South Carolina key facts
- Bonded title: not issued
- What South Carolina uses instead: Affidavit of Ownership
- Authority: S.C. Code Title 56, Ch. 19 contains no bond-in-lieu-of-ownership provision
- Forms: SCDMV Form TI-021A Affidavit of Ownership for a Motor Vehicle or Mobile Home; TI-021B inspection; Form 400
- Agency: South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles
Why there is no South Carolina title bond
Thirty-five states have adopted some form of the Uniform Motor Vehicle Certificate of Title and Anti-Theft Act's bond provision, which lets an applicant who cannot prove ownership post a surety bond and receive a branded title. South Carolina has not. Its vehicle code requires the titling agency to be satisfied as to ownership before a title issues, and gives the applicant an administrative or judicial route when the paper trail is broken. A surety bond that the agency has no authority to accept does not help, and we will not sell you one for a South Carolina-titled vehicle.
What South Carolina does instead
- No surety bond.
- The applicant files the TI-021A sworn statement of how, where and when the vehicle was acquired, with odometer and lien information and an indemnification of SCDMV, photographs of all four sides, an SCDMV or law enforcement inspection on TI-021B, the title fee plus infrastructure maintenance fee or sales tax.
- Mobile homes need a county treasurer tax letter plus seven years of tax or insurance records.
When a title bond may still apply
If the vehicle was last titled in a state that does bond titles, the fastest path is often to obtain a bonded title there and surrender it to South Carolina. Oregon's DMV manual, for example, expressly accepts other states' bonded titles and issues a clean Oregon title against them, and most non-bond states take the same view because the surrendered bonded title is a valid certificate of title from the issuing state. The catch is that the bonding state will usually require you to be its resident or to have the vehicle physically inside its borders. Our underwriters can read the prior-state record and tell you whether that route is open.
If the vehicle has never been titled anywhere, or South Carolina is the only state in its record, the South Carolina route above is the only one.
South Carolina FAQ
Can I get a bonded title in South Carolina?
What does South Carolina do instead of a title bond?
Why do some websites sell a South Carolina lost title bond?
When might a title bond still help a South Carolina resident?
Primary sources
- S.C. Code Title 56, Ch. 19 contains no bond-in-lieu-of-ownership provision
- Official form: SCDMV Form TI-021A Affidavit of Ownership for a Motor Vehicle or Mobile Home
- South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles
Content last reviewed November 5, 2026. Confidence that South Carolina issues no bonded title: medium-high. If South Carolina adopts a bond provision, this page will change.
States that do bond titles
Written and reviewed by C. Constantin Poindexter, MA, JD, CPCU, AFSB, ASLI, ARe, AINS, AIS, CPLP, founder of Surety One, Inc. and CEO of Janus Assurance Re, with more than thirty years of surety and reinsurance underwriting experience. Author of The Contractor's Guide to Surety Bonds. Reflects state law and DMV practice as of November 5, 2026. More about the author →
Vehicle last titled elsewhere?
Tell an underwriter where the vehicle was last titled and we will say whether a bonded title in that state will get you a clean South Carolina title.
Quote a bond in another state
Pick the state, enter the vehicle's value, and the statutory multiplier does the rest. Rounded up to the next $1,000.