Offer of Optional Additional Uninsured Motorist Coverage and Optional Underinsured Motorist Coverage Form, SCDOI Form Number 2006
To: All Insurers Licensed to Transact Property and Casualty Insurance
Business within the State of South Carolina
From: Mr. Ernst N. Csiszar, Director
Subject: Offer of Optional Additional Uninsured Motorist Coverage and Optional
Underinsured Motorist Coverage Form, SCDOI Form Number 2006
[S. C. Code Ann. §38-77-350 (Supp. 1998)]
The purpose of this Bulletin is to issue a revised South Carolina Department of Insurance Offer of Optional Additional Uninsured Motorist Coverage and Optional Underinsured Motorist Coverage Form, SCDOI Form Number 2006. The attached revised Form may be utilized by insurers for all newly-issued automobile insurance policies with effective dates on, and after, March 1, 1999; or an insurer may submit a form for approval to the director or his designee in accordance with §38-77-350.
Section 38-77-350(A) (Supp. 1998) requires that the director or his designee to approve a form by which automobile insurers must offer optional additional uninsured motorist coverage and optional underinsured motorist coverage to all applicants for automobile insurance policies. This requirement has been in effect since December 1, 1989. See 1998 S. C. Act Number 148, Section 22 (effective upon July 1, 1989). On August 18, 1989, by memorandum to all licensed insurers transacting automobile insurance business within the State of South Carolina, the Chief Insurance Commissioner for this State attached a "suggested" form to that memorandum. That 1989 form has withstood some limited judicial review. See Osborne v. Allstate Insurance Company, 318 S. C. 479, 462 S. E. 2d 291 (Ct. App. 1995), cert. granted, affirmed by Memorandum Opinion Number 96-Mo-222 (filed upon October 9, 1996).
On July 3, 1997, the State of South Carolina's Automobile Insurance Residual Market and Delivery Systems Reform Act became law. See 1997 S. C. Act Number 154 (Act 154). A complete copy of that Act can be found upon the State of South Carolina's Internet home page at http://www.scstatehouse.net/bills/254.htm. Act 154 made a number of dramatic changes to this State's automobile liability insurance delivery system requirements, mandates to underwrite, and mandates to offer. Those statutory changes necessitated changes to the 1989 Offer of Optional Additional Uninsured and Underinsured Coverage Form.
The attached, revised SCDOI Form Number 2006, in the opinion of the State of South Carolina Department of Insurance, meets the statutory requirements of S. C. Code Ann. § 38-77-350 (Supp. 1998). This revised Form, therefore, may be utilized by all insurers for all newly-issued automobile insurance policies with effective dates on, and after, March 1, 1999. It is important to note that the Statute does not require that the Director "promulgate" a form; the statute only requires that the Director "approve" a form. Therefore, any insurer may develop its own version of the offer form and submit that form for prior review and approval or disapproval. Those insurer-developed forms should be forwarded to this Department's Office of Actuarial Services at the above address.
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE SCDI FORM NUMBER 2006 [REVISED EFFECTIVE UPON MARCH 1, 1999] OFFER OF OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL UNINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE AND OPTIONAL UNDERINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE
I. Explanation of Services
The State of South Carolina's automobile insurance laws now allow any insurance company to refuse to underwrite your automobile liability insurance coverage. That refusal may be based upon a number of reasons. Automobile liability insurance coverage pays other motor vehicle drivers and their passengers whom you damage for the damages which you cause and for which you are legally responsible. There are two types of automobile liability insurance coverage: bodily injury and property damage. Bodily injury coverage is a coverage which pays people upon whom your motor vehicle inflicts bodily injury. Property damage coverage is a coverage which pays people for damages which your automobile causes to their motor vehicles or property.
Once any insurance company makes the business decision to underwrite your automobile liability insurance coverage, then it must provide to you at least $15,000.00 of bodily injury coverage for each person whom you may injure in any single accident and $30,000.00 of bodily injury coverage for two or more people whom you may injure in any single accident. The insurance company must also provide to you at least $10,000.00 in property damage coverage for each accident which you may cause. You may have seen these limits described as $15,000/$30,000/$10,000 or 15-30-10. These limits are commonly-known as minimum limits. If you purchase automobile liability insurance, then, in order to drive your automobile upon the roads of this State, you must have at least minimum limits.
There is no requirement under the laws of this State that an insurance company which underwrites your minimum limits of $15,000/$30,000/$10,000 must also agree to underwrite higher than those minimum limits of automobile liability insurance coverage for you. If your insurance company does agree to offer to you more than the minimum limits, then you will be required to pay an increased automobile insurance premium for those increased limits of protection.
In addition, under this State's insurance laws, once an insurance company agrees to underwrite your automobile liability insurance coverage, you must be offered, at your option, two additional automobile insurance coverages which will protect you in the event you are damaged in an automobile accident by an at-fault automobile driver who either has no automobile insurance or whose automobile insurance liability limits are less than the damages which you suffer in that accident. These coverages are legally termed additional uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage. You may see them referred to within your automobile insurance policy as UM and UIM. If you decide to purchase either of these two optional coverages, then you will be required to pay an additional automobile insurance premium for each of these additional coverages.
Uninsured motorist coverage compensates you, or other persons insured under your automobile insurance policy, for amounts which you may be legally entitled to collect as damages from an owner or operator of an at-fault uninsured motor vehicle. An uninsured motor vehicle is a motor vehicle which either has no liability insurance coverage or is operated by a hit-and-run driver. By law, your automobile insurance policy automatically must provide uninsured motorist coverage of $15,000/$30,000/$10,000. All uninsured motorist coverages provide for a $200 deductible for property damage claims.
You also have the right to buy additional uninsured motorist coverage, in various limits, up to the limits of the liability coverage which you will carry under your automobile insurance policy. Some of the more commonly-sold limits of additional uninsured motorist coverage, together with the additional premiums which you will be charged, have been printed by your insurance company upon this Form. If there are other limits in which you are interested, but which are not shown upon this Form, then fill-in those limits in the blanks provided. If your insurance company is allowed to market those limits within this State, then your insurance agent will fill-in the amounts of increased premium.
Underinsured motorist coverage compensates you, or other persons insured under your automobile insurance policy, for amounts which you legally may be entitled to collect as damages from an owner or operator of an at-fault underinsured motor vehicle. An underinsured motor vehicle is a motor vehicle which is covered by some form of liability insurance, but that liability insurance coverage is not sufficient to fully compensate you for your damages.
Your automobile insurance policy does not automatically provide any underinsured motorist coverage. However, you have the right to buy underinsured motorist coverage in limits up to the limits of liability coverage which you will carry under your automobile insurance policy. Some of the more commonly-sold limits of underinsured motorist coverage, together with the additional premiums which you will be charged, have been printed by your insurance company upon this Form. If there are other limits in which you are interested, but which are not shown upon this Form, then fill-in those limits in the blanks provided. If your insurance company is allowed to market those limits within this State, then your insurance agent will fill-in the amounts of increased premium.
It is important that you understand that, if you reject either one of these coverages upon this Form and if you are involved in an automobile accident, then this Form may be used by your insurance company as evidence against you if it denies your claim for additional uninsured motorist coverage or underinsured motorist coverage.
If you do not complete this Form and return it to your insurance company or to your insurance agent within 30 days from your receipt of this Form, then the law requires that additional uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage, in the same limits as the automobile liability insurance which you purchase, must be automatically added on to your automobile insurance policy. You will be required to pay an additional premium for each of these two coverages. If you do not pay that additional premium, then your automobile insurance policy may be canceled.
In the future, if you wish to increase or to decrease your limits either of additional uninsured motorist coverage or of underinsured motorist coverage, then you must then contact either your insurance agent or your insurance company. You will not be presented with another copy of this Form by your insurance agent or by your insurance company upon the renewal of your automobile
liability insurance policy. You will not be presented with another copy of this Form by your insurance agent or by your current insurance company when you extend, change, supersede, or replace your automobile liability insurance policy.
Please read this Form carefully. Your insurance agent or your insurance company must answer any questions which you may have. If you have any further questions, then you should contact the State of South Carolina Department of Insurance. Its address and telephone number are:
Office of Consumer Services
State of South Carolina Department of Insurance
300 Arbor Lake Drive, Suite 1200
Post Office Box 100105
Columbia, South Carolina 29202-3105
(803) 737-6180
(800) 768-3467
E-mail Address: CnsmMail@doi.sc.gov .
II. Offer of Additional Uninsured Motorist Coverage
Limits of Coverage Amounts of Increased Premium
(These increased premium charges must be filled in by your insurance agent prior to your decision and signature.)
$15,000 / $30,000 / $10,000 Minimum limits of uninsured motorist coverage are automatically provided by your insurance policy.
__________/_________/____________
Your Policy's Liability Coverage Limits:
Do you wish to purchase additional uninsured motorist coverage? Yes ______ No ______
If your answer is "no", then you must then sign here.
If your answer is "yes", then specify the limits which you desire. These limits cannot exceed your automobile insurance liability limits.
I select _______________/________________/_________________.
III. Offer of Underinsured Motorist Coverage
$15,000 / $30,000 / $10,000.
Your Policy’s Liability Coverage Limits:
Do you wish to purchase additional underinsured motorist coverage? Yes ______ No ______
IV. Applicant's Acknowledgment
By my signature, I acknowledge that I have read -- or I have had read to me -- the above explanations and offers of additional uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage. I have indicated whether or not I wish to purchase each coverage in the spaces provided. I understand that the above explanations of these coverages are intended only to be brief descriptions of additional uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage, and that payment of benefits under either of these coverages is subject both to the terms and conditions of my automobile insurance policy and to the State of South Carolina's laws.
Type or Print Your Name:
Your Signature:
Your Address:
Today’s Date:
