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

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

Maine Insurance License

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

1. Figure Out Which Insurance License You’ll Need
2. Complete a Pre-Licensing Education Course
3. Pass the Relevant Maine Insurance License Exam(s)
4. 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 Maine:

• Life, Accident & Health
• Property & Casualty
• Life
• Property
• Accident & Health
• Casualty
• Personal Lines
• Credit
• Title Producer
• Surplus lines

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 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 separate license — which you can find more information about in our Maine Adjuster License overview.

Step 2: Complete a Maine Pre-Licensing Education Course

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

You should note that Maine law does not actually require aspiring insurance agents to complete a certain number of pre-licensing education hours in order to sit their insurance licensing exam, meaning that this step is entirely optional.

Even so, completing a course is highly recommended as it can go a long way in helping you pass on your first attempt — 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: Pass the Relevant Maine Insurance License Exam(s)

After completing your pre-licensing education course, you will need to take (and pass) the relevant Maine 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 life insurance agent, you will need to pass the Life Producer exam — which has 75 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest questions.

This exam, like all insurance agent licensing examinations in Maine, is administered by Pearson VUE.

Exam fees range from $55 to $80 depending on the specific line of authority being examined. The passing threshold for all exams is a scaled score of 70 out of 100, which is set by the Maine Bureau of Insurance.

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.

Note: You will be able to attempt each examination an unlimited number of times with no time-penalty. For more information, you can have a look at our Maine Insurance License Exam guide.

Step 4: Submit Your Insurance License Application

With your exams 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 (NIPR) website and submit your application online.

Keep in mind that you will need to pay a processing fee of $25 (per individual producer license application).

Note: It is important to keep your email information current and up to date, as the Maine Bureau of Insurance will email a copy of your license within 24 to 48 hours following your application’s approval.

Step 5: Application Review

And that’s it! After satisfying all the other requirements and submitting a license application to the Maine Bureau 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 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 Maine Insurance License

Once you’ve successfully passed all your exams and your license application has been approved, you’ll officially become a licensed insurance agent in Maine.

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: The Maine Bureau of Insurance will automatically renew resident producer licenses, provided that all continuing education (CE) requirements are met. These include completing 24 credit hours every two years, with at least three of those hours dedicated to ethics.

Maine Department of Professional & Financial Regulation Contact Information

Mailing Address:
Maine Bureau of Insurance
34 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0034

Phone: (207) 624-8475

Fax: (207) 624-8599

Email: Insurance.PFR@maine.gov

Website: https://www.maine.gov/pfr/insurance/home

License Search: Maine Insurance License Search and Lookup