South Carolina Car Accident Settlement Calculator

South Carolina uses a 51% fault threshold for car accident claims. You can recover compensation as long as you are no more than 50% at fault — even in a perfectly even 50/50 split, you still receive half your damages. This is more permissive than states using a 50% bar, where equal fault results in zero recovery.

South Carolina gives you 3 years from the date of the incident to file a lawsuit, which is in line with the national average of 2.7 years. This is a standard timeframe, but acting sooner preserves evidence and strengthens your position. South Carolina applies a discovery rule, meaning the clock may start when you discover (or should have discovered) the injury rather than when the incident occurred.

South Carolina’s mandatory minimum auto insurance is 25/50/25 (bodily injury per person / per accident / property damage). These are relatively low minimums. Medical costs from even a moderate car accident frequently exceed $25K, which means you may need to pursue additional recovery options if the at-fault driver carries only the minimum. South Carolina requires uninsured motorist (UM) coverage but not underinsured motorist coverage. Adding UIM coverage to your own policy is recommended.

South Carolina lets a vehicle owner recover diminished value, the resale value a properly repaired car loses because of its accident history, from the at-fault driver on top of the cost of repairs. Your own collision coverage is not required to pay it under South Carolina authority. The Supreme Court of South Carolina held in Schulmeyer v. State Farm (2003) that an auto policy's promise to repair or replace does not also owe the loss in the car's market value that remains after a proper repair. The diminished value guide in the related reading below carries the rule for every state and how to document the loss.