Updated July 2026
What Is Liability Insurance Insurance?
Liability insurance is the foundation of every South Carolina auto policy. It pays when you cause an accident and someone else gets hurt or their property is damaged. The coverage has two parts: bodily injury liability, which pays medical bills, lost wages, and legal costs for people you injure, and property damage liability, which pays to repair or replace vehicles and other property you damage. Your policy pays up to the limits you choose, and anything beyond those limits comes out of your pocket.
- You rear-end a car stopped at a red light. The other driver has $18,000 in medical bills and $9,000 in vehicle damage. Your bodily injury liability pays the $18,000 medical claim, and your property damage liability pays the $9,000 repair bill. If you carry only South Carolina's minimum $25,000 per person and $25,000 property limits, your policy covers the full claim. If the medical bills had been $40,000, you would owe the remaining $15,000 personally.
- You lose control on wet pavement and cause a three-car pileup. Two people are injured with combined medical costs of $75,000, and property damage totals $40,000. Your $25,000/$50,000 bodily injury limit pays $50,000 of the medical bills, leaving you personally liable for $25,000. Your $25,000 property damage limit pays $25,000 toward repairs, leaving you liable for another $15,000. Higher limits would have covered the gap.
- You swerve off the road and hit a tree, totaling your car and breaking your wrist. Liability insurance pays nothing in this scenario because you did not injure another person or damage someone else's property. You would need collision coverage to repair your vehicle and medical payments or personal injury protection coverage to pay your own medical bills.
Who Needs Liability Insurance Insurance?
Liability insurance is legally required for every driver in South Carolina, so the question is not whether to carry it but how much to carry. State minimums are appropriate if you have minimal assets to protect, drive an older vehicle with no loan, and cannot afford higher premiums. Drivers with savings, home equity, or retirement accounts should carry limits high enough to protect those assets in a lawsuit — typically $100,000/$300,000/$100,000 or higher.
Choose your liability limits based on what you could lose in a lawsuit, not what the state requires. Add up your savings, home equity, and retirement accounts. Your liability limits should equal or exceed that total. If you cause a $200,000 injury claim and carry only $50,000 in coverage, the injured party can sue you personally for the remaining $150,000 and garnish your wages or place a lien on your home. Higher limits cost less than most drivers expect — raising limits from $25,000/$50,000 to $100,000/$300,000 typically adds $180–$360 per year.
How Much Does Liability Insurance Insurance Cost?
Liability-only policies in South Carolina typically cost $45–$85 per month, or $540–$1,020 annually, for state minimum limits. Raising limits to $100,000/$300,000/$100,000 adds approximately $15–$30 per month.
- Your at-fault accident history — one at-fault claim in the past three years can raise liability premiums by 30–50 percent.
- Your credit-based insurance score — South Carolina allows insurers to use credit as a rating factor, and lower scores increase liability rates.
- The limits you choose — doubling your bodily injury limits from $25,000/$50,000 to $50,000/$100,000 typically adds $10–$20 per month.
- Your ZIP code — urban areas with higher accident rates and more expensive medical costs produce higher liability premiums than rural counties.
- Your annual mileage — drivers who commute 30 miles daily pay more for liability coverage than those who drive 5,000 miles per year.
- Your vehicle type — liability costs are lower for sedans than for high-performance vehicles, because the latter are statistically more likely to cause severe accidents.