Free Massachusetts Casualty practice questions

Answer: B. Ten-point type

Chapter 90, section 34R(b) requires a notice to be attached to any estimate that identifies non-original manufacturer parts, and the notice must be printed in type no smaller than ten-point. The notice tells the reader that the estimate uses parts not made by the original manufacturer and that any warranty on them comes from their maker or supplier. Eight-point type falls below the minimum, and twelve-point or fourteen-point type is larger than required but is not the minimum the section sets.

Answer: B. By 5 p.m. on the second registry business day after the day of acquisition

Where a fire or theft loss results in payment of the vehicle's total value less salvage, Massachusetts lets the insurer suspend fire and theft coverage on a replacement vehicle. If it is suspended, that coverage applies only once the insured has made the replacement reasonably available to the insurer, its agent or its representative by 5 p.m. on the second registry of motor vehicles business day following the day of acquisition. The statute sets no seven-day window and no ten-business-day window for this inspection, and it measures the deadline from the day the replacement is acquired, not from a request by the insurer or from the insured's first use of the car.

Answer: C. When the lien attached more than 4 months before liquidation proceedings began in the domicile state

The definition of secured claim in section 180A includes claims that became liens on specific assets by judicial process more than 4 months before liquidation proceedings commenced in the insurer's state of domicile. A lien attaching at any point before appointment is too broad a test, 12 months is not the statutory line, and the definition expressly brings these liens in rather than excluding them.

Answer: A. 45 hours

Massachusetts continuing education applies to resident and nonresident persons licensed for all lines of property and casualty insurance. After a licensee has satisfied the requirement that applies before the first renewal, the statute sets 45 classroom hours for each thirty-six month period before the renewal date. Sixty hours is the requirement before the initial renewal, not for later periods, and the section does not set 30 or 15 hours as the total for a period.

Answer: D. 30 days

Massachusetts requires every licensee to tell the commissioner about a change of address, by any means the commissioner accepts, within 30 days of the change. The statute sets 30 days for this duty; it does not use 10, 15 or 60 days as the reporting period for an address change.

Answer: D. It must make increased limits available up to a total of $50,000 per accident

Section 113H lists, among the coverages the assigned risk plan must make available at the applicant's option, increased property damage liability limits that bring the total for any one accident to $50,000. The statute therefore requires more than the legal minimum, but the figure it names is $50,000, not $100,000, and it contains no rule tying plan limits to whatever the voluntary market sells. In the plan's list, the coverage keyed to the policy's bodily injury limits is uninsured motorist coverage, not property damage liability.

Answer: A. A fine of $100 to $1,000, or up to one year in prison

Section 170 punishes an agent or broker who knowingly obtains payment of a premium, or an obligation to pay one, through fraudulent representations by a fine of at least $100 and no more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for up to one year. The other fine ranges and jail terms are not the ones section 170 states, and the section imposes a criminal fine or imprisonment rather than leaving the matter to license action alone.

Answer: C. 2 years

The public adjuster licensing statute bars the filing of an application until the applicant shows 2 years of experience performing services connected with adjusting property losses. Six months and one year fall short of that requirement. Three years is the length of the license term under the same section (the license expires 3 years from its date), not the experience an applicant must show before filing.

Answer: C. It may not continue once the business is disposed of

A temporary license is issued for the servicing of an insurance business, and the statute provides that it may not continue once the owner or personal representative has disposed of the business. When the personal representative sells the agency, the license cannot carry on. The 180-day figure in the same section is a maximum period rather than a guaranteed term, and the statute provides neither an extension tied to the buyer's licensing nor a conversion into a regular license.

Answer: D. A licensed insurance agent of the company authorized to negotiate such policies

Section 34B lists who may execute the certificate in the company's name: one of its officers, an employee the company has authorized in a writing filed with the commissioner, an insurance agent of the company licensed under chapter 175 to solicit and negotiate motor vehicle liability policies or bonds, or that agent's own authorized agents or employees. The section then provides that no other person shall execute or issue such a certificate, so the registrar, the vehicle owner, and an appraiser are all outside the list.