Rideshare Accident Lawyer in South Carolina

South Carolina gives you three years from the date of a rideshare accident to file a personal injury lawsuit under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530(5). The TNC statute (§§ 58-23-1610 through 58-23-1640) does not create a separate limitations period for rideshare claims — the general personal injury SOL applies. But rideshare cases are more complex than standard car accident cases because the insurance coverage depends entirely on what the driver was doing at the exact moment of impact. Under § 58-23-1630, coverage is graduated: Period 1 (logged on, waiting for a request) carries minimum floors of $50,000 per person/$100,000 per incident/$50,000 property damage; Period 2 and 3 (ride accepted through passenger drop-off) carry a $1,000,000 primary liability floor. The difference between Period 1 and Period 2 can be the difference between $50,000 and $1,000,000 in available coverage.

Section 58-23-1625 is the provision that catches most people off guard. It expressly permits personal automobile insurers to exclude coverage while the driver is logged on to the TNC's digital network. This means if the rideshare driver's personal auto policy contains a livery exclusion — and virtually all of them do — the driver's own insurance will deny the claim for any crash that occurs while the app is active. The TNC's commercial policy then becomes the primary and often only recovery source. Section 58-23-1630(D) requires TNCs and personal auto insurers to cooperate in claim investigations by exchanging the precise times the driver logged on and off the TNC digital network in the twelve-hour period before and after the accident. This log-on/log-off data is the critical evidentiary hook for determining which insurance period applied at the moment of impact — and it must be preserved immediately.

South Carolina's modified comparative fault rule with a 51% bar (S.C. Code § 15-38-15, Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., 303 S.C. 243 (1991)) applies to rideshare accidents exactly as it does to any other vehicle crash. If you are a passenger, fault allocation is typically between the rideshare driver and the other driver — but insurers may argue the passenger contributed by distracting the driver or failing to wear a seatbelt. If you are another driver hit by a rideshare vehicle, the TNC's insurer will push your fault above 50% to eliminate liability entirely. Under § 15-38-15's apportionment rule, a defendant under 50% fault pays only their proportionate share. In a rideshare case with multiple potential defendants — the TNC driver, the other driver, possibly the TNC itself for negligent vetting — each defendant's insurer shifts blame to minimize their exposure.

Uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory during all TNC periods in South Carolina. Section 58-23-1630 expressly cross-references S.C. Code § 38-77-150 — South Carolina's mandatory UM statute that requires UM on every auto liability policy issued in the state. Under § 38-77-160, UIM coverage must be offered but is not mandatory. If you are a rideshare passenger hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver, the TNC's UM/UIM coverage provides an additional recovery layer. Section 58-23-1640 requires annual vehicle safety inspections by a South Carolina-certified mechanic and trade dress signage readable from the front and rear — both discoverable in crashworthiness and vehicle-identification disputes. The Office of Regulatory Staff administers TNC permits under § 58-23-1620, and the Public Service Commission handles contested proceedings arising from permit decisions. A local attorney with South Carolina's TNC framework knows how to navigate these multiple regulatory and insurance layers.