Car insurance rates vary in the Portland Metro area from a low of about $725 to a high of over $2,700 a year, according to national car insurance company data.  

An analysis by GoLocalPDX of forty metro area zip codes reveals that East and North Portland tend to have the most expensive average insurance rates in the metro area, while Hillsboro and Beaverton have the lowest.

 

The Portland Metro Area has some of the highest auto insurance rates in the country, according to a Sept. analysis by USA Today. Within the metro area, rates vary significantly, according to rates of six national insurance carriers, compiled by CarInsurance.com.

 

Changes in rates depend on the demographics of the community and the likelihood a customer will file a claim, given their driving record.

 

 

“It depends on who lives in the area and what kinds of cars they have,” said Greg Bair, an insurance agent for Portland-based Timmco Insurance. “It’s not so much a race or age thing, some neighborhoods just have more car thefts and more losses than others.”

 

In Portland’s St. Johns Neighborhood, where Bair’s office is located, police recently broke up a massive car theft operation based out of nearby West Coast Car Crushing.

 

“Some of my customers would wake up in the morning and find that their car had been stolen,” Bair said. “We could never find the cars because by the afternoon, they’d been sold for cash and crushed into a cube of metal.”

 

Thirty-four people were indicted last Oct. in connection with the crime ring.  “Some of my customers were involved on that end, too,” Bair said.

By the Numbers

 

A 2013 report from the Oregon Department of Transportation states that only about three percent of licensed Oregon drivers are uninsured. A ranking by the Insurance Infromation Institute states that Oregon is one of the states with the fewest uninsured drivers.

 

In Oregon, the car is insured, not the driver.  State law requires every vehicle be covered for bodily injury and property damage to the expense of $25,000 per person, $50,000 per crash for bodily injury to others, and $20,000 crash for damage to others property. Furthermore, each vehicle must have personal injury coverage of $15,000 per person.

 

Consumer Protections
 

Oregon Insurance Division spokesperson Lisa Morawski said the state has a toll-free insurance hotline, 1-888-877-4894, for consumers to use for any insurance-related problems.

 

If a company won’t pay a claim,  if a customer gets their rates get jacked up, people can call the state hotline, Morawski said.

 

Moreover, in 2011, the state passed a unique tool to help consumers readjust their car insurance rates. Every year, Oregon residents have the right to call their insurers and request that their insurance rates be reassessed, or “rerated.”

 

Credit, job history, driving record and income can fluctuate, and often times consumers will find that their rates have fallen dramatically.  

 

“Then you just cancel your old policy and apply for a new one,” Bair said. “It doesn’t cost anything. I’ve had custumers whose rates had dropped $1,000 in a single year.”

 

Ultimately, car insurance companies charge new customers less money than long-time customers. Most consumers don't know that fact, according to Bair.

 

“It drives me crazy personally, “ Bair said. “It’s the most expensive thing, that people know nothing about, that someone will ever spend money on. People know that they are spending more than they should, but they just hate insurance. They just dread picking up the phone. So it pays to shop around.”

Not all towns and neighborhoods are created equal in the minds of car insurance assesors. Here are the Portland Metro Area communities where you will pay the most to insure you vehicle.  Data comes from CarInsurance.com, which analyzed data from five different national insurance carriers.