Rideshare accident settlement amounts in South Carolina

If an Uber or Lyft crash left you hurt in South Carolina, the size of any settlement turns less on the accident itself than on one question: what was the driver's app doing at the moment of impact? South Carolina wrote that question into law in 2015, and the answer decides whether you're reaching a personal auto policy or a one-million-dollar commercial one.¹

The coverage that pays depends on the app status

South Carolina's Transportation Network Company Act sets three insurance tiers, and each one is a different pool of money.

When the app is off, the driver is just another motorist. Only their personal auto policy applies, and South Carolina's floor for that is 25/50/25: $25,000 in bodily injury coverage per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage.²

Once the driver logs on and is waiting for a ride request, the TNC law requires primary liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person for death or bodily injury, $100,000 per incident, and $50,000 for property damage.¹

The moment the driver accepts a ride and heads toward the pickup, a much larger policy takes over. From acceptance until the last passenger gets out, the law calls that window a "prearranged ride,"³ and it requires primary automobile liability insurance of at least $1,000,000 covering death, bodily injury, and property damage combined.¹ That change is usually the single biggest factor in a South Carolina rideshare settlement: the same collision can be a $50,000 case one minute and a $1,000,000 case the next.

Both the waiting period and the prearranged-ride period also have to carry uninsured motorist coverage under state law.¹ That matters more than it sounds, and I'll come back to it.

South Carolina doesn't cap what you can recover

Some states limit pain-and-suffering money. South Carolina does not, at least not in an ordinary crash. The state's $350,000 noneconomic damages cap applies only to medical malpractice claims, not to car or rideshare wrecks.⁴ In a rideshare case your economic losses (medical bills, lost wages, future care) and your noneconomic losses (pain, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment) are recoverable without a statutory ceiling.

In practice the ceiling is the available insurance. That's why the app-status tiers do so much work. A badly injured passenger during a prearranged ride is reaching toward a seven-figure policy, while the same injury during the app-off period may be limited by a $25,000 personal policy and whatever the driver personally owns.

Punitive damages, and the drunk-driver exception

Punitive damages are separate money meant to punish reckless conduct. South Carolina caps them at the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000, rising to four times or $2,000,000 when the conduct was driven by unreasonable financial gain or could be charged as a felony.⁵

The exception is the part that changes rideshare cases. The cap disappears entirely when the at-fault driver intended harm, was convicted of a related felony, or was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.⁵ If an impaired driver hit your Uber, punitive exposure is uncapped, and that reshapes the settlement math.

Fault sharing can shrink the number

South Carolina is an at-fault state,⁶ and it follows modified comparative negligence under Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co.⁷ You can recover as long as you're not more at fault than the party you're suing. If you're 50% or less to blame, your award drops by your share; cross 51% and you recover nothing.

For passengers this rarely bites, since a rider almost never causes the wreck. For a rideshare driver or another motorist, it's a live issue: an insurer that pins 30% of the blame on you is arguing for a 30% cut off the settlement.

When the other driver has too little insurance

Plenty of at-fault drivers carry only the 25/50/25 minimum, which doesn't go far against a serious injury. South Carolina requires every auto policy to include uninsured motorist coverage at those same 25/25 limits.⁸ Underinsured motorist coverage is optional, but insurers must offer it up to your liability limits, and you can only decline it in writing.⁸

This is where the rideshare UM requirement pays off. Because the TNC policy has to carry uninsured motorist coverage during both the waiting period and the ride,¹ a passenger struck by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver may reach that coverage instead of being stuck with the other driver's empty pockets. An injured passenger may also have UM/UIM on their own auto policy that stacks on top.

One thing South Carolina does not give you is no-fault benefits. The state mandates no personal injury protection coverage,⁹ so your own medical bills flow through health insurance or optional medical-payments coverage while the fault claim is worked out, not through an automatic PIP payout.

A bar may share the bill

If the driver who hit you was drunk, the business that over-served them can be a defendant too. South Carolina recognizes dram shop liability, and a 2025 law (Act No. 42, H.3430) reworked it: effective January 1, 2026, a liable establishment's share is capped at 50% of the victim's actual damages when the drunk driver is also found at fault, and servers must now complete state-approved alcohol training.¹⁰ A second solvent defendant can raise the total recovery even with that cap.

Distracted driving cuts the same way on liability. South Carolina's Hands-Free and Distracted Driving Act (2025 Act No. 40, H.3276) now carries full citations after the warning period ended on February 28, 2026, so a driver caught holding a phone is violating a primary-enforcement statute,¹¹ and a traffic citation strengthens the negligence case behind a claim.

The deadline that governs everything

None of this helps if you wait too long. South Carolina gives you three years from the date of injury to file suit under S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-3-530, with the clock paused while an injured person is a minor or under a legal disability.¹² Miss it and your bargaining position collapses, because the insurer knows you can no longer sue.

Two practical items sit alongside the injury claim. If your car was damaged, its lost resale value is a separate claim; see our South Carolina diminished value guide. And the official crash report is a core piece of evidence on fault; our South Carolina crash report page covers how to get it. When you're ready to put a value on the case and press it, our legal directory can connect you with a South Carolina attorney.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. S.C. Code Ann. Section 58-23-1630, Primary automobile insurance; proof of coverage (South Carolina Transportation Network Company Act). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t58c023.php

2. S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-140, minimum liability coverage. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php

3. S.C. Code Ann. Section 58-23-1610, Definitions (defining "prearranged ride"). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t58c023.php

4. S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-32-220, noneconomic damages limit (medical malpractice). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c032.php

5. S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-32-530, limits on punitive damages and exceptions. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c032.php

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

7. Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., 303 S.C. 243, 399 S.E.2d 783 (S.C. 1991). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1265650/nelson-v-concrete-supply-company/

8. S.C. Code Ann. Sections 38-77-150 and 38-77-160, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php

9. S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-144, no personal injury protection mandated. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php

10. 2025 Act No. 42 (H.3430), amending South Carolina's dram shop and alcohol-server law, effective January 1, 2026. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/3430.htm

11. 2025 Act No. 40 (H.3276), South Carolina Hands-Free and Distracted Driving Act, amending S.C. Code Ann. Section 56-5-3890. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/3276.htm

12. S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-3-530, three-year statute of limitations. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php