Permissive Use, Two Policies, Three Claimants
Dana's South Carolina personal auto policy carries limits of 100/300/50, $5,000 medical payments, and UM/UIM at the same limits. Her 17-year-old son Eli is a rated driver. Eli borrowed the Civic owned by his friend's mother to drive to school; the car is not furnished to him for regular use. He ran a red light and struck another vehicle. The two people in that car settle for $42,000 and $18,000, and the other car's repair estimate is $31,000. The Civic's owner carries South Carolina minimum limits of 25/50/25 and her carrier has already tendered. Dana's carrier is now being asked to pay the rest. Eli had permission to drive, and no other policy applies to him.
1. How is the Civic owner's 25/50/25 policy allocated among the three claimants?
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The owner's policy pays first because liability follows the vehicle and Eli was a permissive user.
- Injured person 1: $42,000 claim, capped at the $25,000 per-person limit → $25,000.
- Injured person 2: $18,000 claim, under the per-person limit → $18,000 paid in full.
- Per-accident check: $25,000 + $18,000 = $43,000, which is under the $50,000 per-accident limit, so no further proration is required.
- Property damage: $31,000 claim against a $25,000 PD limit → $25,000.
Total from the owner's policy: $68,000.
The judgment point is the order of operations. Test each claim against the per-person limit first, then total them against the per-accident limit. Had both claimants' injuries been $30,000 each, the per-accident cap would have bound and each would have received $25,000.
2. What does Dana's policy pay, under what coverage, and why is it not primary?
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Eli is an insured and the Civic is a covered non-owned auto. A private passenger auto not owned by and not furnished for regular use to the insured or a family member qualifies. Had the friend's mother been providing Eli a car to drive every day, there would be no coverage at all - that is the line to check first.
Other insurance makes Dana's policy excess. Because the owner's policy covers the same loss on a primary basis, Dana's carrier pays only the unpaid balances:
- Injured person 1: $42,000 − $25,000 = $17,000
- Injured person 2: $18,000 − $18,000 = $0
- Property damage: $31,000 − $25,000 = $6,000
Total excess payment: $23,000.
Dana's 100/300/50 limits comfortably absorb it: $34,000 of bodily injury against a $300,000 per-accident limit, and $6,000 of PD against $50,000. Medical payments contributes nothing here - med pay responds to injuries to the insured and passengers in the insured vehicle, not to third-party claimants.
3. Six months later Dana is injured by a hit-and-run driver while driving her own car. Her medical bills are $30,000 and the driver is never found. How do medical payments and uninsured motorist coverage interact?
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Two coverages respond, in a specific order.
- Medical payments - $5,000. Med pay is no-fault: it pays the insured's reasonable medical expenses regardless of who caused the accident, up to the $5,000 limit.
- Uninsured motorist - up to $25,000 more. A hit-and-run driver is an uninsured motorist. UM pays the compensatory damages Dana is legally entitled to recover, limited by the $100,000 per-person UM limit, reduced by sums already paid for the same expenses so she does not recover twice.
Result: $5,000 med pay + $25,000 UM = the $30,000 of medicals, with the UM limit never close to exhausted.
Two things to verify in practice: South Carolina requires UM to be offered, and UM/UIM limits can never exceed the policy's liability limits. Also confirm whether the endorsement offsets med pay or merely bars duplicate recovery - the form language controls the timing of the two payments, not the total.