What This License Is
The Michigan Casualty line of authority sits at MCL 500.1206(1)(d) — insurance against legal liability for injury to people or damage to their property. In practice: auto liability and the whole no-fault apparatus, general and products liability, professional liability, umbrella and excess, and commercial crime.
Michigan is a competitive workers' compensation market, unlike its neighbour Ohio. MCL 418.611 gives an employer five ways to comply — a licensed carrier, the assigned-risk pool, a self-insured group fund, individual self-insurance, or filing exclusion form WC-337 where every employee is excludable — so there is real commission opportunity here, and the exam tests the system accordingly.
Casualty Producer/Solicitor (16-68) is 100 questions in 2 hours on 20 hours of pre-licensing; the combined Property & Casualty (16-81) is 150 questions in 2.5 hours on 40 hours. Both $41, and the cut scores are almost identical at 74% each.
One structural point to weigh: surplus lines requires an active property AND casualty licence, so casualty alone will not get you there. The module below sets out the whole path.
Exam Options & Format
Casualty Producer/Solicitor, exam code 16-68 — 100 scored questions in 2 hours through PSI, plus 1 to 10 unscored experimental items. The cut score is 74%, specific to this exam; Michigan publishes a different standard for each of its twenty insurance examinations, each as a true percentage of scored items.
In person only — DIFS ended remote proctored examinations on 6/10/2025. The Property guide lists the seven Michigan test centers.
Michigan's order applies here as everywhere: the NIPR application comes first and expires 180 days after it reaches DIFS. The Life guide walks it.
Expect the Michigan-law content to be no-fault. That is not a guess: the Administrative Code specifies what the mandatory six-hour ethics-and-Michigan-law block of your pre-licensing course must cover, and R 500.3(2)(b)(iv) names Chapter 31 of the code, MCL 500.3101 to 500.3179 — the no-fault chapter — by section range. DIFS also notes that exam items were rewritten effective 2 July 2020 to reflect the 2019 reform. If your study material predates that reform, it is describing a system that no longer exists.
Most Tested Topics on the Michigan Casualty Exam
Michigan's casualty content is dominated by MCL Chapter 31, the no-fault act as rebuilt by 2019 PA 21, with the workers' compensation system in MCL Chapter 418 behind it. Every row is verified against the section cited:
| Concept | The Michigan rule |
|---|---|
| PIP medical coverage menu | Four levels: $50,000, $250,000, $500,000 and no limit (MCL 500.3107c(1)(a)-(d)). The $50,000 level is available only where the named insured is enrolled in Medicaid and the spouse and every resident relative have qualified health coverage, Medicaid or PIP |
| Opting out of PIP medical altogether | A separate section — MCL 500.3107d(1) — open only to a "qualified person" with Medicare Parts A and B, and only if the spouse and resident relatives have qualified health coverage or PIP |
| The qualified-health-coverage exclusion | An overlay on the $250,000 level only, not a level of its own: MCL 500.3109a(2), with a 100% PIP premium reduction where everyone in the household has qualified health coverage |
| What applies if no selection is made | Unlimited under MCL 500.3107c(4) — but read 3107c(3) first: there is a rebuttable presumption that the premium actually paid reflects the level of coverage |
| Which benefits sit OUTSIDE the medical cap | Work loss (3107(1)(b)), replacement services (3107(1)(c)) and survivor's loss (3108). Funeral and burial expenses do NOT — they are allowable expenses under 3107(1)(a)(ii), inside the capped bucket, in a policy amount of not less than $1,750 or more than $5,000 |
| Work-loss benefits | First 3 years, reduced 15% for the income-tax advantage, subject to a maximum per 30-day period that DIFS re-certifies every October — $7,201 through 30 September 2026, rising to $7,455 for 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027 (MCL 500.3107(1)(b); DIFS Bulletin 2026-20-INS, which also covers survivors' loss under MCL 500.3108) |
| Replacement services | $20 per day, first 3 years (MCL 500.3107(1)(c)) |
| Property Protection Insurance | $1,000,000 for all tangible property damage arising from one accident, paid without regard to fault, measured as the lesser of reasonable repair cost or replacement cost less depreciation plus loss of use (MCL 500.3121(2), (5)) |
| Residual bodily injury liability | Not less than $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident after 1 July 2020 — this is the minimum and the default (MCL 500.3009(1)(a)-(b), (8)) |
| Opting down | An applicant may choose lower limits, but not below $50,000 / $100,000, on a form issued by the director (MCL 500.3009(5)) |
| Property damage liability | $10,000 — unchanged by the 2019 reform (MCL 500.3009(1)(c)) |
| Provider fee schedule | 190% of Medicare for general providers after 1 July 2023, 220% for high-indigent-volume and designated rehabilitation facilities, 250% where indigent volume is 30% or more, 230% for pre-stabilization emergency care at a Level I or II trauma center (MCL 500.3157(2)-(6)) |
| Attendant care in the injured person's home | Capped at the hourly limit in the workers' compensation act — which is 56 hours per week (MCL 500.3157(10) → MCL 418.315(1)). An insurer may contract to pay more, and a capped policy must be offered an excess-attendant-care rider (3157(11); 3107c(8)) |
| Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association | Reimburses 100% of the ultimate PIP loss above the attachment point in each loss occurrence (MCL 500.3104(2)) — but since 1 July 2020 it has NO liability for a policy carrying a $50,000, $250,000 or $500,000 limit (3104(27)). The attachment point is anchored at $580,000 and adjusts biennially each 1 July of an odd-numbered year by the lesser of 6% or CPI, rounded to the nearest $5,000 (3104(2)(o)) |
| Mini-tort | Vehicle damage up to $3,000 for accidents after 1 July 2020, to the extent not covered by insurance — not indexed. No recovery by a party more than 50% at fault, and the action belongs in small claims or municipal court where possible (MCL 500.3135(3)(e), (4)) |
| Tort threshold | Death, serious impairment of body function, or permanent serious disfigurement (MCL 500.3135(1)), with the three-part serious-impairment test at 3135(5) and no temporal requirement |
| Comparative fault bar | No damages to a party more than 50% at fault (MCL 500.3135(2)(b)) — and none at all to a plaintiff who was operating his or her own uninsured vehicle (3135(2)(c)) |
| Uninsured and underinsured motorist | Not required, and there is no mandatory-offer statute. MCL 500.3101(1)-(2) requires exactly three coverages — PIP, PPI and residual liability — and nothing else |
| Overdue PIP benefits | Overdue if unpaid 30 days after reasonable proof, then 12% simple interest per annum; a bill submitted more than 90 days after the service gives the insurer 60 additional days (MCL 500.3142(2)-(4)) |
| No-fault limitations | Notice within 1 year of the accident, and the one-year-back rule limits recovery to losses incurred in the year before suit — tolled from the claim until the insurer formally denies it (MCL 500.3145) |
| Assigned claims | The plan pays PIP only up to the $250,000 level, except $2,000,000 for a claimant qualifying under 3107d(6)(c) or 3109a(2)(d)(ii) (MCL 500.3172(7)) |
| Workers' compensation — who must carry | A private employer with 1 or more employees for 35 hours or more per week for 13 weeks or longer, or 3 or more employees at one time regardless of hours (MCL 418.115) |
| Workers' compensation — wage replacement | 80% of the after-tax value of the average of the highest 39 of the last 52 weeks of gross wages, capped at 90% of the state average weekly wage — for 2026, an SAWW of $1,333.88 and a maximum of $1,201.00, after a 7-day waiting period for wage-loss benefits (none for medical) |
The single most valuable thing to understand about this exam is that the PIP menu is not a list of six options. It is four coverage levels in MCL 500.3107c, plus a separate opt-out in MCL 500.3107d for people on Medicare Parts A and B, plus an exclusion overlay in MCL 500.3109a(2) that attaches only to the $250,000 level. Candidates who flatten all of that into one menu get the eligibility conditions wrong, and the eligibility conditions are what items test — every one of the restricted options requires something about the rest of the household, not just about the named insured.
The attendant-care cap is the best example in Michigan law of a rule that has to be followed across two acts. MCL 500.3157(10) says attendant care at home is payable only up to the hourly limitation in section 315 of the worker's disability compensation act; follow the reference into MCL 418.315(1) and the number appears: 56 hours per week. The figure never appears in the Insurance Code's own text — DIFS states it directly in its bulletins, but the statute reaches it only by cross-reference. And the two provisions do not describe the same people: 3157(10) reaches anyone related to the injured person, domiciled in the household, or with a pre-injury business or social relationship, while 418.315(1) names only spouse, sibling, child and parent.
Residual liability is where a stale study guide shows itself fastest. Before the reform Michigan required 20/40; today the statute requires 250/500 and lets an applicant opt down to a floor of 50/100 on a prescribed form. Material that presents 50/100 as "the Michigan minimum" has the relationship exactly backwards, and the $10,000 property-damage figure — which did not change at all — is often swept into the same wrong sentence.
Finally, the MCCA is no longer a universal backstop. Since 1 July 2020 it reimburses only policies with unlimited PIP, and cars carrying a capped level, an opt-out or a household exclusion are outside the assessment base except for the portion recouping an earlier deficiency. Teach the mechanism — 100% of ultimate loss above an attachment point that steps biennially by the lesser of 6% or CPI from a $580,000 anchor — rather than a dollar figure, because the figure moves and published summaries go stale.
The Surplus Lines Path — and Why Casualty Alone Will Not Open It
Michigan treats surplus lines as a separate licence sitting on top of a full property-and-casualty producer licence, and the prerequisite is unforgiving: you must hold an ACTIVE property and casualty producer licence. A casualty licence alone does not qualify, and neither does property alone. If surplus lines is the goal, the combined 16-81 route or a second single-line exam is the necessary first step.
Then a second examination. The Surplus Lines Producer exam, code 16-74, is 60 items in 1 hour with a 77% cut score — higher than any of the seven main producer lines, though the three counselor examinations sit higher still at 80% and 82%. Note what is not required: surplus lines is one of the licence types with no pre-licensing education requirement, so the exam is the whole of the entry test.
What the licence costs. The application is $10 under MCL 500.240(1)(d) plus NIPR's $5; the surplus lines licence itself is $100 each year under MCL 500.240(1)(i). That annual charge is the interesting part — because an ordinary Michigan resident producer licence is perpetual and free to keep, and a surplus lines licence is neither. It is one of a small number of Michigan licence classes that genuinely renews.
Diligent effort comes first. Michigan requires a documented search of the admitted market before a risk may be exported, under MCL 500.1910(2)(d). Confirm the current form of that test with DIFS before relying on any specific number of declinations — we are not printing one here, because the section could not be read directly this cycle and a figure repeated from memory is exactly the kind of thing that ends up wrong in a study guide.
Taxes and filing — and there is no stamping office. This is the detail most likely to be wrong in competing material. Michigan has no surplus lines association and no stamping fee. Electronic reporting and payment go through the NAIC's OPTins system, paid directly to the State of Michigan, at a combined premium tax and regulatory fee of 2.5%. Two filing deadlines a year: 15 August for January-to-June business and 15 February for July-to-December.
Who you may place business with. A surplus lines licence permits the placement of insurance, other than life, with insurers not authorised to transact business in Michigan, and with an insurer designated as a domestic surplus lines insurer. The non-admitted market is where risks go that the admitted market has declined — not a shortcut around it, which is what the diligent-effort requirement exists to enforce.
For non-residents, the prerequisite is an active surplus lines licence in the home state; a non-resident who will personally perform the diligent-effort search must also hold a Michigan non-resident property and casualty line of authority.
What It Costs
$15 to apply through NIPR and $41 for the Casualty exam — about $56 on a first-time pass, with no fingerprint fee and no renewal fee afterwards.
The 20-hour pre-licensing course is the substantial private cost. AAI, ARM, CIC or CPCU, or an insurance-concentration degree, can waive the coursework — see the Life & Health guide, which owns the waiver rules.
If surplus lines is the destination, price the whole path: a second 20-hour course and $41 exam to add Property, then the $41 surplus lines exam, then $110 to get licensed — a one-time $10 application plus the $100 annual licence fee — with NIPR's $5 on top, and $100 every year thereafter. The 2.5% premium tax is charged on the business, not on you.
Eligibility Requirements
The five conditions of MCL 500.1205(1): at least 18; no act listed in MCL 500.1239(1); 20 hours of approved Casualty pre-licensing or a waiver; the fees paid; and exam 16-68 passed. No fingerprint requirement.
File through NIPR before the exam, and watch the 180-day window. The Health guide walks the background questions and the mandatory felony bars at MCL 500.1239(1)(d) and (e).
Relocating to Michigan with a casualty licence? MCL 500.1206b waives the coursework and the exam together if you apply within 90 days of establishing legal residence — the Property & Casualty guide covers that route and the three tiers DIFS operates around it.
Keeping Your License Active
Important CE details: 24 hours every two years including 3 hours of ethics, keyed to a review date on the first day of your birth month. Michigan imposes no separate no-fault training credential — the no-fault chapter is built into the mandatory 6-hour Michigan-law block of your pre-licensing course instead.
A Michigan resident producer licence is perpetual (MCL 500.1206(2)); what keeps it alive is 24 hours of CE including 3 ethics hours every two years (MCL 500.1204c(2)), due by a review date on the first day of your birth month.
There is no separate no-fault training credential in Michigan, which surprises people given how much no-fault law a casualty producer handles. The system reaches producers through pre-licensing instead: R 500.3(2)(b)(iv) puts the whole of MCL 500.3101 to 500.3179 inside the mandatory six-hour Michigan-law block.
A recent addition worth knowing: for review dates after 31 December 2025, MCL 500.1204c(14) credits up to 4 of the 24 hours for active participation in a DIFS-approved professional insurance association where you or your agency are dues-paying members in good standing. Those hours cannot cover the 3-hour ethics minimum.
The Property & Casualty guide owns the renewal machinery — carryover, the 90-day grace period, cancellation and reinstatement.
Quick Reference
Official Links
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