Why Minimum Auto Coverage Isn't Enough

The Cost Gap: What One Accident Really Adds Up To

Here's the problem with Oregon's floor: it reflects 1970s-era cost expectations, not today's medicine and repair bills. A crash that puts two people in the ER can burn through the $25,000 per-person bodily injury cap before the second X-ray, and the $50,000 per-accident total vanishes even faster when three or more people are hurt. Hospital stays, surgery, and rehabilitation for a single serious injury routinely climb well past these figures.

What Oregon's Minimums Actually Buy You

Oregon law requires four pieces of coverage, and each one has a hard dollar ceiling. Bodily injury liability pays the other driver's medical bills and associated costs when you cause a wreck, capped at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Property damage liability covers damage you do to someone else's car or other property, up to $20,000 per accident (Insurify).