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| Home | Buying Auto Insurance | Oregon Uninsured & Underinsured Motorist Coverage | Making A Claim Against A Government Entity | Oregon PIP Law | |||
What you need to know about buying auto insurance.
How much Oregon auto insurance do I need?Oregon requires that you purchase a minimum of $25,000 in auto liability insurance. This insurance also includes uninsured motorist coverage to protect you in the event you are injured by an uninsured driver. The minimum Oregon coverage is not nearly enough. Many of my client’s medical expenses alone exceed $25,000. I recently testified before the Oregon State Legislature in support of a bill to raise this amount to $50,000 to keep up inflation. Unfortunately, the insurance lobby was able to defeat this bill and keep the minimum Oregon auto insurance requirement at $25,000.
Buy as much insurance as you can afford.Every year I deal with a number of permanently injured people hurt by people with little or no auto insurance. You cannot count on the other driver to have adequate insurance. In order to protect yourself and your family, you need to buy as much uninsured motorist coverage as you can afford. It does not cost much more to go from a $50,000 policy to a $300,000 policy, but it can make all the difference in the world if you are badly injured.
Buy an umbrella policy.Umbrella policies are insurance policies that provide coverage in addition to your Oregon auto and homeowners policies. The right umbrella policy can protect your personal assets if you are sued, but more importantly protects you if you are badly injured by an uninsured or underinsured motorist. Do not buy an umbrella policy unless this policy includes uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Many of these policies are fairly inexpensive and an offer you over a million dollars in coverage for just a few hundred dollars a year.
Which insurance companies do you recommend?All Oregon auto insurance companies can be difficult to deal with and treat their customers poorly. The Oregon auto insurance companies that I have found to treat their customers the worst are Allstate, American Family, Safeco, and Farmers insurance. I would not buy insurance from any of these companies.[back to top of page]
Oregon Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist CoverageQ: What if the at-fault driver is uninsured?A: There are a lot of uninsured drivers in Oregon. Many of my clients are injured by drivers with little or no auto insurance. Oregon auto insurance laws require that every driver carry a minimum of $25,000 in uninsured motorist coverage. If that at-fault driver does not have insurance, then you make a claim against your own insurance carrier for you personal injuries, medical expenses, and lost wages. Strangely, if you have adequate insurance coverage, I think you are in a better position to make a claim if you are struck by an uninsured driver. If you are forced to sue your insurance company for an uninsured motorist claim, the jury knows you are suing and insurance company and I believe that they are more likely to give you a higher award than if you were suing another person, as the jury cannot be told whether or not the person you are suing has insurance coverage. Additionally, most insurance companies agree to binding arbitration in uninsured motorist claims. This is much quicker and cheaper than filing a lawsuit and oftentimes results in very fair awards.Q: What if the at-fault driver does not have enough insurance to cover my personal injury claim?A: Oregon auto insurance laws require that every driver carry a minimum of $25,000 in underinsured motorist coverage. This coverage would apply if the at-fault driver had less than $25,000 in insurance coverage. Unfortunately this coverage does not “stack”. What this means is that if you have a personal injury claim against a driver with the same insurance coverage as your underinsured coverage, you do not receive any benefits under your underinsured motorist coverage. An example of this would be if you incurred $50,000 in medical expenses and the at-fault driver had a $25,000 policy and your underinsured motorist coverage was $25,000, the most you could recover is $25,000. This is not very fair, as you paid for $25,000 in coverage but in reality received zero coverage. This area of law is very unsettled right now, as there is a very recent Oregon Supreme Court case that I believe may challenge the insurance companies’ position that this coverage does not “stack”.Q: What can I do to protect myself against uninsured drivers?A: Every year, I run into cases of clients with permanent, disabling injuries caused by drivers with little or no insurance. Oftentimes there is nothing I can do to help these people, as it is almost never a viable option to pursue the at-fault driver’s personal assets. People with assets worth pursuing tend to have large policies and vice versa. I tell every client to buy as much uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance as they can afford. It is fairly inexpensive, with the difference between $50,000 and $300,000 being a few dollars a month. A $1,000,000 million dollar umbrella policy that includes uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may be as cheap as $300 per year. You will never regret buying an umbrella policy if you are ever in a serious accident.[back to top of page] What you need to know about making a claim against a government entity.Q: Do I have to do anything different to make a claim against a government entity?A: Yes. Oregon Tort Claims Act requires that you notify the government entity within six months of the date of the accident or you may not be able to make a claim. If you are injured as a result of an Oregon or any other government entity, notify them immediately and make them aware of your claim or you may not be able to pursue your claim.Q: What are the limits for making a claim against an Oregon government entity?A: The Oregon Tort Claims Act limits the liability of any Oregon public body, its officers, employees or agents to $50,000 per claimant for property damage, $100,000 per claimant for non-economic damages (pain and suffering) and $100,000 per claimant for economic damages (lost wages, medical expense, etc.).[back to top of page]
Disclaimer: The Oregon personal injury, auto accident, dog bite, pain and suffering, traumatic brain injury, negligence, wrongful death, product liability, motorcycle accident, car insurance, pip personal injury protection insurance, vehicle insurance, or other legal information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice, nor the formation of a lawyer or attorney client relationship. Any results set forth here were dependent on the facts of that particular personal injury case, auto accident, bicycle accident, wrongful death, or motorcycle accident case and the results will differ from case to case. To get specific legal advice regarding your personal injury, auto accident, motorcycle accident, bicycle accident, brain injury, or wrongful death claim, please contact Oregon attorney Michael Colbach at his office in Portland, Oregon. This web site is not intended to solicit clients for matters outside of the State of Oregon and may be considered advertising by the Oregon State Bar Rules. Privacy Statement: This is an Information Only Website. Michael A. Colbach Attorney at Law, does not collect, retrieve, store, or otherwise maintain any personal data from visitors to this site. Site Content: Jones Act, Train, Bus, Plane Accidents, Trams, Ships, Boats, Wrongful Death, Workmans Comp, Workmans Compensation, Workman's Comp, Car Accidents, Ship, Railway, Tram, Negligence, Negligent Conduct. |
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| Content Copyright © 2006 Mike Colbach | Photos: www.aaronlogan.com and JF Boutrouche | Email: Mike@ColbachLaw.com |
