Best Car Insurance in South Carolina

No, you cannot insure a car with a salvage title in South Carolina. Salvage vehicles are cars that have been declared a total loss, meaning they're too damaged to be worth repairing and cannot be driven legally. As a result, no legitimate car insurance company writes policies for them.

Although insurance companies in South Carolina won't insure a car with a current salvage title, you can get coverage if you have the vehicle repaired and inspected by a state-certified mechanic. If it's declared safe to drive, the DMV will issue the car a rebuilt title. Several insurance companies, including Allstate and Geico, sell policies to vehicles with a rebuilt title.

Keep in mind that some insurers will only sell liability insurance for rebuilt cars, meaning that they won't pay for any physical damage to the vehicle. Even if you are able to get collision and comprehensive insurance, your policy may not cover the full value of the car if it's totaled again.

Insurance companies in South Carolina do not have a specific amount of time in which they must settle an insurance claim. Instead, state law requires them to settle claims with "reasonable promptness".

Even though South Carolina does not require a specific timeframe for the resolution of insurance claims, you still have the right to an efficient settlement. If you think that your insurance company is violating the law or operating unethically, you can file a “bad faith” lawsuit, which can award you the original settlement amount with added interest and penalties.

With that being said, it's important to remember that several factors can affect exactly how long it takes for an insurance company to settle a claim. For example, severe accidents, claims involving bodily injury, and poor communication between involved parties can all slow down the process.

Gap insurance in South Carolina works the same way as gap insurance in the rest of the U.S., by paying the balance remaining on a car loan or lease contract after a liability, comprehensive, or collision policy pays out the actual cash value of a totaled vehicle. The state of South Carolina doesn't require any driver to carry gap insurance. However, certain lenders in South Carolina may require customers to carry gap insurance – short for guaranteed asset (or auto) protection insurance – if they get a car loan or lease.

Dozens of companies, including banks and dealerships, offer gap insurance in South Carolina. While you should take your time deciding which one is right for you, you can also have confidence in the fact that gap insurance works the same way in South Carolina as in the rest of the country.

Best Gap Insurance Companies in South Carolina

• Esurance
• PURE Insurance Company
• Nationwide
• The Hartford
• Progressive

It's worth noting that gap coverage is usually cheaper to purchase from an insurance company than a dealership. For more information, check out WalletHub's complete guide to gap insurance.

You can get car insurance discounts in South Carolina based on how you drive, the car you own, and your relationship with your insurance company. In South Carolina, car insurance companies are allowed to consider factors like employment, residential, and marital status when setting premiums. That means there are also discounts available for being married, owning a home, or being affiliated with certain employers or educational institutions.

Almost anyone can get a discount on car insurance in South Carolina because most insurance companies make it easy to qualify for a variety of savings. South Carolina insurers typically offer discounts that fall into one of three categories—policy discounts, driver discounts, and vehicle discounts.

Policy discounts typically reward customer behavior that is desirable to the insurance company. For example, most South Carolina drivers can save by registering for paperless billing or getting both home and auto policies from the same company. Driver discounts are available to South Carolina residents who are lower-risk to insure, like those with clean driving records. And vehicle discounts help drivers save if their car has certain safety features or anti-theft systems.

Car Insurance Discounts in South Carolina

Remember, discounts vary among different insurance companies, so it's always best to contact the provider directly to determine which discounts you qualify for.

Car insurance usually follows the car in South Carolina. The types of car insurance that follow the car in South Carolina are bodily injury liability, personal injury liability, uninsured motorist protection, collision, and comprehensive. You're required to carry bodily injury liability, property damage liability, and uninsured motorist protection in South Carolina.

If you let someone borrow your car and they cause an accident in South Carolina, bodily injury liability insurance pays for injuries to the other driver and their passengers. Property damage liability insurance will pay for damage to the other driver's car. If the person who borrowed your car causes damage that exceeds your coverage limits, their liability policy can act as secondary coverage. But their coverage only kicks in after yours is tapped out.

You won't need to use your PIP or MedPay coverage if someone caused an accident while driving your car because PIP and MedPay follow the driver. You will have to use your collision and comprehensive insurance to pay for damage to your car, though. These optional coverage types pay for your car to be fixed no matter who was driving, but it is a claim on your policy.

It's always a risk to lend your car to someone else, because you could definitely end up filing a claim using your own insurance in South Carolina. When someone borrows your car, they also borrow your insurance coverage in most cases.