Uninsured vs. Underinsured Motorist Coverage in Oregon

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

Oregon has one UM coverage that includes underinsurance. It covers the sums you are legally entitled to recover beyond the other driver's insurance, up to your limit. You generally need your insurer's consent before you settle, and a UM claim has its own two-year rule.

Uninsured and underinsured

ORS 742.504(2) counts an uninsured vehicle as one with no collectible bodily injury liability insurance in at least the required amounts, one whose insurer denies coverage or is insolvent, a hit-and-run, phantom or stolen vehicle, and some self-insurer vehicles. Section 742.502 adds underinsurance for a driver whose liability insurance provides less than your damages.

How it pays

Your recoverable damages are what you could have recovered after comparative fault and defenses, without regard to tort claim limits. Underinsured benefits require that the liability limits be exhausted, or offered with your insurer's consent refused, or credited. With $100,000 of UM, $25,000 paid and $250,000 of damages, UM pays up to $100,000.

Consent and timing

The coverage does not apply if you settle with or sue the other driver without your insurer's written consent. Consent is presumed if it does not respond within a reasonable time, no more than 30 days. No UM cause of action accrues unless within two years of the accident you reach an agreement, start arbitration, sue the insurer, or sue the other driver and then act within two years of that result.

Fault

Your damages are reduced by your share of fault, and you are barred only if your fault is greater than the combined fault of all others, so 50 percent is allowed (ORS 31.600). Oregon has no no-fault threshold for pain and suffering. Injury actions generally have 2 years (ORS 12.110).

Next steps

Stacking is a separate question; see our statute post and the explainer, then use the Oregon UM/UIM stacking calculator.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the state comparisons above are illustrative, not an exhaustive survey. Confirm how Oregon's rules apply to your specific case with a licensed Oregon attorney.