What United Rentals’ 2026 Insurance Changes Mean for Motor Carriers

 

United Rentals rolled out new insurance requirements effective January 1, 2026, and this is not a minor adjustment. If you haul for them this changes how policies are structured and what they cost.

These requirements apply to new business immediately and will roll onto existing carriers at renewal, most likely. In most cases, the first time you will realize there is a problem is when your renewal COI gets rejected. By then, you are already behind the gun. Waiting a week for quotes on these new policy requirements is going to cost you even more money.

What the Old Requirement Looked Like

Under the prior setup, United Rentals required:

• A combined total of $4MM between auto liability, general aggregate, and/or umbrella
• $250,000 in cargo

Acceptable combinations included:

• $2MM Commercial General Liability, $1MM Auto, $1MM Umbrella
• $2MM Commercial General Liability, $2MM Auto
• $3MM Commercial General Liability, $1MM Auto

What Changed Effective 01/01/2026

Commercial General Liability

• $2MM General Aggregate minimum required

This is now a standalone requirement. It no longer offsets auto liability.

Commercial Automobile Liability

• $4MM minimum required

Accepted combinations are clearly defined:

• $4MM Auto, primary
• $3MM Auto, primary plus $1MM umbrella or excess
• $2MM Auto, primary plus $2MM umbrella or excess
• $1MM Auto, primary plus $3MM umbrella or excess

If your auto liability is $1MM and nothing sits over it, the certificate will be rejected.

Cargo Insurance

• $250,000 required

Same limit as before.

Workers’ Compensation

• Required as mandated by the state or province.

Umbrella vs Excess, Details Matters

Umbrella coverage is notoriously hard to place for smaller trucking carriers right now, especially single truck and small fleet operations.

Excess liability is acceptable as long as it sits over the auto liability and follows the auto form.

That has to be confirmed, in writing.

If the excess policy only sits over general liability and does not extend over auto, it does not satisfy the $4MM auto requirement, even if the limits look right on paper.

Your agent needs written confirmation that:

• The excess follows commercial auto liability
• The limits stack properly to reach $4MM
• The excess carrier is acceptable to United Rentals

The Cost Impact, This Is Where It Hurts

This update comes with real dollars attached.

When umbrellas are unavailable (cause they usually are), excess liability is the only path. A realistic benchmark right now:

• About $5,000 per $1MM of excess liability
• Plus, fees and state taxes. $1,000 - $2,500 policy fees and wholesale broker fees
• Premiums must be financed if not paid in full so add on another 17-29% APR
• Final pricing depends on losses, fleet size, radius, and operations

That puts many carriers at:

• $1MM auto plus $3MM excess, $15,000 or more
• $2MM auto plus $2MM excess, $10,000 or more

And that is only the excess layer.

Higher Auto Limits Are Also Expensive

Getting more than $1MM on the primary auto liability can be just as painful.

We recently quoted an experienced United Rentals driver setting up his own authority. Clean MVR, he knows the operations with a solid background.

Between:

• Higher auto liability limits
• Excess liability
• General liability
• Cargo
• Workers’ compensation

He is staring at roughly $40,000 in annual insurance costs just to contract with United Rentals.

This number catches a lot of drivers off guard. Experience alone does not insulate you from pricing when limits are this high.

 

Truck U Take

This is not an isolated change. It is one of many contract updates we’ve seen over the past year, with shippers and brokers steadily increasing coverage requirements. Each change on its own may seem manageable, but taken together, they continue to push operating costs higher for motor carriers.

They just keep piling it on.

This change makes high auto limits non negotiable, and the cost is real. Between expensive excess layers and higher primary auto pricing, some small carriers are going to find this freight out of reach. If you want to run it, your insurance stack has to be built intentionally from day one.

 

If you need excess liability quotes, call us. We place excess for trucking operations every day and can usually turn quotes around in 24 - 48 hours.

Call or text 254-294-7798 or email info@trucku.biz.

 

Disclosure

This post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal advice, insurance advice, or a substitute for calling your agent. Truck U is good, but we are not psychic. Policies vary, laws change, and courtrooms get weird. Do not make decisions based solely on something you read on the internet unless it is from us, in writing, with your name on it.

All opinions are our own and do not represent the views of any carrier, employer, or underwriting department that occasionally wishes we were quieter on LinkedIn.