The following are the typical required and optional coverages available on a commercial auto policy issued in the State of Oregon. You will notice that the descriptions here are only a summary of the coverages and you should check with an licensed Oregon insurance agent for further details or read your commercial auto policy carefully for a complete list of all the coverages available to you and that they are on your policy.
Bodily Injury Liability
You own a vehicle. You have the title or are financing it. It doesn't matter. You possess it. You control who drives it. It's your responsibility. The question is: Is it your right or privilege to drive your car, truck or van on the streets and highways of Oregon? Trick question? No. A right is something guaranteed to everyone unconditionally, a privilege is earned and has certain responsibilities associated with it. It is a privilege to drive a car on Oregon roads, not a right. If it were a right anyone could get in a car, start it up and just drive crazily through the streets. Driving a car requires a license. The State of Oregon says you have to provide certain identifying documents, meet certain age and health requirements, and pass a test. That is one of the many things required to earn the privilege of driving on the streets.
You are also responsible for the injury you may cause to someone else should you be the cause of an accident. Imagine for a moment that you live in a country where if you are hit by another driver and someone you love is killed in the car accident and the driver of the other car must pay you $300 on the spot for the death of that loved one or suffer being arrested and possibly sentence to death. Some countries have that type of personal responsibility system. That is called: liability. You are responsible for the injury you cause if it is proven that you were at-fault or the cause of the accident. Most lives are determined, at least in Oregon, to be worth much more than $300.
Many have tried to come up with a formula for what a life is worth, current and potential earnings, etc. What it cost to try to save the life of that person before they died can be factored in. It is understood in the auto insurance industry that the potential loss that you may face as a driver on Oregon highways is limitless when it comes to the amount you could be responsible for paying if you injure or kill another driver because of your negligence as a driver. Limitless!
So, then, why do insurance policies have limits on them if the potential of loss is limitless? Imagine how much you'd have to pay in premium for that kind of a policy. The auto insurance company could be drained of all it's assets in one single claim if it were willing to issue limitless policies. So, instead, the insurance company offers auto insurance policies with bodily injury liability limits. An actuary (the mathematician hired by the insurance company to figure out probabilities of loss) sits down and figures out how much she should charge you, the driver facing the limitless risk of causing injury, for say $25,000 of insurance. She first looks to see what the probability is that your are going to be in an accident anyway. She can use factors like, your age, gender, zip code where you live, credit history, the type of car you have and many more factors. All that stuff has statistics. A whole database of percentages and numbers that describe what might happen to you. She then calculates how many others fit your risk profiled that are insured by that company and divides that risk of having to pay out the $25,000 by the number of drivers in your class. That is the premium you get charged plus administrative fees. Someone has to pay her salary!