(A) If, during the period for which it is licensed, a motor vehicle is or becomes an uninsured motor vehicle, then the vehicle owner immediately shall obtain insurance on the vehicle or within five days after the effective date of cancellation or expiration of his liability insurance policy surrender the motor vehicle license plate and registration certificate issued for the motor vehicle.

(B) The Department of Motor Vehicles, in its discretion, may authorize insurers to utilize alternative methods of providing notice of cancellation, refusal to renew, new policies written, and renewals to the department. The department may not reissue a registration certificate and license plate for that vehicle until satisfactory evidence has been filed by the owner or by the insurer who gave the cancellation or refusal to renew notice to the department that the vehicle is insured. Upon receiving information to the effect that a policy is canceled or otherwise terminated on a motor vehicle registered in South Carolina, the department shall suspend the owner's driving privileges, license plate, and registration certificate and shall initiate action as required within fifteen days of the notice of cancellation to pick up the license plate and registration certificate. A person who has had his driving privileges, vehicle license plate, and registration certificate suspended by the department, but who at the time of suspension possesses liability insurance coverage sufficient to meet the financial responsibility requirements as set forth in this chapter, has the right to appeal the suspension immediately to the Director of the Department of Insurance. If the Director of the Department of Insurance determines that the person has sufficient liability insurance coverage, he shall notify the department and the suspension is voided immediately. The department shall give notice by first class mail of the cancellation or suspension of driving and registration privileges to the vehicle owner at his last known address.

(C) If the vehicle owner unlawfully refuses to surrender the suspended items as required in this article, the department through its designated agents or by request to a county or municipal law enforcement agency shall take possession of the suspended license plates and registration certificates and may not reissue the registration until proper proof of liability insurance coverage is provided and until the owner has paid a reinstatement fee of two hundred dollars. A person who voluntarily surrenders his license plates and registration certificates before their suspension shall not be charged a reinstatement fee. Revenue generated by the fee imposed pursuant to this section must be placed by the Comptroller General into the State Highway Fund as established by Section 57-11-20, to be distributed as provided in Section 11-43-167.

(D) A person wilfully failing to return his motor vehicle license plates and registration certificates as required in this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished as follows:

(1) for a first offense fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned for thirty days;

(2) for a second offense fined two hundred dollars or imprisoned for thirty days, or both;

(3) for a third and subsequent offense imprisoned for not less than forty- five days nor more than six months.

(E) Only convictions which occurred within ten years including and immediately preceding the date of the last conviction constitute prior convictions within the meaning of this section.

HISTORY: Former 1976 code Section 56-11-740 [1962 Code Section 46-750.148; 1974 (58) 2718; Am, 1977 Act No. 80, Section 6] repealed by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 25, and recodified as Section 56-10-240 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 9; Am, 1988 Act No. 532, Section 21; 1988 Act No. 671, Section 1; 1989 Act No. 148, Section 4; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1479; 1996 Act No. 459, Section 223; 2001 Act No. 82, Section 34; 2002 Act No. 324, Section 6; 2004 Act No. 241, Section 4; 2016 Act No. 275 (S.1258), Section 78, eff July 1, 2016.

Code Commissioner's Note

2002 Act No. 324, Section 12, provides as follows:

"This act takes effect July 1, 2002; provided, however, that Section 56-10-650 and Sections 5, 6, and 9 are effective one hundred eighty days after the latter of certification by the department to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives that the program has been implemented and is fully prepared to accept data transmitted by the insurers or publication of final regulations by the department."