Uninsured motorist coverage is a must these days. Up to 25 percent of the vehicles on the road may not have liability insurance. The ones that do often only have a "full coverage" policy, which means they bought the least amount of coverage they needed in order to comply with the Oregon or Washington full coverage law.
In both states this only requires liability coverage of $25,000. Unfortunately this won't go very far if they hurt someone seriously, which is why it is so important to purchase uninsured motorist coverage. This coverage will pay you what the other driver's company would have, had that driver carried insurance. In Washington, your coverage can be stacked on top of the guilty driver's liability coverage if your claim value exceeds their policy. So, if he has a "full coverage" $25,000 policy and your medical bills alone exceed $30,000, you can access both his policy and yours to recoup some of your losses.
Not so in Oregon. For every dollar the guilty driver had in liability insurance, your uninsured motorist coverage is reduced by a dollar. So if you each had $25,000 in coverage, you’d only be able to get his $25,000. Your Oregon policy would provide zero benefits.
Another problem we see on a not-too-infrequent basis is small business owners who use their business vehicle for personal use. Although there is nothing wrong with that, it can lead to unfortunate circumstances if injured by an uninsured motorist.
