What to do after a car accident in Oregon

A crash scrambles your thinking right when Oregon law starts running clocks against you. The general first steps (check for injuries, call 911, photograph the scene, trade information) are covered on the national hub for this page. What follows is the part that's specific to Oregon: the reporting deadline you personally owe, the money your own policy already has to pay you, how the state splits fault, and the statutes that decide how long you have.

Report the crash to the DMV within 72 hours

Oregon makes you file your own report, separate from anything the police do. You must submit a DMV Accident and Insurance Report within 72 hours if anyone was injured or killed, if any vehicle involved was damaged more than $2,500 (including if it had to be towed because of the damage), or if other property damage tops $2,500.¹ Blowing past that deadline can get your license suspended.

One thing surprises people. The DMV will not hand you a copy of the report you filed, because ORS 802.220(5) bars it from releasing driver-submitted reports.¹ The document you actually want for an insurance claim is the investigating officer's crash report, a separate record held by the police agency. You can start that request through our Oregon crash report guide.

Oregon is an at-fault state with mandatory PIP

Oregon runs a traditional at-fault (tort) system, so the driver who caused the wreck, through their insurer, owes for the harm. But the state also adds a no-fault-style benefit to every policy: personal injury protection, or PIP.

Every private-passenger auto policy sold in Oregon has to include PIP, and it pays no matter who caused the crash.² The statutory minimums are set: up to $15,000 for reasonable medical and hospital expenses incurred within two years of the crash, 70% of your lost wages up to $3,000 a month for as long as 52 weeks, and up to $5,000 in funeral expenses if incurred within one year.² PIP is why you can get treatment paid quickly without first proving who was at fault. Use it early. It's your coverage, and using it doesn't raise your rates for a crash you didn't cause.

How Oregon splits the fault

Oregon uses modified comparative negligence. If you were partly to blame, your recovery shrinks by your share of fault, and you recover nothing once your share is greater than the combined fault of everyone you're suing.³ In a normal two-car crash, the line sits at 51%: at 50% fault you still collect half your damages, at 51% you collect nothing. The other side's insurer knows exactly where that line is, so expect an effort to push your percentage up toward it.

The coverage that saves you when the other driver carries too little

Oregon's minimum liability limits are low. The requirement is 25/50/20, meaning $25,000 per injured person, $50,000 per crash, and $20,000 for property damage.⁴ A serious injury runs through $25,000 in a single hospital stay.

That gap is what uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) is for. Oregon requires UM/UIM on every auto liability policy, and by law those limits must equal your own bodily injury liability limits unless you signed a written election for lower ones within 60 days of the offer.⁵ So if a driver with a bare $25,000 policy hurts you and your UIM limit is higher, your own insurer covers the difference. Pull your declarations page and check the number before you ever need it.

Your deadlines

Two years. That's the core deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit from an Oregon crash, under ORS 12.110(1).⁶ File after it and the claim is almost always dead no matter how strong the facts.

Vehicle damage runs on a different clock. You have six years to sue for injury to personal property, including your car, under ORS 12.080(4).⁷ If your car is worth less on the market after the wreck even though the body shop did clean work, that's a diminished value claim, and it rides the same six-year property deadline. Our Oregon diminished value page walks through how that number gets calculated.

What your case can actually be worth

Oregon has a statute, ORS 31.710, that caps noneconomic damages (pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment) at $500,000.⁸ For an ordinary injury negligence claim, that cap does not hold. In Busch v. McInnis Waste Systems, Inc. (2020), the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the $500,000 cap unconstitutional as applied to a common-law negligence claim because it violated the remedy clause of Article I, section 10 of the Oregon Constitution. A jury had awarded an injured pedestrian $10.5 million, and the trial court had cut it to $500,000 before the high court reversed.⁹ Your economic damages (medical bills, lost income) were never capped, and after Busch your noneconomic damages generally aren't capped either in a negligence case.

If a drunk driver hit you

Two extra Oregon rules can change a drunk-driving case. First, you may have a claim against the bar, restaurant, or social host that served alcohol to someone visibly intoxicated who then drove and hurt you, but you have to give written notice of that claim within 180 days under ORS 471.565.¹⁰ Miss those 180 days and the dram-shop claim is usually gone even though your two-year injury deadline is still wide open.

Second, punitive damages are on the table when a driver's conduct was reckless and outrageous, proven by clear and convincing evidence.¹¹ Know where that money goes, though: Oregon keeps 60% of any punitive award for its Criminal Injuries Compensation Account, so the figure a jury announces is not the figure that reaches you.¹²

Phones, helmets, and the citations that help your claim

Oregon's handheld phone ban is strict and it's primary enforcement, so an officer can pull a driver over for that alone. Holding or using a phone while driving is illegal even when you're stopped at a red light. A first offense is a Class B traffic violation with a presumptive fine of $265 and a maximum of $1,000; a second offense, or one that contributes to a crash, is a Class A violation up to $2,000.¹³ If the driver who hit you was on a phone, a citation under ORS 811.507 is strong evidence of negligence.

For riders: Oregon requires both motorcycle operators and passengers to wear a DOT-compliant helmet, with narrow exemptions, and splitting or filtering between lanes is still an illegal traffic violation.¹⁴ A helmet has no bearing on your right to recover, but expect the insurer to bring it up anyway.

When to bring in a lawyer

Not every fender-bender needs one. But if you were seriously hurt, if fault is contested, if the other driver was uninsured, or if an adjuster is pressing you to settle before you know your full medical picture, get advice while the two-year clock still has room. You can start with our Oregon legal directory.

This article is general information about Oregon law, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Oregon DMV, Report a Crash (Accident and Insurance Report; ORS 802.220(5)). https://www.oregon.gov/odot/dmv/pages/driverid/accidentreport.aspx

2. ORS 742.520 and ORS 742.524, Oregon Revised Statutes (mandatory PIP and benefit minimums). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors742.html

3. ORS 31.600, Oregon Revised Statutes (comparative fault). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors031.html

4. ORS 806.070(2), Oregon Revised Statutes (minimum liability limits). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors806.html

5. ORS 742.502, Oregon Revised Statutes (uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors742.html

6. ORS 12.110(1), Oregon Revised Statutes (two-year personal injury limitation). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html

7. ORS 12.080(4), Oregon Revised Statutes (six-year personal property limitation). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html

8. ORS 31.710, Oregon Revised Statutes (noneconomic damages cap). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors031.html

9. Busch v. McInnis Waste Systems, Inc., 366 Or 628, 468 P3d 419 (2020), Oregon Supreme Court. https://law.justia.com/cases/oregon/supreme-court/2020/s066098.html

10. ORS 471.565, Oregon Revised Statutes (liability of alcohol provider; 180-day notice). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors471.html

11. ORS 31.730, Oregon Revised Statutes (punitive damages standard). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors031.html

12. ORS 31.735, Oregon Revised Statutes (punitive damages allocation to the state). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors031.html

13. Oregon Department of Transportation, Distracted Driving (ORS 811.507). https://www.oregon.gov/odot/safety/pages/distracted.aspx

14. ORS 814.269, 814.290, and 814.240, Oregon Revised Statutes (motorcycle helmets and lane splitting). https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors814.html