While the automobile may or may not be required to be insured by South Carolina and the states which you are passing through in order to transport it by hitch to New York it would normally be wise to keep insurance on it for the trip.

The reason to keep insurance on it is so that if something happens to it your collision or comprehensive damages would cover the damage sustained during the move. Also if your car is still registered and has South Carolina license plates on it then SC law requires you to keep insurance on the vehicle.

According to the SC DMV if your auto insurance cancels or expires you must return your vehicle's license plates and registration to the DMV or reinstate your insurance coverage. The reinstatement fee you will be subjected to is $200 and a $5 penalty for each day the vehicle was uninsured or the plates were not turned in. The maximum penalty for the first offense is $400 per vehicle.

Beyond this, the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles can be notified by your car insurance company when your insurance lapses and suspend your driving privileges.

So it is important to keep insurance on your car as long as the SC registration is still on it. Once you get to New York you can see if your current insurance company is licenses to sell insurance there and can transfer over your SC policy to a NYS policy or you may instead have to shop around for New York auto insurance which is need to register your vehicle there.

Another item to point out is that some insurance companies will not want to supply you with car insurance if you have had a lapse in insurance. Thus it may be harder to find low cost car insurance if you take insurance off of your vehicle to transport it by hitch to New York.