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

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

Kentucky Insurance License

In order to get your Kentucky 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. Apply for Criminal Background Report
4. Submit Your Insurance License Application
5. Pass the Relevant Kentucky Insurance License Exam(s)

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 Kentucky:

• Life
• Health
• Casualty
• Personal Lines
• Crop

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 (P&C) or a Life and Health 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 resident adjuster license — which you can find more information about in our Kentucky Adjuster License overview.

Step 2: Complete a Kentucky Pre-Licensing Education Course

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

According to Kentucky law, you will need to complete 20 hours of study for each major line of authority you wish to be licensed in.

After you complete your course, your provider will notify the Kentucky Department of Insurance electronically.

Having said that, you should confirm that the Department has received this notification. If for some reason they haven’t, you will need to personally submit a signed and dated Certificate of Completion (Form CPL-01) to the Kentucky Department of Insurance.

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: Apply for Criminal Background Report

After completing your pre-licensing education, you will need to apply for a Criminal Background Report online through the KY Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).

This process comes with a cost of $25 plus a small transaction fee (i.e., 2.25% or $2.50, whichever is greater).

To proceed, you will need to:

1. Visit the AOC Website: Go to the AOC website and click on “Apply for Criminal Background Report” in order to start your application.
2. Choose Your Request Type: Opt for the One-Time Request in order to place a single order and receive your report by U.S. mail. You can then submit this report directly to the Kentucky Department of Insurance.
3. Select the Necessary Details: On the record request page, you will have to specify “Licensing” as the category, “Dept of Insurance (DOI)” as the group, and “Licensing” as the reason.
4. Submit and Pay for Your Request: Finally, you will need to submit your request and pay the non-refundable fee via credit card or electronic check.

It should be noted that the results of your criminal background report will not be emailed directly to you or the Department of Insurance (DOI). Instead, all results for requests submitted online are found on the Kentucky Court of Justice’s website.

Having said that, once your report is ready you will receive an email notification titled “Record Request Transaction”, which will include a link to access and view your report on the Kentucky Court of Justice website.

You will then need to submit the report to the DOI either via email at doi.licensingmail@ky.gov or through your KY eServices account.

Note: Your AOC criminal background report will be valid for 60 days. If your licensing takes longer, you will be required to apply for a new report.

Step 4: Submit Your Insurance License Application

With your background report out of the way, you’ll be ready to actually apply for your license.

To do this, you will need to visit the National Insurance Producer Registry website and submit your application. This process incurs a fee of $40 per line of authority for which you are applying.

Remember to double-check all the information for accuracy and completeness before submitting your application as incomplete or inaccurate applications can lead to serious delays in the licensing process.

Step 5: Pass the Relevant Kentucky Insurance License Exam(s)

After submitting your application, you will need to take (and pass) the relevant Kentucky insurance license exam.

We say “relevant” because this will depend on the line you wish to specialize in; for example, if you’re planning to become a property and casualty insurance agent, you will need to pass the Property and Casualty insurance examination.

Keep in mind that you will need to allow at least five business days for the Department of Insurance (DOI) staff to review your application, background report, and pre-licensing certification before scheduling an examination.

After this period has passed, you will need to go to the Kentucky Department of Insurance’s eServices portal and create an account, which will allow you to schedule your examination at a time and location that suits your personal needs.

It should be noted that all insurance licensing examinations in the state of Kentucky — including combined ones — cost $50.

Keep in mind that you can sit for 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).

Even so, we recommend avoiding this route; 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.

We found that the best approach is to study for one at a time, averaging between two to six weeks of study time per exam — depending on whether you are studying full time or part-time, as well as on how comfortable you are at taking proctored exams.

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

Step 6: Application Review

And that’s it! After satisfying all the other requirements and submitting a license application to the Kentucky 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 three to five weeks — which is the amount of time it typically takes for a license application and background check to be reviewed.

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 Kentucky Insurance License

Once you have successfully passed all required exams and your licensing application has been approved, you will be a certified insurance agent in Kentucky.

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 Kentucky, you will be required to complete twenty-four hours of continuing education every two years in order to maintain your insurance license. These must include three hours of ethics training.

Kentucky Department of Insurance Contact Information

Mailing Address:
500 Mero Street
2 SE 11, Frankfort, KY 40601

Phone: (502) 564-3630

Fax: (502) 654-6030

Email: DOI.AgentLicensingMail@ky.gov

Website: https://insurance.ky.gov/ppc/new_default.aspx

License Search: Kentucky Insurance License Search and Lookup