
Mark Turley, owner of Priority Insurance LLC, outside the agency's Greenville office.
2011
Serving the Upstate Since
Large
Carrier Partner Network
CLU · ChFC
Credentialed Advisor on Staff
SC · NC · GA
Licensed In 3 States
Every morning I pull out of the lot at our office on Milestone Way in Greenville, and I drive the same roads you do — 385, Woodruff Road, Wade Hampton, Pelham. I also drive a vehicle that turns a few heads. I mention that not to brag, but because it points straight at something I talk about with clients every single week: in South Carolina, the driver most exposed in a serious accident is often the one people assume is best protected.
My name is Mark Turley. I own Priority Insurance LLC, an independent agency that has served Greenville and the Upstate since 2011. I want to walk you through auto liability coverage — what it is, what South Carolina actually requires, why the state minimums can quietly leave you exposed, and why anyone with a nice car, a home, or a business needs to think harder about it than most people do.
Liability is the coverage that protects you, not your car
When people shop for auto insurance, they usually fixate on collision and comprehensive — the coverage that repairs their own vehicle. That matters. But it is not the coverage that can reach into your bank account, your home equity, and your future paychecks.
Liability coverage does. It has two parts:
- Bodily injury liability pays for the medical bills, lost wages, and pain-and-suffering claims of people you injure in an at-fault accident — and it pays for the attorney your insurer hires to defend you.
- Property damage liability pays for the other party's vehicle and any property you damage, from a fence to a storefront.
If a claim or a jury award climbs higher than your liability limits, the difference does not disappear. It becomes your personal responsibility. That is the whole ballgame, and it is where most drivers are dangerously thin.
What South Carolina actually requires (and why it isn't enough)
South Carolina law requires every driver to carry liability limits of 25/50/25. In plain English, that means $25,000 in bodily injury coverage per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 in property damage per accident. South Carolina also mandates uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage at those same limits — and unlike most states, it cannot be waived.
Those are legal minimums, not safe minimums. Consider how quickly they evaporate. One emergency-room visit, one surgery, one ambulance ride, and a few days of missed work can blow past $25,000 for a single injured person. A modern SUV or truck can cost well over $25,000 to replace, so the property-damage limit is easily exceeded in a multi-vehicle pileup. South Carolina is an at-fault, comparative-negligence state, which means the driver who causes the wreck is the one on the hook for the other side's damages.
The state minimum keeps you legal. It does not keep you protected. Those are two very different things.
This is why, as an agency, we do not treat 25/50/25 as a finish line. For most households, we recommend liability limits of at least 100/300/100 — $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident, and $100,000 in property damage — and for many clients, a personal umbrella policy on top of that. The difference in premium is usually far smaller than people expect, and the difference in protection is enormous.
The Upstate's injury-lawsuit climate is real
If you have driven I-85 or turned on a television in Greenville lately, you already know this: personal-injury advertising in South Carolina is everywhere. Billboards, radio spots, late-night commercials, sponsored search results. There is nothing wrong with an accident victim hiring a lawyer — but the sheer volume of that advertising has changed the environment every driver operates in.
Nationally, so-called “nuclear verdicts” — jury awards above $10 million — rose sharply in recent years, and auto-accident cases make up roughly a quarter of them. South Carolina courts have handed down seven-figure car-accident verdicts in counties right around us. Attorneys use well-documented courtroom techniques, such as “anchoring” a jury to a very large number, and a broader trend insurers call “social inflation” has pushed the size of settlements and awards steadily upward.
None of that is meant to scare you. It is meant to be honest about the world we insure people in. When the potential cost of an at-fault accident is rising, the protection you carry against it should rise too.
Why a nicer car — or a home, or a business — can make you a target
Here is the part that hits close to home for me personally. When a claim is being evaluated, one of the quiet questions on the other side is always: is this defendant collectable? A driver in an older economy car with few assets is a very different target than a homeowner, a business owner, or someone driving a $70,000 vehicle.
If my wife or I were ever at fault in a serious accident, it is not hard to imagine an attorney looking at the car, the house, and the business and deciding it is worth pursuing every dollar above our policy limits. That is not paranoia — it is exactly how these cases are assessed. The people with the most to lose are frequently the people carrying the thinnest liability coverage relative to their exposure, because they bought a policy years ago and never revisited the limits.
The uncomfortable math: Say you carry the state minimum and cause an accident that results in a $250,000 judgment. Your policy pays its $25,000–$50,000 share. The remaining balance can be pursued against your savings, your home equity, and even your future wages. Adequate liability limits plus an umbrella policy are what stand between a bad day and a financial catastrophe.
How much liability coverage should you carry?
There is no single right answer, but here is the framework I use with clients:
- Match your coverage to your assets. The more you own, the more a plaintiff's attorney has reason to pursue — and the higher your limits should be.
- Start at 100/300/100 for most households. It is the practical floor for anyone with a home, savings, or steady income to protect.
- Add a personal umbrella policy. An umbrella adds $1 million or more of liability protection above your auto and home policies, usually for a modest annual cost. For business owners and higher-net-worth families in the Upstate, this is not a luxury — it is basic asset protection.
- Do not shortchange UM/UIM. Roughly one in eight South Carolina drivers is uninsured, and many more carry only the bare minimum. If one of them injures you, your own UM/UIM coverage is what pays — so raising those limits protects your own family, too.
Serving Greenville and the towns around it
We write auto policies for drivers throughout the Upstate: Greenville, Greer, Simpsonville, Mauldin, Taylors, Fountain Inn, Travelers Rest, Easley, Anderson, Spartanburg, and the surrounding communities. Because we are an independent agency, we are not tied to one company — we shop a large network of top-rated carrier partners to match the right coverage and price to your situation, and we build every auto policy with the UM/UIM protection South Carolina drivers need.
Why work with Priority Insurance
Trust is the whole reason I sat down to write this. When you are choosing who protects your family and your assets, you should know exactly who is behind the advice. Priority Insurance has been an independent, locally owned agency in Greenville since 2011. We are licensed in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, and our team includes an advisor who holds the CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter) and ChFC (Chartered Financial Consultant) designations from The American College of Financial Services — credentials that reflect a genuine depth of expertise in protecting what you have built.
We are not a call center in another state. We are your neighbors, and we will look at your specific exposure — your vehicles, your assets, and your risk — and tell you honestly whether your current coverage is doing its job.
Is your liability coverage actually protecting you?
Let's review your limits and close the gaps before you need them.
Mark Turley
Owner · Priority Insurance LLC
Mark Turley is the owner of Priority Insurance LLC, an independent insurance agency serving Greenville and the Upstate of South Carolina since 2011. Priority is licensed in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia and shops a large network of top-rated carriers to match coverage to each client's real-world exposure. Reach the agency at 140 Milestone Way, Suite A, Greenville, SC 29615, or call (864) 297-9744.









