Zero. The number of times the words "automobile" or "motor vehicle" appear in ORS chapter 737, Oregon's rates and rating statute. There is no Oregon surcharge schedule, no point system, and no rule on what a violation may cost (ORS chapter 737, full-text search, accessed October 28, 2026).
What the violation determines, and what it doesn’t
A violation determines three things: whether a carrier will write you at all, which of its tiers or companies you land in, and what the record contributes inside its rating plan. It does not determine your price on its own, and it is usually not the biggest difference between two people’s quotes.
The reason sits in one sentence of Oregon law. ORS 737.310(8) permits classification rates to “be modified to produce rates for individual risks in accordance with rating plans which establish standards for measuring variations in hazards,” and says those standards “may measure any differences among risks that can be demonstrated to have a probable effect upon losses or expenses.” That is the license under which two companies can look at one ticket and reach two different numbers, and both can be lawful.
What Oregon requires of the result is a standard, not a schedule: under ORS 737.310(1), “Rates shall not be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory.” And the “excessive” test is harder to meet than it sounds — ORS 737.310(2) treats a rate as excessive only if it is unreasonably high and a reasonable degree of competition does not exist in the area.
Oregon is also file-and-use for personal auto. Under ORS 737.205(1) a filing “shall become effective immediately on the date specified therein but not earlier than the date such filing is received by the director.” No state approval precedes the rate. The prior-approval provision at ORS 737.207(2) reaches commercial liability, not personal auto.
Recency and frequency: the clock Oregon does set
Here Oregon is specific, and it is the most useful thing to know.
ORS 746.265(1) permits an insurer to consider the abstract of your nonemployment driving record when deciding whether to issue or renew your policy, and when determining your rates. ORS 746.265(2)(a) then forbids it from considering any “[a]ccident or conviction for violation of motor vehicle laws that occurred more than three years immediately preceding the application for the policy or for renewal of the policy.” Subsection (2)(b) applies the same three years to diversion agreements, and (2)(c) bars considering a suspension under ORS 809.280(6) or (8) where the suspension rests on a nondriving offense.
Three years, measured backwards from your application or renewal against when the item occurred. Not from a conviction date plus three. The DMV abstract is built to match — ORS 802.220(4)(a) says a certified abstract may not contain accidents or convictions older than three years — unless the abstract is requested under ORS 746.265(3), the discount route. And the Division of Financial Regulation states it plainly for consumers: “Premiums reflect your driving record for the past three years” (Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, Auto insurance 101, accessed October 28, 2026).
Three things that rule does not do, each of which gets misread:
- It does not stop a carrier looking back further to give you a discount. ORS 746.265(3): subsection (2) “does not apply if an insurer considers an individual’s nonemployment driving record under ORS 802.220 for the purpose of providing a discount to the individual.” OAR 735-010-0030(3) provides for an insurance abstract of the non-employment driving record available only to insurers and insurance support organizations, which an individual may request themselves “to obtain an insurance discount under ORS 746.265(3).” So the three-year limit runs in one direction — against use that hurts you, not use that helps.
- It does not require anyone to forgive anything. Subsection (2) is a ceiling on what may be considered, not a floor on what must be dropped. Nothing requires a carrier to use the full three years, or to re-rate you the moment an item ages out.
- It is written about the Oregon abstract, for personal auto on a vehicle you own. The Division of Financial Regulation notes insurers order records “from the Oregon DMV and from other states,” and no source we found resolves how the three-year limit applies to an out-of-state entry. We are not going to tell you it travels when the law does not say so.
Frequency matters separately from recency, and nothing in Oregon law addresses it. Two items inside the window is a different risk picture from one, and how much different is a filed-plan question.
Your record is not your DMV record
These get conflated, and they are different lengths.
The abstract an insurer orders covers three years. Oregon DMV’s own records run longer. Under OAR 735-010-0030(10) a court print carries major traffic offenses, DUII diversion agreements and alcohol rehabilitation entries “for the ten years preceding” the request, and minor offenses and accidents “for the five years preceding.” ORS 802.200(9)(c)(D) includes diversion agreements “within the preceding 15 years,” and OAR 735-010-0030(13) provides for retrieving entries that have been purged from the active database.
So “it’s off my record after three years” is not right. What is right is that the record an insurer may rate on covers three years. Nothing in the DMV material gives a carrier permission to rate on the longer views — ORS 746.265(2) is what governs that, and it says three.
The things that differ between you and your friend
Running through the inputs that actually vary, none of which is the violation:
Which company you are with. The largest single variable, and the one people ignore when comparing. Each filed plan weighs a record its own way and places you in its own tier structure.
The vehicle. ORS 742.075(3)(a)(D) lists “[t]he age, location and value of insured property” among the factors an insurer may have to disclose in explaining an increase. What a car costs to repair or replace moves a premium independently of who drives it.
The limits and deductibles you chose. Higher liability limits cost more; the state minimums are a floor, not a recommendation. Our page on auto liability limits sets out what Oregon requires and what it leaves exposed.
Where the car is kept and how far it goes. ORS 742.075(3)(a)(A) names “[t]he location in which a motor vehicle is stored when not in use” and “the number of miles the vehicle is driven in a specified period.”
Continuous coverage. A gap is its own rating input, separate from anything on your driving record — which is why a lapse costs more than the days you were uninsured.
Who else is in the household. Every regular driver belongs on the policy, and the household’s records travel together. Oregon allows a carrier to exclude a named person from the required liability coverage on the signed acknowledgment of every named insured, under ORS 742.450(6) and (7). There are distinct grounds for it: ORS 742.450(7)(a) addresses exclusion because of that person’s driving record, while OAR 836-058-0010(1) provides a route where the person is higher rated than the named insured and including them would cause financial hardship. Those are two different tests, not one. It is a real tool and it has real consequences, because an excluded driver is not covered while driving and cannot use that policy for their own filing. Our page on excluded and household drivers goes through it.
Claims you have made. ORS 742.075(3)(a)(A) lists “the insured’s claims history” separately from the driving record. They are not the same thing.
Why two quotes on one record differ so much
Because you are not comparing prices for a risk. You are comparing two companies’ filed answers to the same risk, and those answers were built from each company’s own loss experience.
ORS 737.310(3) requires rates for each classification to “be based on the claims experience of insurers within Oregon on that classification of coverage unless that experience provides an insufficient base for actuarially sound rates,” and ORS 737.310(4) directs that “[d]ue consideration shall be given to past and prospective loss experience within this state … and to all other relevant factors, including judgment factors deemed relevant.” Different books of business, different experience, different judgment — lawfully different prices.
This is also why shopping is the rational response to a high renewal rather than a complaint. DFR’s own consumer guidance on price is exactly that: “The cost for coverage varies so it is important to shop when choosing an insurance company” (Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, Auto insurance 101).
What to do about it
Ask, in writing. If your Oregon auto premium rose at renewal, ORS 742.075 gives you the right to a written explanation naming up to four factors, within 20 days of your written request. OAR 836-054-0130 sets out what the request has to contain — your name, address, policy number and type, a clear statement that you are asking why the renewal premium is increasing, legible, and sent by mail, email, hand delivery or the insurer’s portal. The rules took effect April 1, 2026; the statute applies to renewals on or after September 1, 2026.
Read the four factors against this page. If the increase is being driven by something inside the three-year window, you now know the clock on it. If it is being driven by the vehicle, the limits or a tier change, that is a shopping question rather than a record question.
Shop the whole household at the same limits. Comparing quotes at different limits is not comparing. Our questions before switching page lists what to settle before moving a policy.
If you think the company is breaking a rule, the Division of Financial Regulation takes complaints and says it “can determine whether the company or agent is following all Oregon laws and rules,” while cautioning that it is “not attorneys and cannot act as your legal representative” (DFR, file a complaint). It is a compliance check, not a price appeal — DFR does not set or arbitrate individual premiums.
Questions to ask your advisor
- Which of the four factors in my renewal explanation are inside Oregon’s three-year window, and when does each one age out?
- Am I in a different tier or a different company than when I started, and what moved me?
- Are my limits and deductibles the same ones I am being quoted against elsewhere?
- Is every regular driver in the household listed, and is anyone on here who should not be?
- Has my continuous-coverage history been credited, and does the carrier look back further for discounts?
- If nothing changes, what would my renewal look like after the next item ages out — and is that worth waiting for or shopping now?
Sources, and what to verify
Statutes from the Oregon Legislature, rules from the Secretary of State’s administrative rules database, and consumer material from the Division of Financial Regulation and Oregon DMV, all accessed October 28, 2026.
On the three-year rule, read ORS 746.265 as a whole rather than subsection (2)(a) alone. Subsection (1) sets the permitted purposes, subsection (2) sets the limits, and subsection (3) switches the limit off for discounts. Any summary that gives you only (2)(a) is giving you a third of the provision.
On rating factors, OAR 836-081-0010 is an availability rule. It is not a list of things that cannot enter a price, and it is routinely described as though it were.
No figures appear on this page on purpose. Oregon publishes no surcharge schedule, so any percentage or dollar amount would be someone else’s average rather than a fact about your policy. If you want a number that applies to you, the written-explanation request and a quote are the two ways to get one.
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