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ORS 164.135

Applied in 332 court decisions — leading case 49 Cal. 3d 991 - People v. Lang (1989)

Most recently applied in State v. Burgess (March 2026)

1971 c.743 §134; 2001 c.851 §1; 2007 c.71 §50; 2019 c.530 §1

How often courts cite this section

1973198019902000201020202026220
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) A person commits the crime of unauthorized use of a vehicle when:

(a)(A) The person knowingly takes, operates, exercises control over or otherwise uses another’s vehicle, boat or aircraft;

(B) The person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the owner of the vehicle, boat or aircraft does not consent to the taking, operation or other use of, or the exercise of control over, the vehicle, boat or aircraft; and

(C) The owner of the vehicle, boat or aircraft did not consent to the taking, operation or other use of, or the exercise of control over, the vehicle, boat or aircraft;

(b)(A) The person knowingly rides in another’s vehicle, boat or aircraft;

(B) The person knows that the owner of the vehicle, boat or aircraft does not consent to the person’s riding in the vehicle, boat or aircraft; and

(C) The owner or an authorized user of the vehicle, boat or aircraft did not consent to the person’s riding in the vehicle, boat or aircraft;

(c) Having custody of a vehicle, boat or aircraft pursuant to an agreement between the person or another and the owner thereof whereby the person or another is to perform for compensation a specific service for the owner involving the maintenance, repair or use of such vehicle, boat or aircraft, the person intentionally uses or operates it, without consent of the owner, for the person’s own purpose in a manner constituting a gross deviation from the agreed purpose; or

(d) Having custody of a vehicle, boat or aircraft pursuant to an agreement with the owner thereof whereby such vehicle, boat or aircraft is to be returned to the owner at a specified time, the person knowingly retains or withholds possession thereof without consent of the owner for so lengthy a period beyond the specified time as to render such retention or possession a gross deviation from the agreement.

(2) Unauthorized use of a vehicle, boat or aircraft is a Class C felony.

(3) Subsection (1)(a) and (b) of this section does not apply to a person who rides in or otherwise uses a public transit vehicle, as defined in ORS 166.116, if the vehicle is being operated by an authorized operator within the scope of the operator’s employment.

Official source: Oregon State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Oregon statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.