Is Arkansas an At-Fault or No-Fault State?
No — Arkansas is an at-fault (tort) state, not a no-fault state.
- Fault system
- At-fault (tort)
The driver who caused the crash, and that driver's insurer, pays. Arkansas has no no-fault scheme. The medical, income and death benefits every policy must offer under § 23-89-202 are paid without regard to fault, but they are small, optional for the buyer, and they take nothing away from the right to sue.
- Comparative negligence rule
- Modified comparative — 50% bar
If your share of the fault is of a lesser degree than the other side's, your damages are reduced in proportion to it. If it is equal to or greater, you recover nothing (§ 16-64-122(b)). Note that Arkansas bars at 50%, not 51% — a jury that splits the blame evenly leaves the claimant with nothing. Act 354 of 2023 added one carve-out: in a civil claim by a victim of human trafficking, the victim's fault is not apportioned at all (§ 16-118-109(g)).
- PIP minimum limit
- $5,000
Arkansas is an at-fault state, but every private passenger policy written here must provide $5,000 per person of medical and hospital benefits without regard to fault unless the named insured rejects the coverage in writing (§§ 23-89-202, 23-89-203).
How Arkansas compares with every other state
What the fault rule decides
In an at-fault state the driver who caused the crash — through their liability insurer — pays for the harm. That is the arrangement in 38 of the 51 jurisdictions on this site, so it is the one most US advice assumes. The practical consequence is that your recovery depends on two things you do not control: how much liability cover the other driver bought, and what share of the blame you are assigned.
Modified comparative fault turns the case into a percentage. On a hypothetical $100,000 of damages — arithmetic, not a figure from Arkansas law — being 20% to blame leaves you $80,000, and being 40% to blame leaves you $60,000. Cross the line at 50% and the award is not reduced, it is gone. 10 of the 50 jurisdictions on this site draw the line in the same place, and the whole dispute after a serious crash tends to be about which side of it you land on.
The $5,000 of personal injury protection is the money that moves first, before anyone argues about blame — and it is higher than 4 and lower than 12 of the 18 that require it. Treat it as a floor rather than a budget: it is what the state makes you carry, not an estimate of what an injury costs.
Every statute cited for Arkansas
Why the rule looks like this
- What Changed in 2026Liability minimums doubled in Hawaii, two states dropped pure comparative fault, New Hampshire stopped inspecting cars, and three crash reporting thresholds moved — a dated account of the 2026 changes, and the ones already signed for 2027 and beyond.
- The One Percentage Point That Decides Your ClaimAcross the states covered on this site there are four different rules for what your own share of the blame does to your claim — and in North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia, being 1% at fault ends it entirely.
- No-Fault Does Not Mean Nobody Is at FaultNo-fault restricts the right to sue rather than removing it. Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and New York run it, New Jersey and Pennsylvania let you choose, and Michigan lets every driver pick one of six PIP ceilings — which changes who pays after a crash.
More on Arkansas
Checked against the primary sources above on September 27, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.