Minimum car insurance requirements in South Carolina

If you drive in South Carolina, state law sets a floor for the coverage you have to carry before you put a car on the road. It's a low floor, and knowing exactly what it includes, and what it leaves out, matters most right after a crash, when you find out whether the other driver carried enough to cover what happened to you. Here is what South Carolina actually requires, and the statute behind each rule.

The minimum liability limits

Every auto liability policy issued in South Carolina has to carry limits of at least 25/50/25.¹ Written out, that means:

• $25,000 for bodily injury to one person in a single accident
• $50,000 for total bodily injury when two or more people are hurt in that accident
• $25,000 for damage to someone else's property¹

Liability coverage pays the people you injure and the property you damage. It does nothing for your own injuries or your own car. South Carolina is a tort, or at-fault, state, so the driver who caused the wreck is responsible for the harm, and the person who was not at fault can bring a claim against that driver's insurer.²

Uninsured motorist coverage is required too

South Carolina is one of the states that makes uninsured motorist (UM) coverage mandatory rather than optional. Every policy has to include UM bodily injury coverage at the same 25/50/25 minimum as your liability limits, along with UM property damage coverage, which the law allows to carry a $200 deductible.³

UM is the coverage that protects you when the at-fault driver has no insurance at all, or when a driver hits you and leaves the scene without being identified. Given how many uninsured drivers share the road, it quietly does much of the real work in a South Carolina policy.

Underinsured motorist coverage is offered but optional

Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage works differently. State law does not require you to buy it, but it does require your insurer to offer it, up to the limits of your own liability coverage.⁴ You can turn the offer down, and if you do, the rejection has to be in writing.⁴

UIM fills the gap when the at-fault driver does carry insurance, just not enough to cover your injuries. If someone with a $25,000 policy causes $80,000 in harm, your UIM coverage is what stands between you and a large unpaid bill. It's optional, but for many South Carolina drivers it is the most useful optional coverage they can add.

What South Carolina does not require

There is no personal injury protection. The statute says plainly that no PIP coverage is mandated under the state's auto insurance laws.⁵ Medical payments coverage (MedPay), which pays your own medical bills no matter who caused the crash, is sold here but is entirely optional.⁵

Because the state runs on fault, there is no no-fault deadline for filing a first-party medical claim. You recover your medical costs and lost wages from the at-fault driver's insurer, or from your own UM or UIM coverage when theirs falls short.²

You can no longer pay a fee to drive uninsured

For years South Carolina was unusual: it let a driver register an uninsured vehicle by paying a flat "uninsured motorist fee" (most recently $550) instead of buying a policy. That option is gone. The General Assembly repealed it in 2023 Act No. 51, and the old fee statute, Section 56-10-510, was reserved effective July 1, 2024.⁶

There is now no legal way to keep an uninsured car on South Carolina roads. When you register a vehicle you have to declare that it is insured, and the SCDMV verifies that coverage electronically with insurers.⁷

What happens if you drive without insurance

Operating an uninsured vehicle is a misdemeanor.⁸ A first offense brings a fine of $100 to $200, or up to 30 days in jail, and the penalties climb for repeat offenses, reaching 45 days to six months in jail for a third violation.⁸

A lapse in coverage adds up quickly. The SCDMV can suspend your license, registration, and plates once it cannot verify your insurance.⁷ Getting reinstated means paying a per-day fine of $5 for every day of the lapse, capped at $200 per vehicle, on top of a reinstatement fee.⁹ That reinstatement fee starts at a statutory base of $600, and the Department of Insurance resets it each January to track rising auto premiums; for 2026 the Department set it at $700.⁸¹⁰

Two more rules catch people off guard. You have to keep proof of insurance in the vehicle, and failing to produce it for an officer carries the same penalty as driving without your registration card, though the court will dismiss the charge if you show you were actually insured on the date of the stop.¹¹ And if you cancel a policy, you have to surrender the license plate to the SCDMV rather than simply letting the coverage drop.¹² Any policy written to satisfy these requirements has to run for at least six months.¹³

Why the state minimum often isn't enough

South Carolina's required limits sit near the bottom nationally, and $25,000 per person does not stretch far in a serious crash. A single ER visit plus a few weeks of missed income can pass that figure, and the at-fault driver's minimum policy stops paying the moment it is exhausted. Plenty of drivers carry exactly the state minimum, so this is a real risk, not a rare one.

That is the practical reason UM and UIM coverage matter so much here. They are what protect you when the other driver had nothing, or carried only the state minimum against injuries worth far more. If your vehicle lost market value in the wreck, that is a separate claim from your medical damages; our guide to diminished value in South Carolina explains how that works. To document the crash itself, you'll want the official report, which in South Carolina comes through the SCDMV; see South Carolina crash reports.

If you were hurt and the coverage doesn't add up, a South Carolina attorney can identify every policy that might apply, including the UM and UIM coverage on your own household's cars. You can start with our legal directory. One deadline to keep in mind: you generally have three years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in South Carolina.¹⁴

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-140 (required liability limits). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php

2. South Carolina Department of Insurance, Automobile Insurance FAQ. https://online.doi.sc.gov/Eng/Public/faqs/autofaq.aspx

3. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-150 (uninsured motorist coverage). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php

4. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-160 (underinsured motorist coverage). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php

5. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-144 (no PIP mandated). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php

6. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 56-10-510 (reserved by 2023 Act No. 51, Section 5, effective July 1, 2024). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c010.php

7. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 56-10-220 (declaration of insured vehicle at registration; electronic verification). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c010.php

8. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 56-10-520 (operating an uninsured vehicle; reinstatement fee base and annual adjustment). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c010.php

9. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 56-10-245 (per diem fine after a lapse). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c010.php

10. South Carolina Department of Insurance, Bulletins and Orders (annual order setting the uninsured motorist reinstatement fee; $700 for calendar year 2026). https://doi.sc.gov/105/Bulletins-Orders

11. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 56-10-225 (proof of insurance in vehicle; penalties). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c010.php

12. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 56-10-240 (surrender of plates on lapse or cancellation). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c010.php

13. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 56-10-280 (minimum six-month policy term). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c010.php

14. South Carolina Legislature, S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-3-530 (three-year statute of limitations). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php