This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync.
Adjuster licensing is famously terrible. Ask anyone who has ever been an adjuster. Or handled adjuster compliance. Or even regulated adjusters for their state department of insurance.
There are a number of things that make adjuster licensing so fraught. One of them is that there’s not a single agreed-upon standard for adjusters the way there is for producers. Truly, if you’ve done adjuster licensing, you find yourself nerdily weeping over the perfection of the Producer Licensing Model Act.
Many states, however, don’t issue licenses for anyone other than a public adjuster. Or perhaps they issue public adjusters and independent adjusters. Some states, though, license public adjusters, independent adjusters, and staff adjusters. And there’s also specialty adjusters and apprentice adjusters. Plus, nearly everyone requires a special license or protocol for emergency adjusters in the wake of a disaster. At the root of this complicated mess of state-by-state differences is a key question: Where is an adjuster’s designated home state?
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What’s a DHS?
A designated home state (DHS) license is when your adjuster needs a license to be able to get recognized for reciprocal adjuster licenses, but their resident state doesn’t offer the license they need. Instead of having to get a totally brand-new license in every state they adjust claims in and have to abide by multiple states’ stipulations for exams and continuing education, an adjuster can get a license in a state that they don’t live in and then use that to get reciprocal licenses in (other) nonresident states. Whatever state your adjuster gets their DHS in, they’ll also have to meet that state’s requirements for exams and continuing education to get and maintain that license.
What makes Florida attractive for DHS licenses?
Florida has a well-established reputation for issuing DHS licenses to out-of-state adjusters who need a license to transact business in multiple states with varied adjuster regulations. So, if we audited the entire U.S., the proportion of Florida adjusters is likely to be somewhat lopsided.
For one thing, a Florida adjuster license is reciprocal with many, many states. In fact, it’s the only state Puerto Rico considers reciprocal for adjuster licensing – Florida-licensed adjusters don’t have to re-sit for the Puerto Rico exam. For another thing, Florida is one of the 16 states that have mutual reciprocity agreements for staff adjusters.
However, just because Florida can offer a convenient path forward for licensing doesn’t mean it’s always the best choice for adjusters who want to work across the U.S. Here are three good reasons not to use Florida as your adjusters’ DHS.
No.1: Your adjuster’s resident state offers the license they need
This may seem obvious. But if we had a nickel for how often we hear people lamenting that they got a Florida DHS only to learn their resident state offers the staff or independent adjuster license they need… well, we’d have a noisy pocketful.
Because the standard advice for many large agencies and carriers is “get a Florida DHS,” some adjusters unquestioningly zone in and get that Florida DHS in complete ignorance of their own state’s offerings. Many states then reject these DHS licenses because they flag the adjuster’s address as being in a state that has the staff or independent license they need.
So, before you default to pushing your adjusters to a Florida DHS license, make sure you understand what resident adjuster licenses are available in various states.
No. 2: Your adjuster’s resident state offers a generic license
Sometimes a teeny text change in adjuster regulation throws hundreds of adjusters’ licenses into flux, like the notorious Georgia adjuster change. Essentially, Georgia removed language that had previously limited the state’s license to public adjusters, and other states took notice. Several states issued warnings that, after that point, any Georgia residents who had a staff adjuster DHS license from another state wouldn’t be able to renew or obtain a nonresident adjuster license in those states. Instead, Georgia residents had to relinquish their DHS licenses and sit for the Georgia adjuster exam.
This variation isn’t one that’s super apparent – the change caused quite the headache a few years ago, and if you weren’t working in adjuster licensing at that time, you may be forgiven for not understanding this nuance. However, it’s still critical to know whether one of your adjusters might reside in a state where they could sit for the adjuster exam even if it’s not precisely the kind of adjuster license they’re trying to obtain.
No. 3: Your adjuster will be working in California, Hawaii, or New York
There are three states that require every adjuster who’ll work in the state to sit for their state-specific exam, period, regardless of that adjuster’s resident state. California, Hawaii, and New York require everyone to dance to their tune, so, if you have an adjuster who’ll mostly be working in one of those states, you may be best served by digging deep into those state nuances.
One reason to tiptoe carefully: Some states may delay or reject nonresident license applications if you have a California, Hawaii, or New York license since it’s not a license those states consider reciprocal.
Making adjuster licensing easier no matter where your adjusters are licensed
Until states make a concerted push to standardize adjuster licensing, we’re all stuck with the Wild West of adjuster regulation. But it doesn’t have to be the pain point and liability that many carriers and agencies feel it is right now.
AgentSync Manage surfaces data directly from the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR), and gives you a single interface from which to manage your adjuster force. Our secret sauce bakes adjuster data like line of authority restrictions and state reciprocity into the system, so you have more confidence over the nonresident licenses and renewals you request, in addition to having always-up-to-date data on where your adjusters are licensed.
To see how AgentSync Manage can transform your adjuster licensing management, schedule a demo today.
If you want more insight into transforming your adjuster licensing into a value proposition instead of a liability, download our guide.
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