What This License Is
§38-43-75(A)(3) defines the Property line as "property insurance coverage for the direct or consequential loss or damage to property of every kind." It is the first-party half of what most producers think of as one license: fire, dwelling, homeowners property coverages, commercial property, inland marine and the property side of a package policy.
What it does not include is liability. Casualty — "coverage against legal liability, including that for death, injury, or disability or damage to real or personal property" under §38-43-75(A)(4) — is a separate South Carolina line with its own exam. A homeowners policy is a property-and-liability contract, so a Property-only producer cannot write the whole thing alone. That is the practical argument for the combined exam.
South Carolina is unusual in offering all three routes: two standalone exams, a combined Property, Casualty, Surety and Marine exam, and a narrower Personal Lines exam for producers who sell only to individuals and families. Because every exam costs the same $59, the choice is about scope and study time rather than money.
Exam Options & Format
InsSC-Prop04 is 80 total items in 120 minutes for $59. The scored split has a quirk worth knowing: 75 scored questions — 50 general and 25 South Carolina — plus only 5 pretest items. That is different from Life, Accident and Health and Personal Lines, where the state section also carries pretest questions and the total unscored count is 10. On the Property exam, every question in the South Carolina section counts.
The passing standard is a scaled score of 70 on a 0-100 scale, set by the South Carolina Department of Insurance. The handbook is explicit that the number "should not be interpreted as the percentage or number of correct answers," so treat 70 as a standard rather than a fraction of 75.
The combined Property, Casualty, Surety and Marine exam (InsSC-PCSM04) is 140 items in 165 minutes — the longest producer exam South Carolina gives — for the same $59. It carries 130 scored questions and 10 pretest items, and it earns property and casualty authority together.
Note that South Carolina's exam catalog is broader than the main lines. The handbook also prices Surety (InsSC-Sure08), Crop (InsSC-Crop22), Title (InsSC-Title10) and Surplus Lines Broker (InsSC-Surp26) exams at $59 apiece — relevant if your book is heading toward bonds or the excess market.
Most Tested Topics on the South Carolina Property Exam
South Carolina's property section is shaped by one fact of geography — a hurricane coast — and one fact of politics: the 2004 rate modernization that replaced prior approval with a flex band. Every rule below is verified against the Code:
| Concept | The South Carolina rule |
|---|---|
| Residual property market | The South Carolina Wind and Hail Underwriting Association — created to "assure an adequate market for wind and hail insurance in the coastal areas" (§38-75-320) |
| Scope of the Wind Pool | Wind and hail only, but for both residential and commercial property (§38-75-330(A)) |
| The "coastal area" | Defined county by county in §38-75-310: parts of Beaufort, Colleton, Georgetown, Horry and Charleston counties — not the broader eight-county "seacoast area" defined in the same section |
| Insurer participation in the Wind Pool | Mandatory — membership is a condition of continued authority to write property insurance in the state (§38-75-330(B)) |
| Statewide FAIR Plan | There is none. South Carolina's only property residual mechanism is the coastal Wind Pool |
| Rate flex band | Overall average rate changes of 7% up or down take effect file-and-use, without prior approval, for fire, allied lines and homeowners (§38-73-220(A)) |
| Limit on flex-band increases | No more than two flex-band increases in any twelve-month period, and the second one requires prior approval (§38-73-220(B)) |
| When a flex-band filing takes effect | Not less than 30 days after the filing is made with the Director (§38-73-220(C)) |
| Absence of credit information | May be used in underwriting only if the insurer shows the Director that the absence is related to the risk (§38-73-325 for fire and allied lines; §38-73-425 for casualty) |
| Surplus lines license | A resident property and casualty producer license first, then the South Carolina broker exam, a $200 biennial fee and a $10,000 bond (§38-45-20) |
| Diligent effort before a nonadmitted placement | The risk must be one that one or more admitted insurers have declined — South Carolina requires declination, not a fixed count of three (§38-45-90(A)) |
| Municipal fire license fee | Municipalities may charge fire insurers up to 2% of premiums collected inside their limits — up to 5% in cities of 50,000 inhabitants or more (§38-7-160) |
The Wind Pool is where candidates lose the most points, and usually on scope rather than existence. Two things are counterintuitive. First, it writes commercial as well as residential property — it is not a homeowners-only pool. Second, South Carolina has no FAIR Plan at all, so a question asking what an inland homeowner does when the standard market declines has no residual-market answer: they go to surplus lines. Do not import a FAIR Plan from a neighboring state's material.
The other trap is the flex band. Candidates remember "7% file-and-use" and forget the two limits attached to it: the two-increases-per-year cap with prior approval on the second, and the fact that the 7% is an overall average across all coverages combined, not a ceiling on any individual insured's increase — §38-73-220(A) says so in terms. On surplus lines, note that South Carolina calls the license an insurance broker license and requires its own exam; and note the exempt commercial purchaser exception in §38-45-90(B), which excuses the diligent search entirely when the buyer qualifies and has asked for the nonadmitted placement in writing.
Where to Sit the South Carolina Exam — Every Center and the Scheduling Rules
Pearson VUE's South Carolina candidate handbook lists test sites in nine cities: Columbia, Beaufort, Bennettsville, Florence, Greenville, Graniteville, Myrtle Beach, North Charleston and Sumter. (The handbook prints Graniteville as "Granitesville" — the Aiken County town is Graniteville.) Two things follow from that list. It covers the Upstate, the Midlands, the Pee Dee and the Lowcountry, so most South Carolinians are within an hour of a seat; and it is cities only — the handbook prints no street addresses, and says so: "Please visit www.pearsonvue.com/sc/insurance to see all available testing centers. Locations and schedules are subject to change."
Book from the live locator, not from a list. Pearson VUE's South Carolina insurance test center finder is the authoritative source for addresses, hours and availability, and there is a separate locator for military-base sites. Any guide that publishes South Carolina test center street addresses is publishing something the handbook does not contain — and centers do close and move.
How scheduling works. You register and pay at the time of reservation, by credit card, debit card or voucher. The handbook is explicit that fees are not accepted at the test center, so there is no paying at the door. If you hold a voucher, note that vouchers expire twelve months from the date they are issued. You can book online through Pearson VUE's South Carolina insurance page or by phone.
The 48-hour rule — this is the expensive one. You may change or cancel a reservation up to 48 hours before the exam and either transfer the fee to a new reservation or request a refund. Inside 48 hours, nothing. The handbook: "Candidates absent from or late to an exam who have not changed or canceled the reservation according to the Change/Cancel Policy will not be admitted to the exam and will forfeit the exam fee." That is the entire $59, and it is the single most common avoidable cost in South Carolina licensing.
If something genuinely went wrong, there is a 14-day appeal. Candidates who were late or absent may call Pearson VUE within 14 days of the exam date to request an excused absence. The handbook names the qualifying reasons: illness, a death in the family, a disabling traffic accident, court or jury duty, military duty, or a weather emergency. Call inside the two weeks; the window is not generous and it is not retroactive beyond it.
Accommodations. Pearson VUE "complies with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act as amended" and provides reasonable accommodations for documented disabilities — the handbook names a separate testing room, extra testing time, and a reader or recorder as examples. Request accommodations when you register, not on test day.
Moving to South Carolina? You do not have to wait until you arrive. The handbook states that a new resident may take South Carolina licensing exams at any Pearson VUE test center nationwide before moving — so you can sit InsSC-Prop04 in another state and file the South Carolina application once you have a South Carolina address.
If a center is inconvenient, South Carolina also supports online proctored testing through OnVUE — the Accident & Health guide covers the hardware, room and check-in rules in detail. The trade is a 30-minute check-in and a much stricter environment in exchange for not driving to Bennettsville.
What It Costs
$59 to Pearson VUE for InsSC-Prop04 and $25 to the Department through NIPR — about $84 in published fees for a first-attempt pass. South Carolina charges the same $59 for every insurance exam it gives, including the longer combined exams, so the Property-only route saves no money over the combined route.
The two unpublished costs are the same for every line: IdentoGO's fingerprint fee, paid at the appointment, and NIPR's transaction fee, shown at checkout. South Carolina states neither in advance; §38-43-100(F) says only that the applicant bears the cost of the criminal history records checks.
The most avoidable cost in this state is the forfeited exam fee. Retakes are $59, a same-week reschedule made 48 hours out is free, and a no-show is $59 for nothing.
Eligibility Requirements
§38-43-100(F) requires you to be at least eighteen, to be of good moral character with no felony or §38-43-130 disqualifying act within ten years and no dishonesty-, breach-of-trust- or insurance-related misdemeanor within five, to have paid the §38-43-80 fees, and to have passed the exam for the line requested.
South Carolina's producer statute sets no residency or business-presence test; the application asks for a South Carolina residence and/or business address, and §38-43-107 requires you to keep it current and report changes within thirty days.
Fingerprints are required for new resident producer applications only — nonresident producers are not printed by South Carolina, and a continuously licensed producer is not re-printed at renewal (§38-43-100(G)).
Keeping Your Property License Active
Important CE details: Up to 18 credit hours earned beyond the requirement may be carried forward into the next biennial period, so an unusually heavy year of coursework is never wasted.
Renewal is biennial, by the last day of your birth month, in the years matching your birth year's parity (§38-43-106, §38-43-110). Each cycle takes 24 hours of CE including 3 ethics hours; the renewal fee is $25.
One frequently mislabeled requirement belongs here. If you sell federal flood insurance through the NFIP, you must complete a three-hour flood course — but that obligation comes from Section 207 of the federal Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004, not from South Carolina law. SCDOI's Bulletin 2007-04 explains the state's actual role: the Department may approve the course for three hours of South Carolina CE credit. Treat it as a federal condition of selling NFIP policies that happens to earn state CE, not as an SCDOI mandate.
If you add casualty authority, note that South Carolina then splits your CE: §38-43-106 requires a producer licensed in both property and casualty and life, accident and health to complete at least one-third of the 24 hours in courses related to each — the Department states it as a minimum of 8 hours per side plus the 3 ethics hours. The Property & Casualty guide works through the renewal and reinstatement mechanics in full.
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