What This License Is
A full Property and Casualty authority covers both sides of general insurance - property damage on one line, liability on the other, personal and commercial alike. It is issued by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department as two lines on a single producer licence.
Pennsylvania gives you three structures and a genuine combined exam. Property alone (16-04) and Casualty alone (16-05) are $45 each. The combined Property & Casualty exam (16-06) is one 150-question sitting at $55. Two singles cost $90, so the combined route saves $35 and a morning while producing exactly the same licence.
The narrower alternative is Personal Lines (16-16) - one 100-question exam at $45, covering property and casualty written for individuals and families rather than businesses. The saving there is now modest: $45 against $55, with the same $55 licence fee either way. Before April 2025, when Pennsylvania still required 24 hours of pre-licensing, the narrower licence saved real classroom time; the repeal removed most of that advantage.
This pair is also the prerequisite for a surplus lines licence, which Pennsylvania treats as a separate credential with its own examination. The Property guide covers that route.
Exam Options & Format
Series 16-06: 150 scored questions in 2 hours 50 minutes at $55, plus five to ten unscored experimental items inside the same clock. Passing is a flat 70% with no scaling.
| Route | Exams | Questions | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combined (16-06) | 1 | 150 | 2 hr 50 min | $55 |
| Property (16-04) + Casualty (16-05) separately | 2 | 100 + 100 | 2 hr + 2 hr | $90 |
| Personal Lines (16-16) - narrower authority | 1 | 100 | 2 hr | $45 |
The combined exam runs at about 68 seconds a question against 72 on a single-line paper - marginally tighter, and long enough that stamina is the usual failure mode rather than difficulty.
No attempt cap. PSI's bulletin: "There is no limit to the number of times you may take an examination if you fail." You cannot rebook on the day you tested; PSI's worked example is fail Wednesday, call Thursday, retest Friday. Each attempt is another $55, and a passing result is valid one year.
A CPCU or CIC waives the property and casualty examinations outright under 40 P.S. 310.4(d) - and since pre-licensing was repealed, that clears the whole remaining requirement. The Life & Health guide sets out the full waiver table, including the fact that ChFC is not on it.
Most Tested Topics on the Pennsylvania P&C Exam
Across both halves of this exam, the state-law content that most reliably separates prepared candidates is structural: who regulates, what happens when a carrier fails, and how the licence itself works. These are checked against the statutes and the Department:
| Concept | The Pennsylvania rule |
|---|---|
| The regulator | The Pennsylvania Insurance Department - one of the oldest insurance regulators in the country, a standalone department rather than part of a combined agency, headed by a Commissioner appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. Not elected |
| Where the law lives | Title 40 of the Pennsylvania Statutes, with producer licensing in the Insurance Department Act at 40 P.S. 310.1 et seq., and regulations in Title 31 of the Pennsylvania Code |
| Guaranty association, and what else it administers | The Pennsylvania Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association (PPCIGA), 40 P.S. 991.1801 et seq. |
| Guaranty cap, per claimant | $300,000 on a covered claim - and 40 P.S. 991.1803(b)(1) bars the association from paying "an amount in excess of the obligation of the insolvent insurer under the policy," so the policy limit is a second ceiling |
| Guaranty, return of unearned premium | Capped separately at $10,000 per policy |
| Licence term | 2 years, expiring on the last day of the licensee's birth month. Business entities run 2-year terms that are not birth-month dependent |
| Renewal window | Opens 90 days before expiration and runs through the day after |
| Late renewal and reinstatement | Days 1-3 after expiration: no application can be filed (you may apply on day 4). Days 4-60: late renewal at $165, licence stays active. After day 60: status changes to inactive. Days 61-63: again no application can be filed (you may apply on day 64). Day 64 to one year: reinstatement at $165. Beyond one year: reapply as a new applicant |
| Fees | Resident individual $55, nonresident $110, lapsed renewal $165; additional line of authority typically $25 |
| CE | 24 credits per two-year cycle, 3 ethics for everyone and 2 flood for property and casualty licensees - both inside the 24. Carry forward up to 24 excess credits |
| Nonresident CE reciprocity | Conditional: a nonresident who satisfies the home state's CE is exempt if that state reciprocally recognises Pennsylvania compliance - and a nonresident who fails at home becomes subject to Pennsylvania's own 24 hours (40 P.S. 310.8) |
The guaranty cap has a second ceiling that candidates routinely miss. PPCIGA pays up to $300,000 per claimant, but 40 P.S. 991.1803(b)(1) also provides that "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." So a claimant with a $100,000 policy limit and a $250,000 loss recovers $100,000, not $250,000 - the association steps into the insurer's shoes, it does not improve on them. A stem that gives you both a large loss and a small policy limit is testing precisely that.
The $10,000 unearned-premium cap is the companion fact, and it is a genuinely separate bucket from the $300,000 claim cap rather than a carve-out of it.
On the renewal tiers, note that Pennsylvania has two symmetric dead zones, not one. NIPR states both: applicants "cannot renew or reinstate license day 1 through day 3 after expiration date (may apply on day 4)" and "cannot renew or reinstate license day 61 through day 63 after expiration date (may apply on day 64)." Each is a three-day gap where the system will accept nothing at all - one immediately after expiry, one immediately after the licence goes inactive. They are processing artefacts rather than policy, but they mean "I'll deal with it tomorrow" can genuinely leave you unable to file.
Note also that the licence term is birth month, not birth-year parity and not a fixed calendar date - and that business entities break the pattern entirely with 2-year terms unconnected to anyone's birthday.
Moving to Pennsylvania With an Existing License
If you are already licensed elsewhere, Pennsylvania waives its examination for you - but there is a 90-day clock on that waiver, and missing it is expensive now that the exam is the only requirement left.
Step 1 - Clear your old state first. The Department wants "a letter of clearance from the current resident state." Where the home state does not issue clearance letters, PID must be able to verify on the national producer database (PDB) that your resident licence is "still current and in good standing or has been terminated within the past 90 days."
Step 2 - Apply within 90 days, and understand exactly what the clock buys. PID's instruction is to "apply online for a PA resident producer license within 90 days of clearing from the previous resident state in order to waive the exam requirement." That last clause is the whole point. Apply inside 90 days and Pennsylvania takes your prior licensure as proof of competence. Apply on day 91 and you are an ordinary applicant sitting Series 16-06 like anyone else.
This matters more in Pennsylvania than it used to. Before 29 April 2025 a lapsed reciprocity window cost you 24 hours of pre-licensing and an exam. Now it costs you only the exam - but the exam is the entire remaining requirement, so proportionally the 90 days protect everything there is to protect.
Step 3 - Get fingerprinted. Converting to a resident licence means Live Scan through IdentoGO under service code 1KGBGJ, which a nonresident licence never required of you. The Casualty guide walks it through - and remember Pennsylvania destroys prints that arrive before an application exists.
Nonresident licensing, if you are staying put. Apply through NIPR or Sircon; the fee is $110 for a nonresident individual initially and $110 to renew on time, with $25 for an additional line of authority and $165 for a lapsed renewal - the same $165 residents pay. You must be at least 18 and your NPN must match your current PDB record. Nonresident producers are not fingerprinted - that requirement reaches initial resident applicants and title agents.
Moving out of Pennsylvania runs the other way: contact your new home state first, then submit a letter-of-clearance request to terminate the Pennsylvania resident licence.
On CE, reciprocity is conditional rather than automatic. 40 P.S. 310.8 exempts a nonresident who has satisfied the home state's continuing education "if that state recognizes the satisfaction of its continuing education requirements by a resident licensee satisfying the requirements of this act." And it adds the sting: a nonresident who fails to satisfy the home state "shall be subject to continuing education requirements of this act" - Pennsylvania's own 24 hours, retroactively in effect.
Renewal, Late Renewal, and the One-Year Cliff
The cycle is your birth month. A Pennsylvania individual producer licence runs two years and expires on the last day of the month you were born in. Not birth-year parity, not a fixed calendar date. Business entities run two-year terms that are not birth-month dependent.
The window opens 90 days before expiration and runs through the day after. Renewal is $55 for a resident individual and $110 for a nonresident, and it is gated on your 24 CE credits being complete - including the three ethics hours and, because you hold property and casualty authority, the two flood hours.
Then Pennsylvania's tier structure, which is more granular than most states':
| When you file | What happens | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Up to the day after expiration | Ordinary renewal | $55 resident |
| Days 1 to 3 after expiration | No application can be filed - you may apply on day 4 | - |
| Days 4 to 60 | Late renewal - the licence remains active throughout | $165 |
| After day 60 | Status changes to INACTIVE | - |
| Days 61 to 63 | No application can be filed - you may apply on day 64 | - |
| Day 64 to one year | Reinstatement | $165 |
| Beyond one year | Reapply through the standard resident licensing application as a new applicant | New-applicant fees |
Two features of that table are worth dwelling on. First, the licence stays active for the whole of the first 60 days past expiry - you are late, but you are not unlicensed, and business written in that window is not written on a dead licence. That is more forgiving than states where expiry is instantaneous.
Second, there are two three-day dead zones, and they are symmetric. Days 1 to 3 after expiry accept nothing; days 61 to 63 accept nothing. NIPR words both the same way - you "may apply on day 4" and "may apply on day 64" respectively. Discover the problem inside either window and you simply wait it out.
And then the cliff at one year. Past twelve months from expiration, the renewal and reinstatement routes both close and you reapply through the standard resident licensing application as a new applicant. What neither the Department nor NIPR states anywhere is whether the licensing examination must be retaken at that point. "Reapply as a new applicant" certainly implies it - a new applicant passes an exam - but we could not find it said, and we are not going to assert it. If you are near that line, call the Department rather than assume.
A note on CE and the Department's own page. PID's continuing education page still lists only the 24-hour total and does not mention ethics or flood anywhere, despite Act 142 having mandated both since 29 April 2025. The statute controls. Work from 40 P.S. 310.8 and Sircon's operational restatement, not from that page.
What It Costs
About $110 in published fees on a first-time pass: $55 for the combined exam and $55 to the Department with a resident application. The IdentoGO fingerprint fee is real but unpublished.
One licence, one fee. Pennsylvania issues a single producer licence carrying whatever lines you qualify for, so the $55 is paid once per term regardless of how many authorities you hold. Adding a further line later typically costs $25.
Ongoing: $55 every two years to renew as a resident, $110 as a nonresident, and $165 for a late renewal or a reinstatement. Surplus lines is a separate and pricier credential at $200.
There is no course to buy, which since April 2025 has made Pennsylvania one of the least expensive states in the country to enter.
Eligibility Requirements
40 P.S. 310.6(a) requires that you have reached 18, have committed no prohibited act, have passed or are exempt from the examination, have paid all applicable fees, and possess "the general fitness, competence and reliability sufficient to satisfy the department that the applicant is worthy of licensure." (Its former paragraph (3), the pre-licensing education condition, was deleted by Act 142.) A CPCU or CIC covers the exam element for this licence. No pre-licensing course since 29 April 2025, and no statutory Pennsylvania-residence or English-literacy requirement.
Initial resident applicants are fingerprinted through IdentoGO under service code 1KGBGJ, only after passing and applying. If you have a criminal history, PID's optional Pre-Licensing Program pre-screens it before you spend money on an exam - a criminal-record review despite the name, not an education programme.
Keeping Your License Active
Important CE details: Twenty-four credits every two years. Three must be ethics and two must be flood insurance, both counted inside the 24 rather than added to it.
24 credit hours every two years, and on this licence two topics inside that 24 are mandated: at least 3 credits of ethics, which every Pennsylvania producer owes, and at least 2 credits of flood insurance, which attaches because you hold property and casualty authority.
Both arrived with Act 142 of 2024, effective 29 April 2025 - the same act that repealed pre-licensing. That is the trade Pennsylvania made explicit: nothing required before your first sale, more prescribed content for as long as you hold the licence. Existing licensees had 12 months from the effective date or until the end of their current period, whichever was longer; anyone licensed since satisfies both by the end of their first period.
The requirement is per licensee, not per line. Carrying Property, Casualty, Life and Accident & Health still means 24 - what changes with your lines is which mandated topics apply, not the total.
Carryover is a full cycle's worth: up to 24 excess credits into the next period, which is generous. Transcripts are maintained through Sircon, and providers and courses must be Department-approved.
The consequence of falling short is blunt - PID states that "failure to complete the minimum requirement will result in the voluntary termination of your license." Given the tier structure above, that is a costly way to discover the rule. The Department retains limited authority under Act 147 of 2002 to waive CE individually, typically for military service or well-documented extenuating circumstances.
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