By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 27, 2026
Arkansas requires every for-hire motor carrier hauling property or passengers wholly within the state to register with the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) Legal Division. General freight carriers file a registration and receive an annual permit, called an annual receipt in the statute, for a $25 processing fee plus $5 per vehicle, backed by liability insurance of at least $50,000/$100,000/$30,000. Household goods and passenger carriers instead apply for authority before the State Highway Commission, with a $50 filing fee and a mandatory hearing. Permits renew every year by December 31, and carriers already paying Unified Carrier Registration fees for the same vehicles do not pay the per-vehicle fee twice.
The Arkansas requirements table
- Agency
- Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT), Legal Division, acting for the Arkansas State Highway Commission
- Application
- General freight and mobile home carriers: Form AR RS 1 (Application for a Permit for Motor Carriers Operating For-Hire in Arkansas) with Form AR-RS2 (Arkansas Intrastate Registration Order Form), Schedule A equipment list and Schedule B balance sheet, proof of insurance on a certificate of insurance or ACORD form, and a USDOT safety rating or notarized safety certification. Household goods and passenger carriers: Application for Permanent Authority before the Arkansas State Highway Commission. Fees are paid by separate cashier's checks or money orders payable to the Arkansas Department of Transportation and mailed to ARDOT Legal Division, P.O. Box 2261, Little Rock, AR 72203 (RE: Intrastate Permit).
- Renewal
- Arkansas intrastate permits renew yearly and renewals are due by December 31. The carrier returns Form AR RS 2 (renewal order form), a current ACORD liability certificate, and the $5 per-vehicle payment by cashier's check or money order; interstate carriers whose vehicles are reported under UCR send a copy of the UCR receipt instead of paying the per-vehicle fee again. Carriers who bring a renewal in person are directed to leave it with the ARDOT security officer. A copy of the permit must be kept in the power unit of each vehicle operated on Arkansas highways.
Application fee schedule by authority type
Arkansas charges one application filing fee per class of authority, so what a carrier pays depends on the certificate being applied for rather than on a term or a fleet size.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Who the requirement covers
- GVWR threshold
- 26,000 lbArk. Code Ann. § 23-13-206(a)(9) exempts from the Motor Carrier Act a commercial motor vehicle operating in intrastate commerce with a gross vehicle weight rating, gross combination weight rating, gross vehicle weight, or gross combination weight of 26,000 pounds or less, unless it carries placarded hazardous materials or is designed to carry more than 15 passengers including the driver. The requirement therefore reaches vehicles over 26,000 pounds. ARDOT's own authority page and FAQ describe the requirement only as for-hire, without naming this weight line.
- For-hire only
- YesIntrastate authority is for for-hire carriers only. ARDOT's FAQ says a private carrier hauling its own freight needs no authority, and a driver leased to a for-hire carrier needs none unless the driver is paid directly by the shipper, in which case the driver must obtain authority.
- Property carriers
- YesGeneral freight carriers file Form AR RS 1 with the AR-RS2 vehicle order form, proof of insurance, a financial statement, an equipment list, and a USDOT safety rating or notarized safety statement. Mobile home carriers use the same general freight packet.
- Passenger carriers
- Passenger carriers file an Application for Permanent Authority before the State Highway Commission with a $50 filing fee; the application is published in a Notice of Filing, may be protested, and requires personal appearance at a hearing.
- Household goods
- Household goods carriers are not covered by the property-carrier deregulation in Ark. Code Ann. § 23-13-206(a)(6). They file an Application for Permanent Authority (original plus one copy) with a $50 filing fee and $5 per vehicle, receive a Notice of Filing, face a 10-day protest window, attend a pre-hearing conference in contested cases, and must appear in person at a hearing where they show they are fit, willing, and able to perform the service.
- Hazmat
- Carriers declaring hazardous materials on Form AR RS 1 carry liability of $1 million or $5 million by commodity and vehicle class under 27 CAR § 110-1301(b)(6) (Rule 13.1), and a vehicle placarded for hazardous materials is not covered by the 26,000 pound exemption.
- Unprocessed goods
- Ark. Code Ann. § 23-13-206 exempts vehicles hauling set-up houses, ordinary livestock, unprocessed fish, unprocessed agricultural commodities, baled cotton, cottonseed and cottonseed products, rice hulls, bran, and mill feed, soybean meal, and commercial fertilizer, plus live poultry and unmanufactured poultry products, livestock and poultry feed, sawdust, wood shavings and chips, and listed fuels. For-hire carriers of the (a)(1) commodities must still file the same proof of insurance as nonexempt carriers. ARDOT publishes Administrative Ruling No. 119 as a commodity-by-commodity exempt and non-exempt list.
- Existing federal authority
- Holding FMCSA interstate operating authority does not satisfy the requirement: ARDOT's FAQ says an interstate carrier must still apply for Arkansas intrastate authority.
- Carriers already filed under UCR
- A carrier operating both interstate and intrastate pays its yearly renewal fees through the Unified Carrier Registration system rather than paying the $5 per-vehicle fee twice; at renewal it sends a copy of its UCR receipt with the AR RS 2 form.
- Interstate carriers
- Transportation wholly within a municipality, between contiguous municipalities, or within the surrounding commercial zone is outside the Act (§ 23-13-206(a)(4)). ARDOT's commercial zone formula runs from 3 miles beyond the limits of a town under 2,500 people up to 20 miles for a city of 1 million or more.
Arkansas insurance minimums
State minimums can differ from the federal filing levels; the federal side is covered in our insurance filings guide.
- Liability minimum
- Arkansas sets split limits rather than a single combined figure. For each vehicle hauling property, 27 CAR § 110-1301 (State Highway Commission Rule 13.1) requires $50,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person, $100,000 for all persons in one accident, and $30,000 for property damage in one accident, which ARDOT's application states as $50,000/$100,000/$30,000. Passenger vehicles carry the same $50,000 and $30,000 figures with a per-accident bodily injury limit of $80,000 to $200,000 by seating capacity, and hazardous materials carriers carry $1 million or $5 million.
- Cargo minimum
- $5,000 (The rule requires all common carriers of property by motor vehicle to file cargo insurance with minimum liability of $5,000 and a cargo endorsement. ARDOT's general freight application packet asks only for proof of public liability and property damage insurance and does not list a cargo filing.)
Minimum liability by operation type
General freight is not the floor for every carrier. Hazmat and larger passenger operations carry higher minimums; buy against the row that matches what you haul.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Insurance filing forms
Your insurance company makes these filings with the state, not you.
More Arkansas authority rules
- USDOT prerequisite: note
- Not confirmed on a primary source. Form AR RS 1 lists the U.S. DOT No. among identification numbers marked if applicable, and asks for the carrier's DOT safety rating or, if it has none, a notarized statement of intent to comply with DOT safety regulations. No ARDOT page states that a USDOT number must be obtained before applying, so no requirement is asserted.
- Penalties: operating without authority
- A motor carrier using Arkansas highways without the required permit or certificate, or violating its terms, faces a civil penalty of $100 to $500 assessed by ARDOT after notice and hearing, with 25 percent added if unpaid after 10 days. Operating as a common or contract carrier without the required certificate or permit is also a violation carrying a fine of $100 to $500 for a first offense and $100 to $1,000 for each later offense, each day being a separate offense.
Who needs Arkansas intrastate authority
The requirement reaches for-hire carriers only. A private carrier hauling its own freight needs nothing from ARDOT, and neither does a driver leased to a for-hire carrier, unless the shipper pays the driver directly.
Weight sets the next line. The Motor Carrier Act exempts intrastate vehicles at or under the statutory weight rating, unless they carry placarded hazardous materials or are built to carry more than the passenger limit. Hauls of listed farm, livestock, poultry, timber, and fuel commodities are exempt too, and ARDOT publishes Administrative Ruling No. 119 as the commodity list. Moves inside one town and its commercial zone fall outside the Act.
A permit for freight, a hearing for movers and passengers
General freight and mobile home carriers file Form AR RS 1 with the AR-RS2 order form and receive a permit, which the statute calls an annual receipt. No hearing is involved.
Household goods and passenger carriers take a longer road. They file an Application for Permanent Authority before the State Highway Commission, ARDOT publishes a Notice of Filing, competitors get a window to protest, and the applicant appears in person to show it is fit, willing, and able to serve.
How to apply
Let's break it down. Mail the packet to the ARDOT Legal Division: the application, the vehicle order form, a Schedule A equipment list, a Schedule B balance sheet, a certificate of insurance or ACORD form, and a DOT safety rating or notarized safety statement. Pay each fee by a separate cashier's check or money order made out to ARDOT.
ARDOT's form lists the U.S. DOT No. only as an identification number marked if applicable, and no ARDOT page says a USDOT Number must come first. The permit carries an Arkansas M-Number.
Fees and the yearly renewal
ARDOT charges an application fee that depends on carrier type, plus an insurance filing fee for every vehicle run in Arkansas intrastate commerce. The statute fixes both for property carriers. The renewal repeats the per-vehicle fee each year, and a carrier whose trucks are already covered by its Unified Carrier Registration fees sends a copy of the UCR receipt instead of paying twice.
Renewals come due every year by the ARDOT deadline, with Form AR RS 2, a current ACORD liability certificate, and payment. Keep a copy of the permit in the power unit of every vehicle on Arkansas highways.
Insurance and penalties
Rule 13.1 of the State Highway Commission sets split liability limits per vehicle for property carriers, a cargo filing for common carriers, and much higher limits for hazardous materials by commodity and vehicle class. The Arkansas trucking insurance page walks each tier.
Running without the permit exposes a carrier to a civil penalty assessed by ARDOT after notice and hearing, plus a criminal fine for each offense, and each day counts as a separate offense.
Where this fits in the Arkansas launch
A cell reading "Not confirmed" means the agency did not publish a figure we could verify, so we left it open rather than guessed. For the full launch order, work through start a trucking company in Arkansas, then line up IRP registration and IFTA if you run beyond state lines. To compare every state at once, see the national intrastate authority table.