How to Fill Out the FR-309: South Carolina Traffic Collision Report

To fill out the FR-309 in South Carolina, complete the one-page Traffic Collision Report with information about both drivers, both vehicles, the location and description of the crash, and proof of your liability insurance, then mail it or hand-deliver it to the SCDMV Financial Responsibility office within 15 days of the accident.¹ The form is a self-report drivers use when law enforcement did not investigate the crash, and the insurance section is what the DMV actually cares about: if your coverage can’t be verified, your license and registration get suspended.

When You’re Required to File

Under S.C. Code 56-5-1270, you must file the FR-309 when two things are true: no law enforcement officer investigated the collision, and the crash caused bodily injury, death, or apparent total property damage of $1,000 or more.¹ The $1,000 threshold covers combined damage to all vehicles and property involved, not just yours.

The typical case is a parking-lot crash or another private-property collision where police don’t respond. It also applies when officers came to the scene but chose not to write a formal investigative report. If an officer investigated and filed their own report, you don’t need the FR-309.

The 15-day clock runs from the date of the accident, not from when you notice damage or get a repair estimate. If the DMV doesn’t receive a verified form within that window, the statute treats the silence as presumptive evidence your vehicle was uninsured, which triggers the same penalties as actually driving without coverage.¹

Where to Get the Form

Download the FR-309 as a PDF from the SCDMV Forms and Manuals page under “Accident and Insurance Inquiry Forms (Financial Responsibility),” or pick up a paper copy at any DMV branch.² The form itself is published by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.³ There is no online filing option. You cannot submit the FR-309 electronically, by fax, or by email.

What to Gather Before You Start

Pull everything together in one place before you write anything on the form. Blank fields and guesses at VINs cause processing delays and follow-up requests from the DMV.

Your driver’s license and the other driver’s license (or a photo of it)
Your insurance ID card or the insurer’s app, with policy number visible
The VIN for each vehicle, from the dashboard plate visible through the windshield or from the registration card
The address or landmark that pinpoints where the crash happened, plus the date and time
Names and phone numbers of any passengers or witnesses
Photos you took at the scene

Filling Out Each Section

Driver and Vehicle Information

The form has side-by-side columns for Driver 1 and Driver 2. For each driver, enter the full name, address, phone number, date of birth, driver’s license number and issuing state, and the vehicle’s VIN.³

If the other driver left the scene or refused to cooperate, fill in whatever you managed to collect. A partial plate number beats a blank field. Note in the narrative what wasn’t available and why. If only your vehicle was involved, because you hit a parked car or a fixed object, complete only the Driver 1 column and describe the other property in the collision description.

Collision Location

Give the street name or road number, the nearest intersection or a distance from a recognizable landmark, and the direction from that reference point.³ Be specific. “Walmart parking lot on Two Notch Road” tells the DMV where you were; “parking lot” doesn’t. If your scene photos have GPS data, use it. Include the date and time of the crash.

Insurance Information

For each vehicle, list the insurance company name and the policy number.³ This is the section that decides whether the DMV treats you as insured, so copy the details straight from your ID card or your insurer’s app. Don’t work from memory. South Carolina requires minimum liability coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage, and the DMV will check that your policy met those minimums on the date of the crash.⁴

The form also has a block for an insurance agency representative to complete. Your insurer doesn’t have to fill it in before you mail the form, but if your agent can complete and sign it upfront, verification tends to go faster. Call your agent, tell them you’re filing an FR-309, and ask whether they’ll also send verification directly to the DMV.⁵

Injuries and Collision Description

Check the boxes indicating whether anyone was injured and whether anyone was transported for medical treatment, and note who was transported.³

In the narrative, describe the direction of travel for each vehicle and the sequence of events. Stay factual: speed, lane position, what each driver was doing, what each vehicle struck. Leave out conclusions about who was at fault. The DMV uses the FR-309 to verify insurance, not to assign blame. Add contact information for any passengers and witnesses; if the other driver later gives a different version of events, those names matter.

Where to Send It

Mail the completed FR-309 to:

SCDMV Financial Responsibility
PO Box 1498
Blythewood, SC 29016-0040⁵

You can also hand-deliver it at a DMV branch. Before you send anything, keep a copy: a photocopy, or a clear phone photo of every page. If a dispute later comes up about whether you filed on time, that copy plus a postmark or delivery receipt is your evidence. If you’re filing near the 15-day cutoff, send it certified mail with return receipt. Standard first-class mail is fine earlier in the window.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline or Can’t Verify Coverage

When the DMV receives your form, it checks electronically whether your policy was active and met the state’s minimum coverage on the date of the accident.⁶ If the numbers match, the file is closed and you generally won’t get a confirmation letter.

If the DMV never receives a verified FR-309 within 15 days, or receives one it can’t verify, it treats the vehicle as uninsured.¹ That means suspension of your driver’s license, plates, and registration until the insurance issue is resolved and the required fees are paid, plus a statutory reinstatement fee of $600 (adjusted annually), a per-diem lapse fine of $5 a day up to $200 per vehicle on a first offense, and a possible security deposit toward any judgment from the crash.⁷ Getting the license back typically requires an SR-22 certificate from your insurer, maintained for three years.

Operating an uninsured vehicle is also a misdemeanor in South Carolina, with a first-offense fine of $100 to $200 or up to 30 days in jail.⁷ All of which is to say: the form itself is short, but the cost of skipping it, filing it late, or filing it with bad insurance information is not. Complete the FR-309 the same day as the crash if you can, using the photos and cards you gathered at the scene, and send it well before day 15.

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 56-5-1270 – Operators, Owners, and Law Enforcement Officers Shall Make Written Reports of Certain Accidents and Investigations
2
South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. Forms and Manuals
3
South Carolina Department of Public Safety. FR-309 South Carolina Traffic Collision Report
4
South Carolina Department of Insurance. Automobile Insurance
5
City of Columbia Police Department. Private Property Collision Reporting
6
South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. Insurance Requirements
7
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 56 Chapter 10 – Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility