The vehicles you don't own are still your problem.
Most business owners insure the trucks with their name on the door and stop there. The exposure they never insure is the one they can't see: an employee running to the supply house in her own pickup, a van rented for a busy week, a crew driving personal vehicles between job sites. None of those appears on your policy. All of them can put a claim on your business.
The short answer
Acuity commercial auto covers the vehicles your business owns with the standard grid — liability, collision, comprehensive, and uninsured/underinsured motorist — and contemplates employees driving them. The gap most small accounts carry is different: hired and non-owned auto, the liability that reaches your business when someone drives their own car on your behalf or you rent a vehicle for a job. Those vehicles aren't on your policy and never were. Ask us whether that coverage is on yours — a great many operations find out it isn't.
Three vehicles that aren't on your policy.
Every one of these is ordinary, none of them looks like a business vehicle, and all three can produce a claim against the business.
The employee's own car
She takes her pickup to the supply house, to the bank, to pick up lunch for the crew. She's driving on your behalf, so an injured party can look past her to the business that sent her — and her personal policy has a limit that a serious injury runs straight past.
The van you rented
Rented for a busy week, or while one of yours sits in the shop. The counter offers you coverage, somebody declines it because "we're insured," and the vehicle spends ten days doing business work with nothing of yours standing behind it.
The crew's personal trucks
On a trade account this is the big one. Guys drive their own trucks to the site every day, tools in the bed, sometimes carrying another worker. Whether that reaches the business depends on the facts and the contract — which is exactly why it deserves a look rather than an assumption.
What ties them together is that the driver's own insurance protects the driver, not you. It responds to the claim against them, up to their limit — frequently the Arkansas minimum of 25/50/25 under Ark. Code Ann. § 27-22-104. A serious injury runs past that quickly, and when it does the claim looks for the next available source. A business that sent the driver is an obvious one. Nothing requires your employee to carry more than the minimum, nothing requires them to keep coverage at all, and no mechanism tells you if they stop.
Hired and non-owned auto is the coverage built for this. Non-owned addresses vehicles driven for the business but owned by someone else; hired addresses vehicles you rent, lease, or borrow. It's liability coverage, not physical damage — it doesn't repair the car, it answers the claim brought against the business. Ask us whether it's on your policy and what it reaches, because availability and terms differ by carrier and by form, and a great many small commercial accounts simply don't have it.
The standard grid, on your own trucks.
Short here on purpose — the full coverage explainer lives on our commercial auto page, which goes deeper than a carrier page should.
Liability
Bodily injury and property damage when the business or its driver is at fault. Vehicles registered here are subject to the same 25/50/25 statutory floor as any other vehicle — a legal minimum, not a plan.
Collision & comprehensive
Crash damage regardless of fault, and theft, fire, hail, vandalism, and animal strikes. On a work vehicle the repair bill is only half the question — the other half is how many days you aren't earning while it's out.
Uninsured / underinsured motorist
Responds when the driver who hits your vehicle has nothing, or carries the minimum against a much larger loss. A serious injury to someone who works for you is precisely the scenario this exists for.
Employees behind the wheel
Staff driving company-owned vehicles are contemplated by a commercial form rather than treated as an exception, which is the clearest reason a work vehicle belongs here instead of on a personal policy. Every driver still has to be disclosed.
Some operations carry filing requirements beyond an ordinary policy. For-hire work, crossing state lines, and heavier weight classes can bring federal or state motor carrier filings into play, and the thresholds differ by operation type. We won't guess at where yours falls from a webpage — getting that wrong is expensive and occasionally disqualifying. Describe what the vehicles carry, for whom, and how far, and we'll tell you what applies before you're relying on it.
And the truck that's titled to you personally?
That's a different problem from the one this page is about, and it's a real one: a personal auto policy is written for personal use, and a vehicle being used to conduct a business can land outside what it was built to cover. Coverage follows how the vehicle is actually used at least as much as whose name is on the title. We've written that question up in full on our commercial auto page for AssuranceAmerica rather than repeat it here. If you're a sole proprietor whose only truck does both jobs, start there — then come back and we'll look at the non-owned side too.
No range would help you.
Commercial auto premiums vary too widely for a published band to mean anything. What drives yours: the number, type, and weight class of vehicles, what the business does and how far the vehicles travel, every driver's record, the liability limits and deductibles selected, where vehicles are garaged, whether hired and non-owned coverage is included, and whether the operation carries filing requirements. Two contractors on the same street with identical trucks can price very differently because one has a driver with a recent at-fault accident. This is a description of how the coverage is rated, not a quote and not a guarantee. Send the vehicle and driver list with any current declarations pages and we'll build the real figure with you.
Where the rest of the account sits.
Acuity commercial auto questions.
My employee ran an errand in her own car and caused a wreck. Is my business exposed?
Very possibly, and this is the exposure small businesses are least likely to have insured. When someone drives on your behalf, an injured party can look past the driver to the business that sent them. Your employee's personal auto policy responds first, but it has limits, and once those are exhausted the claim keeps going.
The vehicle is not on your policy, it is not owned by you, and nothing about it looks like a business vehicle. That is exactly what non-owned auto coverage exists to address. Ask us whether it is on your policy, because a great many small accounts do not have it and have never been told.
What is hired and non-owned auto coverage?
It is liability coverage for vehicles the business uses but does not own. Non-owned covers the exposure created when employees or others drive their own vehicles for business purposes. Hired covers vehicles the business rents, leases, or borrows, such as a van taken out for a delivery week or a truck rented while one of yours is being repaired.
It is liability coverage rather than physical damage, so it does not repair the car — it responds to the claim brought against the business. Availability and terms vary by carrier and by policy, so ask us specifically whether it is on yours and what it reaches.
Doesn't my employee's own insurance handle it?
It handles the claim against your employee. It does not protect your business, and it stops at the employee's limits, which are frequently the state minimum. Arkansas requires 25/50/25 under Ark. Code Ann. § 27-22-104, and a serious injury runs past that quickly.
When it does, the claim looks for the next available source, and a business that sent the driver is an obvious one. There is also nothing requiring your employee to maintain any particular limit, or to keep coverage at all, and no mechanism that tells you if they stop. This is general information, not legal advice.
What does Acuity commercial auto cover on vehicles the business owns?
The standard commercial auto grid: bodily injury and property damage liability, collision, comprehensive, and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, with employees driving company vehicles contemplated by the policy rather than treated as an exception. Vehicles registered in Arkansas are subject to the same 25/50/25 statutory liability floor as any other vehicle.
Beyond that, the structure of the policy is shaped around what the vehicles actually do, which is why a description of the operation matters more than a list of makes and models. Limits, deductibles, endorsements, and exclusions are set by the carrier and apply as written in the policy issued.
What about subcontractors driving to my job sites?
This is the contractor version of the same question and it deserves a direct answer: a subcontractor's own coverage is the first line, and whether your business is reached depends on the facts, the contract, and how the relationship is characterized.
It is one of the reasons certificates of insurance from subcontractors matter, and one of the reasons the contract language matters as much as the policy. It is also a good reason to have somebody looking at the whole account rather than one policy at a time. Bring us the contracts alongside the declarations pages and we will tell you where the gaps sit.
Do I need special filings for my vehicles?
Possibly, depending on what the vehicles do. For-hire operations, crossing state lines, and heavier weight classes can bring federal or state motor carrier filing requirements on top of an ordinary liability policy, and the thresholds differ by operation type.
We are not going to guess at where your operation falls from a webpage, because getting that wrong is expensive and occasionally disqualifying. Describe what the vehicles actually do — what they carry, for whom, and how far — and we will tell you what applies before you are relying on it.
How do I get an Acuity commercial auto quote in Bentonville or Rogers?
Start a commercial quote online or call (479) 286-1066. Have ready the year, make, model, and vehicle identification number for each owned vehicle, the full list of drivers with license numbers, a description of what the business does, and any current declarations pages.
Tell us as well whether anyone drives a personal vehicle for the business and whether you ever rent vehicles, because those are the questions that decide whether hired and non-owned coverage belongs on the policy. We quote Acuity against our other commercial markets before telling you whether it is the right home for the account.
If our coverage explainers are useful, mark Cribb Insurance as a preferred source so more Northwest Arkansas business owners can find our local, plain-English guides.
Two questions we'd ask before anything else.
Does anyone drive their own vehicle for the business, and do you ever rent one? Those answers decide whether the biggest gap on a small commercial account is sitting open on yours. Send the vehicle and driver list with any declarations pages and we'll check it, then quote Acuity against our other commercial markets.
Cribb Insurance Group Inc. is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas. We are not Acuity, and this page is not endorsed, sponsored, reviewed, or approved by Acuity. "Acuity" is a trademark or service mark of ACUITY, A Mutual Insurance Company and its affiliates, used here nominatively to identify products we are appointed to place. Acuity's Arkansas commercial auto policies are issued by Acuity-affiliated underwriting companies.
This page describes commercial auto coverage in general, industry-standard terms for informational purposes only. It is not a policy, not an offer of insurance, and not a guarantee of coverage, availability, eligibility, or price. Liability, collision, comprehensive, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, hired and non-owned auto liability, driver eligibility, limits, deductibles, endorsements, and exclusions are set by the carrier, vary by state and by policy and over time, are subject to the carrier's underwriting approval and eligibility, and apply only as written in the policy actually issued. Hired and non-owned auto coverage is not included on every policy and its availability and terms differ by carrier and by form; confirm whether it is present on the policy issued to you.
Statements about when a business may be exposed to liability arising from vehicles it does not own, including vehicles driven by employees or subcontractors, are general descriptions of how these exposures commonly arise. They are not a legal opinion, not a coverage determination, and not advice about your contracts or your relationships with workers. Whether any specific claim reaches your business, and whether any coverage responds, depends on the facts, on applicable law, and on the terms of the policies actually issued. Consult a qualified professional about your contracts and worker classifications.
References to federal or state motor carrier filing requirements and to the Arkansas 25/50/25 liability minimum under Ark. Code Ann. § 27-22-104 are general information, not legal advice, are simplified, and are subject to change. Applicability depends on your specific operation; confirm requirements with the Arkansas Insurance Department, the relevant federal agency, or a qualified professional. Last reviewed August 2026.