Crouch or unsquat. The time has come for banned SC vehicles. Will owners choose to risk fines?

The red Silverado 4×4 that Noah Flowers drives was already squatted when he bought it, but that didn’t stop him from receiving a warning ticket in early April.

The 18-year-old Conway man was arrested by Horry County police early last month and issued a warning ticket for his truck.

Flowers’ truck, generally known as the Carolina squat truck, was banned in South Carolina. And while the police are currently only issuing warning tickets, on May 10, truck drivers will face heavier fines and most likely the revocation of their driving licenses.

But it does not appear that the owners of squatted trucks rushed to prevent their vehicles from being squatted.

Flowers said he might unsquat his truck, but he doesn’t plan to modify it too much. As of May 1, his truck was still the same.

The Carolina squat is a trendy modification typically found on a pickup or SUV that raises the front of the vehicle and lowers the rear.

“It kind of sucks,” Flowers said of his post. “Not everyone drives (like) an idiot*****.”

Tonya Gatquard of T&R Truck and Auto Repair in Myrtle Beach said the shop has received a few phone calls, but no one has come to have their truck modified to make it legal.

“I’m surprised,” Gatquard said. “They are so dangerous.”

Usually, those who squat their trucks do it themselves, according to Tammy Cassidy of C&G Auto and Truck in Myrtle Beach.

“Those who own these trucks think they’re going to go unnoticed,” Cassidy said. “(We) won’t see any of them until they give out the tickets.”

Starting May 10, drivers will be able to receive tickets for violating the new law. The first offense is a $100 fine; the second offense is $200 and the third offense is a $300 fine and license suspension by the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles for 12 months from the date of conviction.

The tickets involve illegally raising or lowering a motor vehicle more than 6 inches by an alteration or change in physical structure, with the exception of pickup trucks. However, the height of a pickup truck’s front fender cannot be raised or lowered 4 inches or more relative to the height of the rear fender.

South Carolina has joined Virginia and North Carolina in banning the popular squat trucks.

Although the law took effect July 1, the General Assembly included a provision that the law would not take effect until 180 days after it was approved by the governor. After these 180 days, i.e. in November, only warning tickets will be issued to violators of the law.

It’s unclear how many warning tickets have been issued since November. Myrtle Beach police said their warning tickets are “uninformative” whether a vehicle is a squat truck and were unable to provide the number of tickets. A Freedom of Information Act request to Horry County police regarding the number of warning tickets issued was not completed at the time of publication.

Ocean Boulevard in the Myrtle Beach area might look different this summer, as Myrtle Beach has long been a haven for squat trucks, which can be seen driving along the city’s busy Main Street.

Myrtle Beach Police Chief Amy Prock played a key role in the truck ban, testifying multiple times at state committee hearings. One incident used to encourage the ban was the death of a pedestrian, who was struck and killed by a Carolina squat truck in the city during the summer of 2021.

If people choose not to squat their vehicles, Scott Fedan, owner of Scott’s Garage in Loris, said they will most likely do it in their own yard.

But the more likely option, he says, is “They’ll just get the ticket.”