The Illinois Motor Vehicle license
Motor Vehicle
Sells motor vehicle insurance in Illinois. It is the one line the Department sets below twenty hours.
Course
12.5 hrs
The shortest single course route.
Ways in
5
2 of them skip the state exam.
Exam
$92
Required on some routes and not others.
Every way to qualify
More than one route leads to this license, and which one you take changes what you study and whether you sit the exam. They are listed in full because the course is only the first of them.
-
Route 1 Take the 12.5-hour course, 5 of them in a classroom or webinar
State exam required
-
12.5 hours of pre-licensing education for the Motor Vehicle line of authority, approved by the Department. 5 of those hours cannot be taken at your own pace, so a fully self-paced online course does not satisfy this on its own. The route's own note says which live formats the state accepts
The 7.5 hours that cannot be self-paced may be taken in a classroom OR A WEBINAR: 215 ILCS 5/500-30(b) says both, and the Department's applicant page says classroom alone. A live online class from a provider therefore satisfies Illinois, and a self-paced course on its own does not. Illinois also runs two examinations per line, a General and a State paper, registered for separately and passed within ninety days of each other, and nobody sits either without the course completion proof.
Read at ilga.gov on 2026-08-15
-
-
Route 2 Hold one of the Property and Casualty designations the Director's rule accepts
State exam required
-
AAI Accredited Advisor Insurance, from The Institutes
- or
ARM Associate in Risk Management, from The Institutes
- or
CIC Certified Insurance Counselor, from The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research
- or
CRM Certified Risk Management, from The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research
- or
CPCU Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter, from The Institutes
50 Ill. Adm. Code 3119.45(a)(2) exempts an applicant holding one of these from the pre-licensing requirement, and 215 ILCS 5/500-30(a)(3) is what lets it: the statute asks for a course "if required by the Director", and the Director's rule is where the requirement is switched off. The examination is not waived on this route. That is the difference between it and the two reciprocity routes below, which reach the paper as well, and it is why the classroom hours matter here and the paper still has to be sat. The rule keeps a separate list per class of insurance and this is the Property and Casualty list, as amended at 50 Ill. Reg. 753 effective 2025-12-30: AAI, ARM, CIC, CRM and CPCU. A copy of the certification goes to the Department with the license application.
Read at ilga.gov on 2026-08-20
-
-
Route 3 Hold a college degree in insurance
State exam required
-
A degree in insurance. An official transcript is required
50 Ill. Adm. Code 3119.45(a)(2) puts the degree beside the designations and on the same footing: it removes the pre-licensing course for every class of insurance and it does not remove the examination. The rule counts a college degree in insurance from an institution of higher education accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency, and a copy goes to the Department at the time of application. It sets no credit count, so none is shown.
Read at ilga.gov on 2026-08-20
-
-
Route 4 Hold this line in another state now, or have held it in the last 90 days
Exempt from the state exam
-
90 days of the cancellation of another state's license for the Motor Vehicle line, or hold it there now, with that state certifying good standing at cancellation or the NAIC Producer Database showing it
215 ILCS 5/500-45(a): no pre-licensing education and no examination. Either limb works, and the first has no clock: currently licensed in the other state, or applying within ninety days of that license being cancelled. It reaches the 7.5 classroom hours as well as the rest, which is the only way anyone gets out of them.
Read at ilga.gov on 2026-08-16
-
-
Route 5 Move to Illinois holding this line in your old home state
Exempt from the state exam
-
90 days of establishing legal residence in Illinois, having held the Motor Vehicle line as a licensed producer in the previous state
215 ILCS 5/500-45(b). Neither pre-licensing education nor an examination for a line already held, and the ninety days run from establishing residence. The Director may say otherwise by rule.
Read at ilga.gov on 2026-08-16
-
A course is required and nobody sells one
Illinois asks 12.5 hours for Motor Vehicle of which five must be classroom, and no national seller offers a product for that line.