1. (A) A person or company who has more than twenty-five motor vehicles registered in his name may qualify as a self-insurer provided that the department is satisfied that the person or company is able to pay any judgments obtained against the person or company. Upon not less than ten days' notice, the department may issue a staff determination canceling self-insurer status when the requirements for the status no longer are met. The notice must provide that a person aggrieved by the staff determination may file a request for a contested case hearing with the Office of Motor Vehicle Hearings in accordance with its rules of procedure. The person or company must submit the following information to the department for it to determine financial responsibility:

   1. (1) a copy of the applicant's latest financial statement prepared by a certified public accountant licensed to do business in South Carolina, indicating that the applicant has a positive net worth;
   2. (2) a current list of all vehicles registered in applicant's name;
   3. (3) the applicant's procedural guidelines for processing claims; and
   4. (4) the applicant must have a net worth of at least twenty million dollars or the department may require the applicant to deposit in a segregated self-insured claims account the sum of three thousand dollars for each vehicle to be covered by the self-insurer's certificate. Eighty percent must be cash or an irrevocable letter of credit issued by a bank chartered in this State or a member bank of the federal reserve system, and the remaining twenty percent may be satisfied by the "quick sale" appraised value of real estate located in the State, as certified by a licensed appraiser. The three thousand dollar a vehicle amount may not decrease more than thirty percent in any given certificate year.
2. (B) A person or company that qualifies as a self-insurer, pursuant to this section, may issue certificates of insurance only on the vehicles registered in the applicant's name.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 46-709; 1952 (47) 1853; 1992 Act No. 492, Section 1; 1996 Act No. 331, Section 1; 2006 Act No. 241, Section 1, eff March 15, 2006; 2008 Act No. 279, Section 8, eff October 1, 2008.

Effect of Amendment

The 2006 amendment designated subsection (A), added, in the second sentence of paragraph (A)(4), the provision relating to irrevocable letters of credit; and added subsection (B) relating to issuance of certificates of insurance.

The 2008 amendment, in the introductory paragraph of subsection (A), in the second sentence deleted "and a hearing pursuant to the notice" following "ten day's notice" and substituted "issue a staff determination canceling" for "cancel"; and added the third sentence regarding filing for a contested case hearing.