How to Read Your Auto Insurance Policy in South Carolina
Almost every injury article on the internet is written for people who are already hurt. This one isn't. Pull up your declarations page and give me fifteen minutes — while nobody's bleeding.
I Read These Pages for a Living — Usually Too Late
When I sit down at a client's kitchen table after a crash, the first document I ask for isn't the police report. It's the declarations page of every auto policy in the house. And here is the uncomfortable pattern: by the time I'm reading it, the numbers on it are frozen. Whatever coverage existed at the moment of the crash is the coverage we work with. Not one line of it can be improved after the fact.
So this article runs backwards from everything else I've written. It's for the version of you that isn't hurt yet — the one who can still change the numbers. I'll walk you through the page the way I read it after a wreck, line by line, in plain English. It costs nothing, it takes a quarter of an hour, and of everything on this site, it's the piece most likely to change what a future case is worth. If the crash has already happened, keep reading anyway — the same walkthrough tells you what you're working with, and I'd rather read the pages at your table than have you guess.
Find the Declarations Page — the Only Part Written to Be Read
An auto policy is a thick contract, but the whole deal is summarized on one or two pages at the front: the declarations page, or "dec page." It lists your vehicles, your listed drivers, each coverage you bought, the dollar limit on each, and your deductibles. Everything behind it — the forms and endorsements — is the fine print that defines and limits what the dec page promises.
You have it in at least three places: the renewal packet your insurer mails, the policy-documents section of the insurer's app or website, and your agent's outbox — one email and it's in yours. Get it in front of you now; the rest of this article is a guided tour of it.
One honest note before we start: I'm an injury lawyer, not an insurance agent. I don't sell any of this, and I make nothing from what you choose to buy. My interest is simpler — every week I see which lines on this page rescue families and which blank spaces ruin them.
The Liability Lines: What 25/50/25 Actually Buys
Near the top you'll see bodily injury liability and property damage liability, usually as a stack of numbers like 25/50/25, 50/100/50, or 100/300/100. South Carolina law sets the floor at 25/50/25 — under S.C. Code § 38-77-140, every policy must carry at least:
- $25,000 for bodily injury to any one person you hurt,
- $50,000 total for bodily injury per accident, no matter how many people are hurt, and
- $25,000 for property damage.
Two things about these lines that most people misread. First: liability coverage pays the people you injure. It never pays you. A driver with nothing but state-minimum liability has, in a real sense, insured everyone on the road except their own family.
Second: the middle number is a pool, not a promise. If three people are seriously hurt in one crash caused by a 25/50 driver, all three claims share the same $50,000 — a squeeze I've written about from the passenger's side in my passenger claims guide. And when a crash produces surgery, missed work, and permanent injury, $25,000 doesn't ransom much of a life back. That's why the value of a serious case so often turns not on what the injuries deserve but on what coverage exists to pay for them — the gross-versus-net reality I laid out in what a case is actually worth.
The floor is the floor. What you carry above it is a decision you make once a year at renewal, in about thirty seconds, and it quietly sets the ceiling on the worst day of some stranger's life — and, through the next two boxes, on yours.
"Every client gets my personal cell number. Call or text me directly — you'll never chase a case manager."
Clients hear back from me the same day — and for emergencies, anytime.
— Thomas Spiro Conits
UM and UIM: The Coverage That Pays You
Now find the lines that decide your own crash: uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage. These are the mirror image of liability — they pay you and your passengers when the at-fault driver can't.
UM — you have this, because the law insists
South Carolina requires UM coverage in every policy under S.C. Code § 38-77-150, at limits at least matching the 25/50/25 minimums. It steps in when the driver who hit you carries no insurance at all — or was never identified, as in a hit-and-run. Your job tonight is just to note the limits.
UIM — check for it tonight, because the law doesn't
UIM pays when the at-fault driver has insurance but not enough — the 25/50 driver who causes a $200,000 injury. Under S.C. Code § 38-77-160, insurers must offer you UIM up to your own liability limits, but it's optional, and the offer was probably a form you initialed years ago without reading. If your dec page has no UIM line, that blank space is the single most consequential thing on the page.
Here's the imbalance I find in most households: liability limits raised over the years — protecting strangers — while UM/UIM sits at the minimum or, for UIM, doesn't exist. You've insured everyone on the road better than your own passengers, who are usually your own family. How these coverages actually perform after a crash — the claims process, why your own insurer becomes the adversary, and how stacking multiple household policies can multiply what's available — is its own subject, and I've written the full guide in Uninsured Motorist Coverage in South Carolina, Explained. Tonight, just read the numbers.
MedPay: Small Number, Fast Money
Medical payments coverage — MedPay — is usually a modest line: $1,000, $2,000, $5,000. It pays medical bills for you and your passengers after a crash regardless of fault, without waiting for the liability fight to resolve. That "regardless of fault, right now" quality is what makes it worth having: an ER visit generates a bill in weeks, and a liability settlement takes months. MedPay is optional — if there's no line for it, you don't have it. Where it fits among health insurance, the at-fault carrier, and hospital liens is a machine with several moving parts, and I've mapped the whole thing in who pays the medical bills after a crash.
The Property Side: Collision, Comprehensive, Rental, Towing
The rest of the dec page is about the car, not the humans — but it's where your money goes first after most wrecks, so read it too.
- Collision pays to repair or replace your car after a crash, regardless of fault, minus your deductible. If the other driver was at fault, your insurer typically pursues their carrier to get your deductible back.
- Comprehensive covers the non-collision disasters — around the Upstate, that's overwhelmingly deer, hail, falling limbs, and theft. Separate deductible; check both numbers, because the deductible is the check you write before either coverage pays a dime.
- Rental reimbursement pays toward a rental while your car is in the shop — a per-day amount with a cap. Without it, you may be arguing with the at-fault carrier about a rental while you have no car. If losing the car means losing your ride to work, this cheap line matters more than it looks.
- Towing/roadside — self-explanatory, and the least of your worries.
Note what "full coverage" means now: liability plus collision and comprehensive. That's all. The phrase says nothing about UM, UIM, or MedPay — the coverages that decide injury cases. I've met many people who told me they had "full coverage" and were right, and still had no UIM at all.
What the Declarations Page Won't Tell You
The dec page is the summary; the policy behind it giveth and taketh away. Three things worth knowing live only in the fine print:
Exclusions. The forms behind the dec page list situations where coverage doesn't apply — and the one that matters most in 2026 is driving for money. If you or anyone in your household drives for a rideshare app, your personal policy may provide no coverage while the app is on; South Carolina's rideshare law actually requires the companies to warn drivers of that in writing. I've written a full guide to how Uber and Lyft crashes are covered in South Carolina — if app-driving happens in your house, read it next.
Who counts as insured. A named insured and a listed driver are not the same thing, and the difference can affect what claims — and how many policies — are available after a crash. If a licensed household member isn't disclosed to the insurer, that's a problem to fix at renewal, not discover after a wreck.
The household is the unit, not the car. After a serious crash I read every policy in the house — spouse's, resident relatives', the extra vehicle's — because coverage can reach across them. That's a reason to do this exercise for every policy under your roof, not just the one on the car you drive most.
The Do-This-Today Checklist — While Nobody's Hurt
Nobody hires an injury lawyer before an injury, and I'm not asking you to. This checklist is the free version of what I'd tell you at your kitchen table. Fifteen minutes, tonight:
- Pull the dec page for every vehicle in the household — app, website, or one email to your agent.
- Circle your liability limits. If they read 25/50/25, understand that's the legal floor, and it's protecting everyone except your family.
- Find the UIM line — or its absence. No UIM line is the most expensive blank space in South Carolina insurance. Ask your insurer what UIM at your liability limits costs; § 38-77-160 obligates them to offer it up to those limits.
- Compare the pairs. If your liability limits are higher than your UM/UIM limits, you've prioritized strangers over your own passengers. That's a choice — make it on purpose or fix it.
- Check for MedPay. Small, cheap, pays fast, regardless of fault.
- Photograph everything into your phone — dec pages and insurance cards. After a crash, the coverage picture assembles itself in minutes instead of weeks.
- If anyone app-drives, ask the coverage question in writing — "does this policy cover me while I'm logged into a rideshare or delivery app?" — and keep the answer.
- Calendar your renewal date. These numbers can only be changed before you need them. Renewal is the thirty seconds a year when the ceiling on your worst day gets set.
And if the crash already happened — the numbers are frozen, but the reading still matters, and it's my job now. Bring every dec page in the house to the consultation, or I'll come read them at your table. The consultation is free either way, and the fee if you hire me is contingency: no fee unless we win. What that early coverage reading has produced for clients is on my results page — every figure net to the client, with context.
If you can't come to me, I'll come to you.
I personally drive to clients' homes across Greenville and the surrounding counties — hospital rooms and kitchen tables included. You were just hurt; the last thing you need is a trip to a law office.
— Thomas Spiro Conits
Policy-Reading FAQs
What is a declarations page and where do I find it?
The declarations page — the "dec page" — is the one- or two-page summary at the front of your auto policy listing your vehicles, your drivers, each coverage you bought, and the dollar limit on each one. You'll find it in your renewal packet, in your insurer's app or website under policy documents, or by asking your agent to email it. It's the only part of the policy written to be read; everything behind it is the fine print that defines and limits what the dec page promises.
What does 25/50/25 mean on a South Carolina policy?
Those are South Carolina's minimum liability limits under S.C. Code § 38-77-140: $25,000 for bodily injury to one person, $50,000 total for bodily injury per accident no matter how many people are hurt, and $25,000 for property damage. It's the least coverage a policy can carry — a floor, not a recommendation. Liability coverage pays people you injure; it never pays you.
Is state-minimum coverage enough?
It's enough to drive legally. Whether it's enough to protect anyone is a different question — a single serious injury can run past $25,000 in medical bills quickly, and when the at-fault driver's limits run out, the difference comes from your own UM or UIM coverage or from the at-fault driver personally. When I review a crash, the at-fault driver carrying state minimums is one of the most common reasons a case turns to the injured person's own policy.
What's the difference between full coverage and liability-only?
"Full coverage" isn't a legal term — it usually just means liability plus collision and comprehensive, so your own car is covered too. It tells you nothing about the coverages that matter most after a serious injury: your UM and UIM limits and whether you carry MedPay. I've met plenty of people with "full coverage" and no UIM at all. Read the lines, not the label.
I drive for a rideshare or delivery app sometimes. What should I check?
Ask your insurer, in writing, whether your personal policy covers you while an app is on. South Carolina's rideshare law requires the companies to warn drivers in writing that a personal auto policy may not provide any coverage while they're logged on — the legislature wrote that warning into the statute because the gap is real. Some insurers sell a rideshare endorsement that closes it. If anyone in your household app-drives, this is the single most important question on this page.
Already been hit? The reading is my job now.
Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Bring every declarations page in the house — or Tom will come read them at your table.
Office: 100 Williams St, Greenville, SC 29601 · (864) 777-1000