2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 56 - Motor Vehicles › Chapter 3 - Motor Vehicle Registration And Licensing › Section 56-3-376. Establishment of system of registration of motor vehicles on monthly basis; assignment of annual registration periods.

(A) All vehicles except those vehicles designated in Section 56-3-780 are designated as distinct classifications and must be assigned an annual registration period as follows:
(1) Classification (1). Vehicles for which the biennial registration fee is one hundred sixty dollars or more. The Department of Motor Vehicles may register and license a vehicle for which the biennial registration fee is one hundred sixty dollars or more or for a semiannual or one-half year upon application to the department by the owner and the payment of one-fourth of the specified biennial fee. Biennial registrations and licenses expire at midnight on the last day of the twenty-fourth month for the period for which they were issued. Semiannual or half-year registrations and licenses expire at midnight of the sixth month for the period for which they were issued and no person shall drive, move, or operate a vehicle upon a highway after the expiration of the registration and license until the vehicle is registered and licensed for the then current period. Trucks, truck tractors, or road tractors with an empty or unloaded weight of five thousand pounds or less, or gross vehicle weight of eight thousand pounds or less also must be placed in this classification but may not be registered for less than a full biennial period.
(2) Classification (2). Other vehicles. All other vehicles except those vehicles described in classification (1) and (3) of this section are assigned a staggered biennial registration which expires on the last day of the month for the period for which they were issued.
(3) Classification (3). Large commercial motor vehicles and buses registered by motor carriers, as defined in Section 12-37-2810, are assigned a staggered annual registration which expires on the last day of the month for the period for which they were issued.
(B) Notwithstanding the registration periods provided in this section, upon appropriate notice, the department may revise the established renewal dates to allow renewals to be assigned an expiration date pursuant to a staggered monthly basis.
HISTORY: 1978 Act No. 470 Section 2; 1980 Act No. 401; 1991 Act No. 148, Section 2; 1993 Act No. 164, Part II, Section 22C; 1994 Act No. 497, Part II, Section 55E; 1996 Act No. 459, Section 132; 2017 Act No. 40 (H.3516), Section 8.B, eff January 1, 2019; 2021 Act No. 37 (H.3689), Section 1, eff May 6, 2021.
Editor's Note
2017 Act No. 40, Sections 8.L, 8.M, provide as follows:
"L. (1) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary within this SECTION, a person who registers a vehicle for use in this State pursuant to Article 23, Chapter 37, Title 12, as amended by this act, must register his vehicle during calendar year 2019 and is required to pay the road fees calculated based on the fair market value of the vehicle as specified in Sections 12-37-2820 and 12-37-2850 at the time the vehicle's registration fees are paid.
"(2) Notwithstanding the provisions in Section 12-37-2865(B) and (C), as contained in this SECTION, to the contrary, during calendar year 2019, the first four hundred thousand dollars of fee revenue collected pursuant to Section 12-37-2865 must be retained by the Department of Motor Vehicles to defray programming costs.
"(3) The initial millage required by Section 12-37-2850 must be calculated on or before June 1, 2018.
"M. This SECTION takes effect January 1, 2019, except that the Department of Revenue, in consultation with the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, shall calculate the millage to be used to calculate the road use fee provided in Section 12-37-2850 by July 1, 2018."
Effect of Amendment
2017 Act No. 40, Section 8.B, inserted the paragraph identifiers; in (A)(2), inserted "and (3)"; and added (A)(3), relating to the classification of large commercial motor vehicles and buses.
2021 Act No. 37, Section 1, in the second and third sentences, substituted "one hundred" for "one-hundred", and in the sixth sentence, substituted "of five thousand pounds or less" for "of over five thousand pounds or less".