Bill 2431

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               2431
Ratification Number:       298
Act Number:                198
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                        Scrapped, abandoned, destroyed, or
                           salvage vehicles

(A198, R298, H2431)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 56-19-480, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO SCRAPPED, ABANDONED, DESTROYED, OR SALVAGE VEHICLES, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR PROCEDURES REGARDING THE ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATES OF TITLE FOR THE VEHICLES.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Titling scrapped vehicles

SECTION 1. Section 56-19-480 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 56-19-480. Any owner who scraps, dismantles, destroys, or in any manner disposes to another as wreckage or salvage, a vehicle otherwise required to be titled in this State shall immediately mail or deliver to the Department the vehicle's certificate of title for cancellation notifying the Department to whom the vehicle is delivered.

If a vehicle is acquired by an insurance company in settlement of a claim to such vehicle by fire, collision, or other causes, or is left with the insured after being declared a total loss by the insurance company, the company or its agent shall immediately deliver to the Department the certificate of title for cancellation together with a report indicating the type and severity of damage to the vehicle. At such time as the insurance company may thereafter transfer the damaged vehicle, the company or its agent shall notify the Department to whom the transfer was made on a form prescribed by the Department. The vehicle may then be transferred as salvage by use of a form prescribed by the Department. The manufacturer's serial plate or vehicle identification number (VIN) plate shall remain with the vehicle at all times until the vehicle is shredded, crushed, melted, or destroyed.

All insurance companies which make payments on liability, collision, fire, theft, or comprehensive policies for damaged motor vehicles registered or titled in this State shall allow Department officials to examine all records of the company which pertain to payments made pursuant to the policies during normal working hours.

A certificate of title for the vehicle may not again be issued except upon submission of an application containing the information required by the Department together with an official transfer form signed by the insurance company and any intermediate transferees, an affidavit from the rebuilder indicating that the total cost of repairing the vehicle including all labor and parts was estimated to be or actually was less than sixty percent of the fair market retail value of the vehicle along with any other data the Department prescribes. In addition, the Department may require the vehicle to undergo an inspection by a highway patrolman or someone authorized by the Department to check the identity and safety of the vehicle, for a fee not to exceed twenty-five dollars. Any certificate of title issued by the Department may be annotated to indicate that the vehicle sustained water or fire damage or that it cost more than sixty percent of the fair market retail value of the vehicle to repair it.

Vehicles acquired by insurance companies as outlined above are exempt from ad valorem property taxes and inventory taxes, and the transfers of the vehicles to and from insurance companies exempt from sales taxes. Any person violating any provision of this section must, upon conviction, for a first offense, be fined not less than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not less than six months, or both, and for a second and each offense thereafter, the fine must be one thousand dollars or imprisonment for one year, or both."

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.