What to Do After a Car Accident If You Don’t Have Insurance in Rock Hill, SC?

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What to Do After a Car Accident If You Don’t Have Insurance in Rock Hill, SC?

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It can be a scary time if you’re involved in a car accident in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and you don’t have insurance. Uninsured drivers in South Carolina may be liable for the damages caused by a car accident. This could include damages to the other vehicle, medical expenses, and property damage.

Rock Hill, South Carolina Car Insurance Coverage Requirements

In South Carolina, drivers must have liability insurance or pay an annual $550 uninsured motorist fee. A minimum-coverage policy in South Carolina has liability coverage and uninsured motorist coverage.

Bodily Injury (BI) – $25,000 per person/ $50,000 per accident. BI pays for the other party’s medical bills when you cause the accident. This policy also covers legal expenses if the other driver sues you.

Property Damage (PD) – $25,000 per accident. PD pays for damage to the other vehicle when you cause the accident. However, it will not pay for damage to your vehicle.

Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) – $25,000 per person. UMBI pays for damages when you are in an accident with an uninsured driver.

Failure to have insurance or pay the yearly uninsured motorist fee can result in a misdemeanor offense, which carries driver’s license suspension, fines, and even jail time.

What You Should Do After a Car Crash if You Don’t Have Insurance

If you are involved in a car accident and don’t have insurance, you should first stay calm and explain to the other driver and the police that you are uninsured. You should then,

  1. Get the other driver’s license number, license plate number, and insurance company information.
  2. Get medical attention. If you or someone else in your vehicle needs medical treatment, tell the 911 operator so they can dispatch emergency medical services.
  3. Take photos of the accident scene, damage to either vehicle, and your injuries.
  4. Do not admit fault. Even though South Carolina has penalties for driving without insurance, fault is determined by who caused the crash, not by who has insurance. If the other driver is responsible for the collision and has insurance, their insurer should be liable for any bodily injury or property damage they caused.
  5. Be on the lookout for any witnesses who can state to the police who caused the crash.
  6. Seek legal assistance from a Rock Hill car accident lawyer. A lawyer can help you understand your rights and determine if you are liable for the damages caused by the accident.
looking for a Rock Hill insurance company

Can I Be Sued if I’m Uninsured in Rock Hill, South Carolina?

Yes, you can be sued if you are uninsured in South Carolina. If the other driver suffers damages due to the accident, they can file a claim under their uninsured motorist policy. If they do not have uninsured motorist coverage or their medical expenses exceed a certain amount, they may file a personal injury lawsuit against you. In a personal injury suit, you may be responsible for their medical bills, lost wages, car damage, physical and mental pain, etc.

Your assets, such as a car, home, or boat, may be used. It is vital to make sure you have car insurance in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Car insurance protects your assets from being seized if you get into a crash and cause personal injury or property damage to another person or their vehicle.

Penalties For Driving Uninsured In Rock Hill, South Carolina

You must provide proof of insurance when you receive your driver’s license and register your vehicle. If you can’t show proof of financial responsibility, you may face jail time, fines and have to surrender your registration and license plates.

First Offense

If you are caught driving without insurance or the $550 uninsured motorist fee, South Carolina will confiscate your vehicle and license plates. You have the option to pay the uninsured motorist fee or provide proof of insurance coverage within 20 days. If you miss this deadline, you may be charged with a misdemeanor. You may also have to:

  • Serve 30 days in jail
  • Pay a $100-$200 fine
  • Pay a $5 surcharge each day you go without coverage

Second Offense

If your subsequent offense occurs within ten years of your first violation, you’ll have to pay a $200 fine, serve 30 days in jail, and surrender your license plate and vehicle registration. You will get your driving privileges back when you purchase an insurance policy and pay the $200 reinstatement fee.

Third Offense and Subsequent Offenses

Suppose you are caught for the third time within ten years of previous violations. You are considered a habitual offender and will serve 45 days to six months in jail. The length of your sentence will depend on the number of times you violated the South Carolina insurance law.

rock hill south carolina

Contact a Rock Hill Car Accident Attorney Today

If you have been in a car accident in Rock Hill, South Carolina and either you or the other driver was uninsured, please do not hesitate to contact us. The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor, P.C. Our experienced car accident attorneys are licensed in South and North Carolina. We value the attorney-client relationship and will do everything to assist you through this process.

1348 Ebenezer Rd #103
Rock Hill, SC 29732

Phone: (803) 980-5300
Toll Free: (800) 351-3008

 

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120 3rd St NE
Hickory, NC 28601

Phone: (828) 327-9004
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Rock Hill, SC 29732

Phone: (803) 980-5300
Toll Free: (800) 351-3008

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Notice of Data Security Event
Updated March 28, 2025

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor is providing notice of an event that may affect certain individuals’ information. Although we have no indication of identity theft or fraud in relation to this event, we are providing information about the event, our response, and additional measures individuals can take to help protect their information, should they feel it appropriate to do so.

What Happened? On October 28, 2024, The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor identified suspicious activity related to our email system. We quickly took steps to investigate and determined that an unknown actor may have accessed certain emails within our email system between August 7 and November 7, 2024. We then conducted a comprehensive review of the potentially affected emails and attachments to determine what information was contained therein and to whom the information related, which was completed on February 25, 2025. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify the addresses of certain affected individuals, so we are providing this notice to ensure potentially affected individuals receive information about the event.

What Information Was Involved? The information affected may include individuals’ Social Security number, driver’s license and state ID information, financial account number, and health information.

What We Are Doing. We are notifying individuals about this matter and providing guidance about free resources that are available to assist with monitoring relevant accounts, credit reports, and how to place a fraud alert or security freeze on one’s credit file. Further, as with our typical security practices, we will continue to evaluate our policies, procedures, staff training, and technical security measures to reduce the likelihood of an event like this reoccurring.

What Individuals Can Do. We encourage you to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your account statements and monitoring your free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. We also recommend you review the below “Steps Individuals Can Take To Help Protect Personal Information”.

For More Information. If individuals have questions about this matter, we have a dedicated assistance line with agents ready to answer their questions. Please contact our toll-free dedicated assistance line at 1-800-939-4170, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. through 9 p.m., excluding holidays. You may also write to us at The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor, Attn: Compliance, P.O. Box 2688, Hickory, NC 28603.

Sincerely,

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor

STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

Monitor Your Accounts

Under U.S. law, a consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order a free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. Consumers may also directly contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below to request a free copy of their credit report.

Consumers have the right to place an initial or extended “fraud alert” on a credit file at no cost. An initial fraud alert is a 1-year alert that is placed on a consumer’s credit file. Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer’s credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumer’s identity before extending new credit. If consumers are the victim of identity theft, they are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years. Should consumers wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.

As an alternative to a fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a “credit freeze” on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information in the credit report without the consumer’s express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in a consumer’s name without consent. However, consumers should be aware that using a credit freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in their credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application they make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, consumers cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on their credit report. To request a credit freeze, individuals may need to provide some or all of the following information:

1. Full name (including middle initial as well as Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.);
2. Social Security number;
3. Date of birth;
4. Addresses for the prior two to five years;
5. Proof of current address, such as a current utility bill or telephone bill;
6. A legible photocopy of a government-issued identification card (state driver’s license or ID card, etc.); and
7. A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if they are a victim of identity theft.

Should consumers wish to place a credit freeze or fraud alert, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:

Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/ https://www.experian.com/help/

https://www.transunion.com/credit-help
1-888-298-0045 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
Equifax Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 105069 Atlanta, GA 30348-5069 Experian Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016
Equifax Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 Experian Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094

Additional Information

Consumers may further educate themselves regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, credit freezes, and the steps they can take to protect their personal information by contacting the consumer reporting bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission, or their state attorney general. The Federal Trade Commission may be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. Consumers can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. Consumers have the right to file a police report if they ever experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, consumers will likely need to provide some proof that they have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and the relevant state attorney general. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.

For District of Columbia residents, the District of Columbia Attorney General may be contacted at: 400 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001; 1-202-442-9828; and oag.dc.gov.

For Maryland residents, the Maryland Attorney General may be contacted at: 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; 1-410-576-6300 or 1-888-743-0023; and https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/.

For New Mexico residents, consumers have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in their credit file has been used against them, the right to know what is in their credit file, the right to ask for their credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting bureaus must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to consumers’ files is limited; consumers must give consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; consumers may limit “prescreened” offers of credit and insurance based on information in their credit report; and consumers may seek damages from violators. Consumers may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active-duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage consumers to review their rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act by visiting www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf, or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580.

For New York residents, the New York Attorney General may be contacted at: Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341; 1-800-771-7755; or https://ag.ny.gov.

For North Carolina residents, the North Carolina Attorney General may be contacted at: 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6000; and www.ncdoj.gov.

For Rhode Island residents, the Rhode Island Attorney General may be reached at: 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903; 1-401-274-4400; and www.riag.ri.gov. Under Rhode Island law, individuals have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this event.
STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT A MINOR DEPENDENT’S PERSONAL INFORMATION

Typically, credit reporting agencies do not have a credit report in a minor’s name. To find out if a minor has a credit report or to request a manual search for a minor’s Social Security number each credit bureau has its own process. To learn more about these processes or request these services, consumers may contact the credit bureaus by phone, writing, or online:
Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/help/article-list/-/h/a/request-child-credit-report/
https://www.experian.com/help/minor-request.html
https://www.transunion.com/fraud-victim-resources/child-identity-theft

1-800-685-1111 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
P.O. Box 105788
Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 P.O. Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013 P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016

To request information about the existence of a credit file in a minor’s name, search for a minor’s Social Security number, place a security freeze or fraud alert on a minor’s credit report (if one exists), or request a copy of a minor’s credit report consumers may be required to provide the following information:
● A copy of their driver’s license or another government issued identification card, such as a state identification card, etc.;
● Proof of address, such as a copy of a bank statement, utility bill, insurance statement, etc.;
● A copy of the minor’s birth certificate;
● A copy of the minor’s Social Security card;
● The minor’s full name, including middle initial and generation, such as JR, SR, II, III, etc.;
● The minor’s date of birth; and
● The minor’s previous addresses for the past two years.

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