What This License Is
8 V.S.A. §4813g(a)(6) defines the line as "personal lines: property and casualty insurance coverage sold to individuals and families for primarily noncommercial purposes." Homeowners, dwelling fire, personal auto, renters, personal umbrella and personal inland marine sit inside it.
Be precise about how it relates to full authority, because it is easy to state loosely. Personal Lines is its own statutory line with its own examination (Series 14-39). Holding both the Property and the Casualty lines reaches personal-lines risks as well as commercial ones, so those two together are broader — but Personal Lines is not a subdivision of a "P&C licence", because Vermont has no such combined line.
The fee difference is small. Series 14-39 costs $73 for 100 questions; the combined Property and Casualty paper costs $87 for 150 and yields two lines instead of one. You are choosing Personal Lines to sit a shorter, personal-only paper — not to save money.
Personal Lines Exam Options in Vermont
| Route | Exam | Scored | Unscored | Time | Fee | Lines earned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Lines | Series 14-39 | 100 | 5 | 2 hr | $73 | Personal lines |
| Property + Casualty | Series 14-31 | 150 | 5 | 2 hr 30 min | $87 | Property and Casualty |
Both are Prometric exams available at a test centre or remotely, with content outlines effective 3 November 2019.
As with every Vermont producer exam, no passing score is published. Prepare against the content outline.
Most Tested Topics on the Vermont Personal Lines Exam
Personal lines is where consumer-protection rules bite hardest, and Vermont splits its cancellation law across two chapters — one for auto, one for property — with genuinely different content. From the TESTivity Vermont regulations curriculum, statute-verified:
| Concept | The Vermont rule | Cite |
|---|---|---|
| The 60-day window | The enumerated-grounds restriction does not apply to a policy in effect less than 60 days when notice is mailed, unless it is a renewal. It lifts the GROUNDS limit, not every requirement. | s 4223(b) auto; s 3879(b) property |
| Auto cancellation notice | At least 45 days, or 15 days where the reason is nonpayment of premium | s 4224(a) |
| Cancellation notice, ch. 105 policies | At least 45 days, or 15 days for nonpayment or substantial increase in hazard. Chapter 105 reaches "a fire, casualty, marine, or multi-peril policy" not controlled by the auto subchapter, and does not apply to workers compensation | s 3880(a) |
| Reason on a cancellation | Required - "the reason or reasons for cancellation shall accompany or be included in the notice", and the insurer is not liable in damages arising solely from that compliance. But note the asymmetry: under s 3880(b) the Commissioner may waive any provision of s 3880(a) on an insurer's written request, including the reason requirement and both notice periods. s 4224 has no equivalent waiver. | s 4224(b); s 3880(a)-(b) |
| Nonrenewal notice | At least 45 days' advance notice of intent not to renew - and neither section requires the reason to be stated, because the reason requirement sits only in the cancellation sections, which expressly do not apply to nonrenewal | s 4225 auto; s 3881 property |
| Auto grounds, after 60 days | A closed list of three: nonpayment; fraud or material misrepresentation, or violation of the policy's terms or conditions; or suspension or revocation of the driver's licence of the named insured or a household or customary operator, with a 180-day lookback on renewals | s 4223(a) |
| Ch. 105 grounds, after 60 days | A different closed list of three: nonpayment; fraud or material misrepresentation, or violation of terms or conditions; or substantial increase in hazard, effective only after prior approval of the Commissioner | s 3879(a) |
| How notice travels | By certified mail - except that a nonpayment cancellation may go by certificate of mailing or a similar tracked first-class method | s 3883; s 4226 |
| Credit information, permitted use | Permitted as one factor, but an insurer may not deny, cancel or nonrenew SOLELY on credit information without another underwriting factor, and may not use a credit report older than 90 days at issuance | 8 V.S.A. s 4727 |
| Credit information, prohibited inputs | An insurance score may not be computed using income, gender, address, ZIP code, ethnic group, religion, marital status or nationality | 8 V.S.A. s 4727 |
The reason a Vermont cancellation question is hard is that the grounds lists are closed and they are not the same list. Both statutes say a notice is effective "only if" it rests on one of the enumerated reasons — there is no "and similar" catch-all. Substantial increase in hazard belongs to the chapter 105 list only, and it requires the Commissioner's prior approval — and note chapter 105 is not a "property" list: §3880(a) reaches fire, casualty, marine and multi-peril policies not controlled by the auto subchapter, and excludes workers compensation. Driver's licence revocation is an auto ground only, and note it is a driver's licence, not an insurance licence, and it reaches household members and customary operators. Both lists include a ground candidates routinely forget: violation of the terms or conditions of the policy.
The credit-information rules turn on the word solely. Vermont does not ban credit-based insurance scoring, and it does not leave it unrestricted. It bans a specific list of inputs outright, and separately bans credit as the only basis for an adverse action. A candidate answering "prohibited" is as wrong as one answering "unrestricted".
Your Results, and What Vermont Does Not Tell You
You learn the outcome at the test centre. The bulletin says that "at the end of your exam, you will receive a notice of completion via email", and duplicate score reports are available through Prometric's electronic score report portal "when or as needed."
But Vermont does not publish the mark you are aiming for. This is the single most unusual thing about testing here, and it is worth stating plainly because candidates assume it is an oversight in whatever guide they are reading. It is not. The current Prometric bulletin, the prior 2020 bulletin, all seven producer content outlines, the Vermont insurance exam FAQ, chapter 131 of Title 8 and the continuing-education regulation were each searched for a passing percentage, a scaled score, or any statement of standard. None of them states one. If you want the number before you sit, ask Prometric on 800.868.6113.
The combined exams are all-or-nothing. The bulletin is explicit: "The results of the combination Life Accident and Health, and Property and Casualty examinations are reflected in one final score. You must pass the complete examination to qualify for a license." There is no partial credit toward one of the two lines.
Five unscored items are mixed in. They "are distributed throughout the examination and will not be identified as such." They do not count, you cannot spot them, and they are why the paper runs 105 questions rather than 100.
Retakes: no published cap and no published waiting period. Neither the bulletin nor chapter 131 nor the CE regulation imposes a limit on attempts or a cooling-off period — the terms retake and fail do not appear in the bulletin at all. Treat that as an absence of a published rule rather than a guarantee of unlimited attempts. One operational constraint is worth knowing: Prometric's registration system takes a day or two to reflect a result, so you generally cannot re-register the same afternoon.
Each attempt costs full price. The fee is "not refundable and not transferable", and a no-show or a late cancellation forfeits it outright.
Then wait 48 hours to apply. DFR requires residents to wait 48 hours after passing before submitting an electronic application, and NIPR verifies the result before accepting one. And the outer limit is statutory, not a vendor convention: 8 V.S.A. §4800(3)(D)(i) requires that "an applicant must submit an application to the Commissioner within 24 months after the date of examination." Pass and then wait two years and the exam must be retaken.
If something went wrong with the administration, the bulletin provides an appeal at prometric.com/contactus: "Once submitted you will receive an email response within 20 days indicating whether your appeal has been approved."
What the Personal Lines Licence Costs
$73 for Series 14-39, $60 to DFR ($30 application plus $30 licence), $30 biennial renewal licensing fee (see the review note - the statute's $30 application fee arguably attaches to renewals too), $80 per appointment paid by the insurer.
Because Vermont publishes no attempt cap and no waiting period, the cost of under-preparing is simply linear — $73 each time — but each attempt also carries the 24-to-48-hour system delay before you can re-register.
NIPR's transaction fee is additional and is not published by the state.
Eligibility
At least 18, not disqualified under §4804, competent, trustworthy, financially responsible and of good personal and business reputation, fees paid, and Series 14-39 passed — 8 V.S.A. §4813f(a).
No pre-licensing education, and no published fingerprint requirement. The Casualty guide covers the background questions that do the work instead.
Apply on NIPR at least 48 hours after passing. A P.O. Box or private mail box will not be accepted as a residence address.
Continuing Education for Personal Lines Producers
Important CE details: Three of the 24 hours must be ethics and no more than six may be insurance agency management. No credit carries over between review periods, and a repeat of the same course inside one period earns nothing. The review period is fixed, ending 31 March of odd-numbered years, and continuing education does not apply at all until after the first renewal or first eligibility for renewal.
24 hours every two years, at least 3 in ethics, no more than 6 in agency management, no carryover, review period ending 31 March of odd-numbered years.
The one-time three-hour NFIP flood course applies to a producer "licensed to sell property and casualty insurance", counted inside the 24. Given that flooding is Vermont's dominant catastrophe peril and personal lines is where homeowners policies live, it is the most directly useful three hours on the list.
Continuing education does not apply at all until after your first renewal or first eligibility for renewal, which for a producer licensed shortly before a 1 April boundary is a meaningful reprieve.
Quick Reference
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