In response to the new Producer Licensing Law, the Alabama Insurance Department, (DOI) has issued new procedures for becoming a licensed insurance agent. Applicants are no longer required to have a carrier sponsor to take the exam. New procedures took effect January 1, 2002, and should streamline the licensing process. 

Applicants may now take their 40 hour pre-qualification course and test the following week, if they desire. The state no longer requires a 1020 form to be set up for testing. Troy State University has been awarded the contract for agent?s licensing examinations, and all applicants must now travel to Troy to take the new computer based exam. The new exam fee is $48 to be paid on arrival at the test site at Bibb Graves Hall on TSU's Campus. Checks should be made payable to TSU. Credit cards are also accepted as payment and can be used at the campus or on the secure website registration page. You may register through the DOI website at www.aldoi.org which links to the Troy State test registration center.

All exams will now be administered at anytime M-F from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. When school is closed and during holidays, optional times can be arranged with an additional proctor fee of $25.00. You do not have to have any computer skills to take the exam. Applicants for the exam will need to present a photo identification and a completion certificate for their pre-qualification course. Exams will be graded within 2 seconds of completion and a pass/fail certificate will be issued immediately. Should an applicant fail the exam on the first attempt, the exam can be retaken immediately, even on the same day. A $48 fee will be required for the second exam. Should the second attempt fail, the applicant must wait 90 days to retake the exam.

On successful completion of the exam, a pass certificate will be issued to the applicant. The new license will be issued after the applicant completes a new licensing form, AL-1 (1/2002), and attaches their pass certificate and license fee. The new licensing form, AL-1, is also available on the Alabama DOI website.

Troy State’s Dr. Carol Jordan, Eminent Scholar in Risk Management and Insurance, adds that TSU made major changes in the testing process. "Dr. Charles Williams, Associate Dean of the Sorrell College of Business and an information technology professor, has overseen putting the examinations on computer," she said. "He has established an efficient registration, examination and results process. Qualified applicants may register for the exam 24 hours before they wish to take it and when applicants take the test they will know immediately whether they have passed or failed."

"We believe the immediate feedback will be appreciated," she said. In the past, the test was given on paper and it took several weeks to register for the exam and another six to eight weeks to grade and process the exam. 

AIIA asks that you please contact the DOI and TSU to encourage them to set up an alternative test site at AIIA headquarters in Birmingham.  DOI phone (334) 269-3550; TSU phone (334) 670-3290.