What to Do After a Minor Car Accident

Two statutes draw two dollar lines. Section 56-5-1270 sets an injury or death, or $1,000 in apparent damage, as the trigger for SCDMV's Form FR-309, due within 15 days when no officer investigated. Section 56-9-350 separately calls for a written report and insurance verification to SCDMV once uninvestigated damage reaches $400. That section names no form and sets no deadline.

A repair estimate shows which line your damage crossed. Frost Law Group can compare that estimate with both statutes.

Section 56-5-20 confines most of the chapter's driving rules to highways. The article on crashes and reports is an exception, applying "upon highways and elsewhere throughout the State." That reach takes in a grocery store lot or an apartment complex. So the stop, information and reporting duties follow you off the public road.

The SCDPS Fact Book counted 143,801 collisions statewide in 2024, and 108,655 involved property damage only. None of those figures include lot crashes, because the Fact Book tracks public roads alone.

Section 56-5-1240 governs a crash with an unattended vehicle. The driver who hits it must stop and then either locate the owner or leave a written note somewhere easy to see in the struck car. That note gives the names and addresses of the striking car's driver and owner, plus what happened. Striking a fence or sign beside the road carries a similar duty. Under Section 56-5-1250, the driver takes reasonable steps to find and tell the property owner.

Rideshare drivers owe more information than most. Under Section 58-23-1630(H), a transportation network company driver shares insurance details on request. Anyone directly involved can ask, and so can their insurers and the officer who investigates. The driver must also say whether he or she was logged on to the app or on a prearranged ride at that moment. The answer matters, because the coverage the law requires shifts with that status.

The Department of Insurance says you may take the car to any shop you choose. When the claim runs against the other driver's company, the Department says that company must cover reasonable and necessary loss of use. Loss of use means the value of the time you went without your car. Keep rental receipts and a note of each day without the car, since that record supports the loss of use figure.

If a property claim ends up in court, Section 22-3-10 lets a magistrate hear civil claims worth $7,500 or less. In Dorchester County, the Summerville Magistrate Court holds session in the Troy Knight Judicial Complex, 212 Deming Way. Summerville Municipal Court sits at 200 S Main Street and takes traffic tickets and town ordinance cases. Because municipal courts have no civil jurisdiction, a ticket from the crash may go there while your car claim cannot. A suit over the car itself generally must begin inside the three years Section 15-3-530 allows.

Some people walk away from a low-speed crash and wake up stiff. See a medical provider when symptoms appear, and mention the crash. That way the chart links the two. Frost Law Group can point you toward an injury evaluation after a car crash if you are unsure where to begin.

If no officer investigated, an injury alone can require the FR-309 within 15 days of the crash, even when the damage stays under $1,000. A lawyer can tell you whether a next-morning injury brings your crash under that rule.

An injury claim generally has its own three-year deadline. Section 15-3-535 starts that clock on the date the injury claim became known, or reasonably knowable, to you. A long wait before treatment may still hand an insurer an argument about cause.

Section 38-77-150 requires uninsured motorist coverage in every auto policy delivered in South Carolina, and it includes property damage. That coverage can pay for a dented door when the driver who caused the crash carried no liability policy. Frost Law Group can review whether a claim against your own carrier makes sense. Your carrier may still contest fault and the amount, just as the other driver's insurer would.