Insurance adjuster

Adjusters investigate and settle claims, and the licence depends on whom you work for and which claims you handle. A staff or independent adjuster works for the insurer — on payroll or under contract — and in most states holds an all-lines licence covering property, casualty, auto and more, or a narrower licence such as workers' compensation. A public adjuster works for the policyholder, negotiating against the insurer, and is licensed separately under rules most states adapted from the NAIC's Public Adjuster Licensing Model Act, which covers contracts with the insured, fee limits and conduct.

Texas is the reference state for the all-lines exam because many out-of-state adjusters use it as a designated home state: the exam must be passed before applying, it is delivered through Pearson VUE, and holders of the AIC or CPCU designation may be exempt from it. Workers' compensation adjusting is its own line of authority in several states, with a shorter exam on the compensation system, benefits and claim handling. Public adjuster exams cover coverage analysis, the appraisal clause, bad faith and the adjuster's fiduciary position toward the insured.

Reciprocity matters more for adjusters than for producers, since claims cross state lines: a licence from a home state with an exam is honoured by many others, and NIPR carries the applications.

Exam content follows the claim. Coverage analysis compares the loss to the policy's insuring agreement, conditions, exclusions and endorsements; the appraisal clause resolves disputes over the amount of a loss but not over coverage; salvage and replacement-cost holdbacks affect what the insurer pays and recovers; and bad-faith handling can expose an insurer to extra-contractual damages. Public adjuster exams add the fiduciary duties and contract rules owed to the insured; workers' compensation exams add the statutory benefit structure.