If you’re thinking about becoming an insurance agent in Delaware, the first step you’ll need to take in order to kickstart your career is to obtain a Delaware insurance license.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of how to become an insurance agent in Delaware, as well as what to do once you get licensed.

Delaware Insurance License

In order to get your Delaware insurance license, you’ll need to complete the following five steps:

1. Figure Out Which Insurance License You’ll Need
2. Complete a Pre-Licensing Education Course
3. Complete a Fingerprint and Background Check
4. Pass the Relevant Delaware Insurance License Exam(s)
5. Submit Your Insurance License Application

Below we have explored each step in more detail.

Step 1: Decide Which Insurance Licenses You Need

The first step will be deciding what type of insurance policies you’ll want to sell — at least at the start of your career.

This is because the type of insurance policies you’re hoping to sell will dictate the type of license you’ll need. For example, you’d need a Property & Casualty (P&C) license to be able to sell auto, home, or business insurance.

Here’s a list of all the different types of insurance agent licenses that are available in the state of Delaware:

• Marine and Transportation Producer
• Surety
• Title Insurance
• Bail Bonds Insurance
• Crop Producer
• Travel and Limited Lines
• P&C
• Life, Accident, and Health (LAH)

While there are a large number of different licenses to choose from, the vast majority of insurance agents will either obtain a Property and Casualty or a Health and Life license.

In fact, many agents actually opt to go for both of these licenses as it allows them to offer clients a much wider range of the most common insurance products.

However, if you already know you want to specialize in one particular type of policy, you’ll of course only have to focus on the specific license that’s relevant to this insurance type.

It’s worth noting at this point that if you’re looking to work as an insurance adjuster, you’ll need to obtain a separate license instead — which you can find more information about in our Delaware Adjuster License overview.

Step 2: Complete a Delaware Pre-Licensing Education Course

The next step you’ll want to take toward becoming a licensed insurance agent in Delaware is completing a pre-licensing education course.

Unlike in many other states, the Delaware Insurance Commissioner’s Office does not require applicants to complete a prelicensing education course in order to take the exam, meaning it’s up to you whether or not you choose to take one.

With that said, we always highly recommend completing one of these courses as they can go a long way in helping you pass on your first try — saving you both time and money in the long run.

This is because many of the features that come with these courses — such as live tutoring, study calendars, and hundreds of practice exams — are designed to enhance your understanding of the material, making you more comfortable and confident on the day of the exam.

Due to the sheer number of pre-licensing education courses available, it’s normal to feel a little overwhelmed when deciding which one is right for you. To avoid this, we typically recommend making a decision based on the following factors:

• The course’s flexibility (e.g., does it allow flexible learning, does it require completing within a short time-window, etc.)
• The course’s price: This one is obvious; our only tip here is to not go too low, as from our experience you tend to get what you pay for when it comes to these
• The course’s reputation: How reliable is each provider? The last thing you want is insufficient and/or incomplete resources before your exam

If you want more information before getting started, you can also have a look at our in-depth overview of the five best pre-license education courses in 2024.

Step 3: Complete a Fingerprinting And Background Check

Before you can take your insurance licensing exam and submit an application, you’ll need to obtain both state and federal background checks.

This step, which is completed by submitting your fingerprints to the Delaware State Police, costs $85 and involves a thorough investigation of all your past conduct to confirm you meet the state’s insurance agent regulations.

To organize a fingerprinting appointment, you’ll need to contact the Delaware State Police at (302) 739-2528 and tell them that you need both state and FBI background checks run for your Delaware insurance license.

After your background check is complete, you’ll receive your state and federal background reports; it’s important to hold onto these as you’ll need to fax them to the Delaware Department of Insurance later on.

Be aware that you’ll only have 90 days from the date you received your background checks to fax them to the Department.

Note: Any misdemeanors or felonies may affect the outcome of your licensing efforts. If you’re worried about this, you can contact the Delaware Department of Insurance by phone or email for more guidance on this topic.

Step 4: Pass the Relevant Delaware Insurance License Exam(s)

After completing your pre-licensing education course, you will need to take (and pass) the relevant Delaware insurance license exam.

We say “relevant” because this will depend on the line you wish to specialize in; for example, if you want to be able to sell health insurance, you’ll need to take the Accident & Health exam — which has 92 scored questions plus 18 pretest questions.

In Delaware, all insurance exams are multiple-choice and divided into two sections: General Knowledge and State Specific. They’re also all administered by Pearson VUE and cost $90 to apply for — which you’ll need to pay when you make a reservation as fees aren’t accepted at the test center.

The easiest way to schedule your exam is online through the Pearson VUE website, though you can also make reservations over the phone by calling (800) 274-0455.

For major line exams Pearson VUE also offers what it calls “back-to-back” exams in Delaware, which allows you to take all the components of a major line in one day, and only pay for one of them. For example, you could take both the Property and the Casualty exams for just $90 — the same also applies for the Life and Accident & Health exams.

Keep in mind that while you can sit more than one exam at a time (e.g., if you want to apply for both a P&C and a life and health insurance license), we typically recommend against this. This is because passing your exam is hard enough as is, and there is arguably little to gain and a lot to lose with the added risk of confusing separate line material.

After passing the licensing exam, your test results will be automatically electronically submitted to NIPR’s online system within two to five business days. However, since exam results are only valid for a period of 12 months, you’ll need to apply within this time if you want to avoid retaking.

For more information, you can have a look at our Delaware Insurance License Exam guide.

Step 5: Submit Your Insurance License Application

With your exams and fingerprinting out of the way, you’ll be ready to actually apply for your license. In Delaware, applications can only be submitted online through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR). This will cost $100 (plus a transaction fee of $5.60).

Be aware that if you’ve passed the licensing exams for multiple lines of authority, you’ll be required to submit an application (and pay a filing fee) for each of these.

After submitting your application, you should receive an email requesting your background check information.

On top of this, don’t forget that you’ll need to submit your criminal background reports to the Delaware Department of Insurance after submitting your application, which is done by faxing a copy of each to: (302) 736-7906.

Note: Since your exam results will be automatically sent to the Department by Pearson VUE, you won’t be required to fax them.

Step 6: Application Review

And that’s it! After satisfying all the other requirements and submitting a license application to the Producer Licensing Division of the Delaware Department of Insurance all that’s left to do is wait.

If everything on your application has been filled out correctly, your license should be issued within 24 to 48 hours — which is the amount of time it typically takes for you to hear back about your license status.

It’s important to be aware that the issuance of your insurance license can take a bit longer than this if there are any items from your background check that need to be looked over. However, the state will likely get in touch with you to give some context if they run into any issues.

In any case, the state will send you an email regarding the status of your license once this review has been completed, so keep an eye out for that!

After Getting Your Delaware Insurance License

Once you’ve passed your state licensing exam and your application has been approved, you’ll be a qualified insurance agent in Delaware.

At this point, there are four main steps that we recommend new insurance agents to take:

1. Obtain Any Relevant Securities Licenses: If you’re planning on selling advanced life insurance products, you’ll need to pass the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam and obtain the relevant securities licenses (e.g., Series 6, 7, and 63).
2. Choose a Means of Selling: You’ll have to decide whether you’d prefer working as a captive agent employed by one company, or running your own business as an independent agent.
3. Develop Your Marketing Approach: To succeed as an insurance agent, you’ll need to adopt a marketing approach that’s effective for you. Finding and sticking to a niche, as well organizing all client appointments for the start of your week, are two great ways to do this.
4. Keep Your License Valid: In Delaware, you’ll be required to complete 24 hours of continuing education (CE) every two years; at least three hours of these must be dedicated to Ethics modules.

Delaware Department of Insurance Contact Information

Mailing Address:

Delaware Department of Insurance
1351 West North Street
Suite 101
Dover, DE 19904

Physical Address:

Delaware Department of Insurance
1351 West North Street
Suite 101
Dover, DE 19904

Phone: (302) 674-7390

Email: licensing@delaware.gov

Website: https://insurance.delaware.gov/divisions/renewlicense/ 

License Search: Delaware Department of Insurance Licensee Lookup