As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) "Automobile insurance" means automobile bodily injury and property damage liability insurance, including medical payments and uninsured motorist coverage, and automobile physical damage insurance such as automobile comprehensive physical damage, collision, fire, theft, combined additional coverage, and similar automobile physical damage insurance and economic loss benefits as provided by this chapter written or offered by automobile insurers. An automobile insurance policy includes a motor vehicle liability policy as defined in item (7) of Section 56-9-20 and any nonowner automobile insurance policy which covers an individual private passenger automobile not owned by the insured, a family member of the insured, or a resident of the same household as the insured.
(2) "Automobile insurer" means an insurer licensed to do business in South Carolina and authorized to issue automobile insurance policies.
(3) "Bodily injury" includes death resulting therefrom.
(3.5) "Cancellation" or "to cancel" means a termination of a policy during the policy period.
(4) "Damages" includes both actual and punitive damages.
(4.5) "Facility physical damage rate" means the final rate or premium charge for physical damage coverage which must be established by adding the physical damage loss component developed under Section 38-77-596 to the expense component developed under Section 38-77-596.
(5.2) "Facility physical damage rate" means the final rate or premium charge for physical damage coverage which must be established by adding the physical damage loss component developed under Section 38-73-780 to the expense component developed under Section 38-73-1420.
(5.5)(a) "Individual private passenger automobile" means the following types of motor vehicles owned by or leased under a long-term contract by an individual or individuals:
(i) motor vehicles of the private passenger type or station wagon type;
(ii) panel trucks, delivery sedans, vehicles with a pickup body, vans, or similar motor vehicles designed for use on streets and highways and so licensed;
(iii) motor homes, so long as the motor vehicles described in (ii) and (iii) are not used in the occupation, profession, or business of the insured other than farming and ranching; and
(iv) motorcycles.
(b) A motor vehicle is not considered "owned by or leased under a long-term contract by an individual or individuals" if the motor vehicle is owned by a partnership or corporation, unless the motor vehicle is owned by a farm family copartnership or a farm family corporation and is garaged principally on a farm or ranch.
(c) A motor vehicle is not considered "used in the occupation, profession, or business of the insured", because it is used in the course of driving to and from work.
(d) Individual private passenger automobile does not include:
(i) motor vehicles that are used for public or livery conveyance or rented to others without a driver;
(ii) fire department vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances, and rescue squad vehicles which are publicly owned;
(iii) mopeds;
(iv) dune buggies, all-terrain vehicles, go carts, and snowmobiles;
(v) golf carts; and
(vi) small commercial risks.
(6) "Institutional source" means any person or governmental entity that provides information about an individual to an agent, insurer, or insurance-support organization other than:
(a) an agent;
(b) the individual who is the subject of the information; or
(c) a natural person acting in a personal capacity rather than in a business or professional capacity.
(7) "Insured" means the named insured and, while resident of the same household, the spouse of any named insured and relatives of either, while in a motor vehicle or otherwise, and any person who uses with the consent, expressed or implied, of the named insured the motor vehicle to which the policy applies and a guest in the motor vehicle to which the policy applies or the personal representative of any of the above.
(8) "Insurance-support organization" means any person who regularly engages, in whole or in part, in the practice of assembling or collecting information about natural persons for the primary purpose of providing the information to an insurer or agent for insurance transactions, including (i) the furnishing of consumer reports or investigative consumer reports to an insurer or agent for use in connection with an insurance transaction or (ii) the collection of personal information from insurers, agents, or other insurance-support organizations for the purpose of detecting or preventing fraud, material misrepresentation, or material nondisclosure in connection with insurance underwriting or insurance claim activity. However, the following persons shall not be considered insurance-support organizations for purposes of this chapter: agents, governmental institutions, insurers, rating organizations, medical care institutions, and medical professionals.
(9) "Motor vehicle" means every self-propelled vehicle which is designed for use upon a highway, including trailers and semitrailers designed for use with these vehicles but excepting traction engines, road rollers, farm trailers, tractor cranes, power shovels and well-drillers, and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead wires but not operated upon rails. Mopeds are considered to be motor vehicles for the purposes of uninsured motor vehicle insurance coverage and underinsured motor vehicle insurance coverage only. For purposes of this chapter, the term automobile has the same meaning as motor vehicle.
(10) "Nonpayment of premium" means failure of the named insured to pay when due any of his obligations in connection with the payment of premiums on a policy, or any installment of the premium, whether the premium is payable directly to the insurer or its agent or indirectly under any premium finance plan or extension of credit, or failure to maintain membership in an organization if membership is a condition precedent to insurance coverage.
(10.5) "Policy of automobile insurance" or "policy" means a policy or contract for bodily injury or property damage liability insurance issued or delivered in this State covering liability arising from the ownership, maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle, insuring as the named insured one individual or husband and wife who are residents of the same household, and under which the insured vehicle designated in the policy is either:
(a) a motor vehicle of a private passenger, station wagon, or motorcycle type that is not used commercially, rented to others, or used as a public or livery conveyance where the terms "public or livery conveyance" do not include car pools, or
(b) any other four-wheel motor vehicle which is not used in the occupation, profession, or business, other than farming, of the insured, or as a public or livery conveyance, or rented to others. The term "policy of automobile insurance" or "policy" does not include:
(i) any policy issued through the Associated Auto Insurers Plan,
(ii) any policy covering the operation of a garage, sales agency, repair shop, service station, or public parking place,
(iii) any policy providing insurance on an excess basis such as an umbrella policy, or
(iv) any other contract providing insurance to the named insured even though the contract may incidentally provide insurance on motor vehicles.
(11) "Quota share reinsurance" means that form of reinsurance in which the reinsurer assumes a fixed percentage of the insured risk.
(12) "Renewal" or "to renew" means the issuance and delivery by an insurer of a policy superseding at the end of the policy period a policy previously issued and delivered by the same insurer or the issuance and delivery of a certificate or notice extending the terms of a policy beyond its policy period or term. However, any policy with a policy period or term of less than six months or any period with no fixed expiration date is considered as if written for successive policy periods or terms of six months.
(12.5) "Reduction in coverage" means a change made by the insurer which results in a removal of coverage, diminution in scope or less coverage, or the addition of an exclusion. Reduction in coverage does not include any change, reduction, or elimination of coverage made at the request of the insured. The correction of a typographical or scrivener's error or the application of mandated legislative changes may not be considered a reduction in coverage.
(13) "Small commercial risk" means:
(a) Garage risks including nonmotor vehicle insurance when written in combination with automobile liability coverage.
(b) Ambulance risks.
(c) Commercial risks which have a manufacturer's gross vehicular weight less than twenty thousand pounds and are not required to have a mandatory filing by a governmental authority other than an SR-22.
(d) Church buses used by a church to transport adults or children to and from services and in activities incidental to church functions, so long as a mandatory filing by any governmental authority other than an SR-22 is not required.
(e) Privately-owned school buses used to carry school children and students, their parents or guardians, members of the faculty, school board members, nurses, doctors, and dentists, as well as guests in connection with any school activity and operations incidental thereto, including games, outings, and similar road trips, so long as a mandatory filing by any governmental authority other than an SR-22 is not required.
"Small commercial risk" does not include pulpwood trucks or dump trucks.
(14) "Uninsured motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle as defined in item (9) as to which:
(a) there is not bodily injury liability insurance and property damage liability insurance both at least in the amounts specified in Section 38-77-140; or
(b) there is nominally that insurance, but the insurer writing the same successfully denies coverage thereunder; or
(c) there was that insurance, but the insurer who wrote the same is declared insolvent, or is in delinquency proceedings, suspension, or receivership, or is proven unable fully to respond to a judgment; and
(d) there is no bond or deposit of cash or securities in lieu of the bodily injury and property damage liability insurance;
(e) the owner of the motor vehicle has not qualified as a self-insurer in accordance with the applicable provisions of law.
A motor vehicle is considered uninsured if the owner or operator is unknown. However, recovery under the uninsured motorist provision is subject to the conditions set forth in this chapter. Any motor vehicle owned by the State or any of its political subdivisions is considered an uninsured motor vehicle when the vehicle is operated by a person without proper authorization.
(15) "Underinsured motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle as defined in item (9) as to which there is bodily injury liability insurance or a bond applicable at the time of the accident in an amount of at least that specified in Section 38-77-140 and the amount of the insurance or bond is less than the amount of the insureds' damages.
HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Sections 38-37-10 [1962 Code Section 37-591; 1974 (58) 2718; 1976 Act No. 694, Section 1] and 56-9-810 [1962 Code Section 46-750.31' 1963 (53) 526; 1964 (53) 2064; 1977 Act No. 80, Section 5; 1987 Act No. 155, Section 25(a); 1987 Act No. 166, Section 21, transferred to Section 38-77-30 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 24] recodified as Section 38-77-30 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1; 1988 Act No. 376, Sections 1, 2; 1988 Act No. 399, Section 5; 1989 Act No. 148, Section 52; 1992 Act No. 443, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 802; 1996 Act No. 326, Section 5; 1997 Act No. 154, Section 7; 2017 Act No. 89 (H.3247), Section 33, eff November 19, 2018; 2020 Act No. 174 (H.3755), Section 1, eff September 30, 2020.
Editor's Note
2017 Act No. 89, Section 37, provides as follows:
"This act takes effect eighteen months after approval by the Governor. The provisions of this act amending Section 38-77-30 apply to automobile insurance coverage issued or renewed on or after eighteen months following approval by the Governor."
Effect of Amendment
2017 Act No. 89, Section 33, in (5.5)(d)(iii), substituted "mopeds" for "motor-driven cycles, motor scooters, and mopeds"; in (9), inserted the second sentence, relating to mopeds; in (14), inserted "defined in item (9) as", and combined the two undesignated paragraphs; and in (15), inserted "defined in item (9) as".
2020 Act No. 174, Section 1, in (12), in the first sentence, deleted ", the renewal policy to provide types and limits of coverage at least equal to those contained in the policy being superseded," following "by the same insurer" and "with types and limits of coverage at least equal to those contained in the policy being extended" from the end, and inserted (12.5).