month period and that is other than the insured's primary residence" - a seasonal camp or a second home, not the house the insured lives in. Quote that sentence as far as the comma and you will teach yourself the wrong answer for the commonest policy on the exam.
Then the mailing presumptions, which are the cleanest trap Maine sets. Personal property under §3050 presumes receipt on the 5th calendar day after mailing. Personal auto under §2915 does the same - 5th day. Commercial property under §3007 presumes receipt on the 3rd calendar day. Three regimes, two numbers, and the odd one out is the commercial one. Note also what the presumption is doing: Maine's notice periods run from receipt, not from mailing, so the certificate of mailing is the device that lets an insurer prove when the clock started.
The specific-reason rule is worth more marks than it looks. Both §3051 and §2917 require an explicit reason on a nonrenewal, and both expressly reject the two phrases an insurer would most like to use - "underwriting reasons" and "loss record." That is not boilerplate; it is a drafting choice, and it gives the policyholder something concrete to take to a hearing.
Finally, the trampoline, swimming pool and dog bite grounds. They read like trivia, and they are exactly the kind of state-specific item a Maine paper reaches for. All three carry a cure - remove the trampoline, bring the pool into compliance, remove the dog - but only the first two carry a 30-day clock; the dog-bite ground says simply "unless, after notice of cancellation or nonrenewal is received, the insured removes the dog." So "the insurer may cancel immediately" is rarely the right answer on any of them.
Your Score, Your Retake, and the Two-Year Clock
You find out at the test centre. Maine's examination "will end automatically after the examination time has expired, and candidates will leave the test center with their official score report in hand." A pass comes with information on how to apply for the licence. A fail comes with "a numeric score and diagnostic information as well as information about reexamination" - so a failed Maine exam tells you which content areas cost you the marks, which is the most useful thing about it.
Passing is a scaled 70, and the number is not a percentage of the paper. The handbook is explicit about it: the reported score is "neither the number of questions you answered correctly nor the percentage of questions you answered correctly."
What the scaled score actually means. The handbook explains the mechanism rather than hiding it: "Raw scores are converted into scaled scores that can range from zero to 100 ... With a passing score of 70, any score below 70 indicates how close the candidate came to passing, rather than the actual number or percentage of questions the candidates answered correctly." Scaling exists because "there are multiple versions of each of the licensing examinations" and equating is used "to correct for differences in form difficulty." A 68 does not mean you missed 32% of the questions; it means you fell short on a common scale.
The retake rule is Maine's most distinctive scoring feature, and it cuts both ways. 24-A M.R.S. §1410(6): "An individual who fails one part of a 2-part examination must pay the full examination fee but need only be examined on the part of the examination that the individual failed." So a candidate who passes General Knowledge and fails Maine Laws and Rules resits 25 or 38 or 40 questions rather than the whole paper - and pays as though sitting the whole paper. The same subsection adds the general rule: "An individual who fails the examination must remit the required fees before being rescheduled."
When you may rebook. "Reservations for reexamination are not made at the test center. Candidates must wait one day before scheduling a reexamination." Then the ordinary booking rule applies - at least 24 hours before the date you want, online or on (800) 274-4959, with no walk-ins. In practice a Tuesday failure can be back in a chair on Thursday, subject to seat availability at Bangor or Westbrook.
Is there a limit on attempts? No published Maine source states one. We checked handbook #122000, §1410, §1420-D and the Bureau's licensing pages, and none of them contains an attempt cap or a lockout period - but no source affirmatively says Maine has none either, so treat it as unstated rather than as a guarantee. If it matters to you, Bureau licensing is on (207) 624-8475.
Your score has a shelf life, and it is written into the statute rather than into Pearson VUE's business rules. 24-A M.R.S. §1410(6): "An individual who does not apply for a license within 2 years after passing one part or all of an examination must register and pay the fee for a subsequent examination." NIPR states the same rule in plainer words on its Maine page - "Insurance exam scores in Maine are valid for 2 Years" - and the clock runs from the earlier of the two parts, not from the day you finished.
That two-year rule is the single most under-published fact in the Maine programme, and it is worth being precise about why. It is statutory, not a Pearson VUE business rule. It appears nowhere in the candidate handbook, so a candidate who reads only the handbook - which is exactly what candidates are told to do - will never encounter it. And it starts on the first part you pass, not on the day you complete the exam. NIPR states the same rule in plainer words on its Maine page: "Insurance exam scores in Maine are valid for 2 Years."
Getting your score again later. "To obtain your score report, log in to your Pearson VUE account." For test-centre exams taken before 14 May 2021, call Pearson VUE customer service. There is no route to reviewing the examination itself: "For security reasons, examination material is not available to candidates for review."
One thing Pearson VUE can do and one thing it cannot. It retains the right to review the validity of any score it believes may have been obtained unfairly - but where it finds sufficient cause it "will refer the matter to the Maine Bureau of Insurance, which will make the final decision on whether or not to cancel the score." The vendor investigates; the regulator decides. Note that improperly using reference materials during a licence examination is an independent ground for licence denial or revocation under §1420-K(1)(K), and it survives the licence being issued.
What the Maine Personal Lines License Costs
$25 to the Bureau - $15 application plus a $10 licence fee - and the Pearson VUE examination fee. No pre-licensing course, no fingerprint appointment.
The examination fee is the one number Maine does not publish. Handbook #122000 carries no dollar amount anywhere in it; the Bureau's fee schedule covers licence fees only. Pearson VUE quotes it at reservation.
The cost worth thinking about is not the fee, it is the second exam. Because the Bureau charges $25 per licence rather than per line, upgrading from Personal Lines to the full Property and Casualty authority later costs you an amendment fee to the Bureau and - far more significantly - another examination fee and another 140 scored questions. Choosing Personal Lines saves 40 questions today and costs a whole additional paper if your book changes.
Nothing recurring. An individual resident producer pays no Maine renewal fee at all, and needs no carrier appointment to keep the licence. What continuation costs is 24 credit hours every two years.
Eligibility Requirements
24-A M.R.S. §1420-E is the whole gate: 18 or older, no conduct that is a ground under §1420-K, fees paid, and the examination passed for the line applied for. Maine asks for no sponsor and no experience.
No Personal Lines credit flows from Property and Casualty, and none is needed. The fuller authority already reaches personal risks, because Maine defines Personal lines by the buyer - "property and casualty insurance coverage sold to individuals and families" - rather than by the product. The traffic only runs one way: a Personal Lines licensee who wants to write a commercial risk must sit the Property and Casualty paper.
No pre-licensing course. Maine repealed the requirement in 2007 and asks for none today, though an unconformed fragment of the old rule survives in Rule ch. 542; the Life guide walks that. Study the content outlines and book the exam.
If 18 is the problem, or the exam is, Maine has two temporary routes and neither is a shortcut for an ordinary applicant. The apprentice insurance producer licence at §1420-Q lets a sponsored employee write property and casualty risks within the sponsor's authority for up to 180 days without an examination - but it excludes life, annuities, long-term care and federal ACA activity, and a sponsor may hold no more than two active apprentices a year. The temporary licence at §1420-J is a hardship instrument for a death, disability or military call-up. The Life and Health guide covers both in detail.
One duty that starts on day one and is easy to miss: §1419 gives you 30 days to report a change of address, telephone number, e-mail address or name, any criminal conviction other than a traffic violation, and any administrative or disciplinary action - and, separately, 30 days from the initial pretrial hearing date to report a pending criminal prosecution.
Keeping the Maine Personal Lines License
Important CE details: 24 hours per biennium including 3 ethics. Classroom credit runs one hour per 50 minutes of instruction with attendance verified by the instructor; home study is capped at 16 hours unless the course ends in a proctored closed-book examination. Four subject areas earn no credit at all: technical office skills; motivation, psychology, sales promotion, time or stress management or communications; office management, customer service or running the student's own business where the course is general in focus; and courses that primarily teach one company's products.
24 credit hours every two years, including 3 ethics hours. The compliance date is the last day of your birth month, in odd years if you were born in an odd-numbered year and even years if you were born in an even one. Personal Lines carries no product-specific training requirement.
Your first cycle is probably free. Rule ch. 542 §4 waives the requirement "for individuals who receive their license less than one year before their first compliance date," and the Bureau states the principle plainly: "a minimum of one year must be given for the first biennium." So a producer licensed in September whose birth month is the following March owes nothing at that first March - the obligation moves to the next cycle, two years out.
You do not report your own credits. The obligation runs the other way: "It is the responsibility of the provider who offered the course to report the course completion to the Bureau within 30 days." Rule ch. 542 §7 requires the vendor to certify each session to the Superintendent within 30 days of completion, to keep session records for at least four years, and to give each student a signed certificate showing the credit hours earned along with the student's name and licence number. Keep that certificate; it is your evidence if a roster goes astray.
Nothing banks and nothing repeats. Surplus hours are lost at the compliance date - "any continuing education credits earned in addition of the required 24 credit hours per biennium, will not be carried over to the next biennium" - and credits taken to cure a deficiency in the previous biennium do not also count toward the current one. A course may be retaken for credit only in a different biennium; "the same course cannot be taken within the current biennium."
Watch your email address more than your calendar. The Bureau sends a courtesy reminder roughly six months before the deadline, and it moved that notice to email - so a stale address on file is the most common way a licence with no expiration date quietly stops being one. §1419 makes a change of e-mail address a reportable change within 30 days for exactly this kind of reason.
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