Arkansas set the minimum. It didn't set it for you.
25/50/25 makes you legal. It doesn't make you covered. In an at-fault state, the people you injure come after whatever your policy doesn't pay — and roughly one in six drivers around you is carrying nothing at all. Here's what an auto policy is actually made of, which limits are worth raising, and the coverage most people decline right before they need it. We shop it across 40+ carriers.
The short answer
Arkansas requires 25/50/25 — $25,000 per injured person, $50,000 per accident, $25,000 property damage. That's the legal floor, and it pays other people only. A real policy adds collision, comprehensive, uninsured and underinsured motorist, medical payments, gap and rental. The three decisions that matter most here are raising liability above the minimum, carrying UM/UIM at the same limit in a state where roughly one in six drivers has none, and disclosing every household driver — the quiet cause of most denied auto claims.
Three numbers, and what each one runs out against.
These are the limits that make you legal to drive. Read them next to what a car and a hospital stay actually cost.
The most your policy pays for injuries to any one person you hurt. One ambulance ride, one surgery and a few weeks of physical therapy can pass it without anyone calling it a catastrophic injury.
The total for everyone injured in the same accident, not $50,000 each. A minivan with a family in it turns this into a number that divides four ways.
Everything you damage — vehicles, fences, guardrails, a storefront. A single late-model SUV or pickup can be worth well past this on its own, before anyone is hurt.
At-fault means the shortfall is yours.
Arkansas is an at-fault tort state. When you cause an accident, the injured party's recovery comes from your policy — and when your policy runs out, it comes from you. Wages, savings, and equity are all downstream of a limit you chose years ago and probably haven't looked at since. Rates don't climb in a straight line with limits — the curve flattens as they rise, so moving off the state minimum usually costs far less than people assume. Above that, a personal umbrella lifts every underlying limit at once, and umbrella carriers require you to hold specific underlying limits first — so the order matters.
The parts of a car insurance policy, plainly.
Liability is required. Everything below it is a choice — and each one answers a different question about who pays.
Liability
Injuries and property damage you cause, plus your legal defense. The only coverage the state requires, and the only one that does nothing for you or your own vehicle.
Collision
Repairs or replaces your vehicle after a crash, regardless of fault, subject to your deductible. Required by every lender and lease, and worth keeping on a paid-off car you couldn't replace out of pocket.
Comprehensive
Hail, wind, flood, fire, theft, vandalism, falling limbs and animal strikes. In Northwest Arkansas the hail exposure alone earns this coverage, and it's normally treated as not-at-fault.
Uninsured & underinsured motorist
Pays your injuries when the at-fault driver has no policy, or has one that runs out first. The single most under-bought coverage on the road in this state.
Gap coverage
A total loss settles at what the car was worth that day, not what you still owe. Early in a loan, and on anything that depreciates fast, those two numbers diverge — gap covers the difference.
Rental & roadside
Small line items that carry the whole experience of a claim. Parts delays have made rental reimbursement matter far more than it used to, and it costs very little to add.
Everyone insures against themselves. Almost nobody insures against everyone else.
And of the drivers who do carry a policy, a large share carry the $25,000 legal minimum. Between those two groups, the odds that the person who hits you can actually pay for what they did are not good.
Liability protects them. UM/UIM protects you.
Every dollar of liability coverage you buy goes to someone else. That's what it's for. But it means a driver with excellent liability limits and no uninsured motorist coverage has spent their whole premium protecting other people and nothing protecting their own family in the back seat.
Uninsured motorist steps in when the at-fault driver has no policy at all. Underinsured motorist steps in when they have one and it runs dry — which, against a $25,000 per-person floor, happens on ordinary injuries, not exotic ones. Together they're the coverage that pays your medical bills and your lost income when the person responsible can't. We generally recommend carrying UM/UIM at the same limit as your liability, because the harm doesn't get smaller based on who caused it.
Total loss is settled at actual cash value — and that's correct.
When a vehicle is totaled, the settlement is actual cash value: what that car, at that mileage and condition, was worth the moment before the loss. Not what you paid, not what you owe, not what the replacement costs today. That's how auto has always worked and it isn't a defect — but it is the mechanism behind most bad total-loss surprises. Two things soften it. Gap coverage closes the space between the settlement and the loan balance. And on a total loss, documentation moves the number: service records, recent tires or a new transmission, and genuinely comparable local listings are all things an adjuster can act on. Bring them early rather than arguing later.
What a personal auto policy won't do.
Three gaps worth knowing before you assume you're covered.
Rideshare & delivery
Carrying passengers or goods for a fee is excluded on a standard personal policy. The platform's own coverage turns on and off in phases and commonly leaves a gap while you're logged in and waiting. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart — all need an endorsement or a commercial policy.
Undisclosed household drivers
The teenager who just got licensed, the adult child home from college, a roommate, a partner who moved in. If they live with you and drive, the carrier needs to know — whether they're rated, excluded, or listed. An undisclosed driver behind the wheel at the wrong moment is the most common reason an auto claim gets fought.
Wear & mechanical breakdown
Insurance responds to sudden accidental loss, not to a transmission that wore out, brakes that were overdue, or rust. A neglected vehicle that causes a loss can also complicate an otherwise covered claim.
Hail, growth, and a lot of new drivers on old roads.
Driving here has changed faster than most people's policies have. The corridor from Bentonville down through Fayetteville has added traffic, construction detours and commuters at a pace the road network is still catching up to, and the mix of interstate speed on I-49 with two-lane county roads produces exactly the kind of collision that clears a minimum liability limit. Add the hail. Northwest Arkansas takes damaging hail with enough regularity that comprehensive coverage isn't theoretical here — one storm can dent every horizontal surface on a vehicle, and a household with two cars parked outside has two claims, not one.
The other thing we see constantly is drift. A policy written when there were two adults and one paid-off sedan is still in force after a teenager got licensed, a truck got financed, and someone started picking up delivery shifts. Nothing about the policy announces that it no longer matches the household. It just quietly stops fitting until a claim tests it.
Where we earn it.
The quiet mistakes on auto policies are liability still sitting at or near the state minimum, UM/UIM declined or set far below liability, a household driver nobody told the carrier about, a financed vehicle with no gap, and a comprehensive deductible chosen before the household knew what hail does here. We read the declarations page before we shop it, price the limits we'd actually recommend next to the ones you have so the difference is visible, write every household driver down accurately so it can't be argued later, and check whether an umbrella belongs above it. We don't adjust your claim and can't overrule an adjuster — but we build the policy to respond, and we compare it across our 40+ carrier markets rather than one company's appetite.
What our Arkansas clients actually pay.
These are drawn from Cribb Insurance Group's own Arkansas personal auto book — clients we placed, not a published market average.
| Coverage level | Cribb client range | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| State minimum — 25/50/25 | $21 – $32 / mo | The legal floor. Pays other people only, and nothing toward your own vehicle or injuries. |
| Standard liability — 100/300/100 | $32 – $58 / mo | The limit we recommend for most households, and the one an umbrella usually sits above. |
| Full coverage | $79 – $105 / mo | Liability plus collision and comprehensive. Required on anything financed or leased. |
Ranges reflect Cribb Insurance Group client policies in Arkansas. They are historical, they describe other households, and they are not a quote, an estimate for you, or a promise of availability or price. See the full disclosure at the foot of this page.
Two households on the same street can land a multiple apart, so read the table above as context rather than as your number. Price turns on the drivers and their records, ages and experience, the vehicles and how they're used, annual mileage and commute, your ZIP code, your limits and deductibles, whether you bundle, prior claims and coverage history, and the discounts each carrier files. This isn't a quote or a guarantee. Send your declarations page and we'll build the real figure with you across our markets.
What usually sits next to it.
Auto and car insurance questions.
What is the minimum car insurance required in Arkansas?
Arkansas requires liability limits of 25/50/25. That is $25,000 for bodily injury to any one person, $50,000 for all bodily injury in a single accident, and $25,000 for property damage you cause.
Those are the numbers that make you legal to drive. They are not a judgment about what is enough, and they have not kept pace with what vehicles cost or what medical care costs. Liability also pays other people only. It does nothing for your own car, your own injuries, or a driver who hits you and has no coverage at all.
Is 25/50/25 enough coverage in Arkansas?
For most households, no. Consider the property damage figure alone. A single late-model SUV or pickup can be worth well more than $25,000, so one at-fault collision with one newer vehicle can exhaust that limit before anyone is injured. The bodily injury numbers run out faster still, because $50,000 is the total for everyone hurt in the accident, not $50,000 for each person.
Arkansas is an at-fault state, which means the people you injure pursue you for what your policy does not cover, and that pursuit reaches your wages and your assets. Rates do not climb in a straight line with limits, so moving off the state minimum usually costs less than people expect, and above your limits a personal umbrella extends all of them at once.
What is uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and do I need it in Arkansas?
Liability protects the people you hurt. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage protects you and your passengers from everyone else. Uninsured motorist responds when the at-fault driver has no policy. Underinsured motorist responds when they have one but it runs out before your bills do, which is common in a state whose legal minimum is $25,000 per person.
Roughly one in six Arkansas drivers is uninsured, and many of the rest carry the state minimum. This is the coverage people decline to save a few dollars a month, and it is the one that pays when the person who hit you cannot. We generally recommend carrying it at the same limit as your liability.
Does my auto policy cover hail damage?
Yes, under comprehensive coverage, subject to your comprehensive deductible. That matters more here than in most of the country, because Northwest Arkansas takes damaging hail with some regularity and a hail event can dent every horizontal panel on a vehicle at once.
Comprehensive also covers theft, fire, vandalism, flood, falling limbs and animal strikes, which are their own regular occurrence on roads around Beaver Lake and the rural stretches of Benton and Washington counties. If you carry liability only, none of that is covered. A hail claim is also normally treated as not-at-fault, so it is worth knowing what your policy does before a storm rather than after one.
Does my personal auto policy cover Uber, Lyft or DoorDash?
Generally no. A standard personal auto policy excludes carrying passengers or goods for a fee, so the moment the app is on and you are logged in and available, the personal policy may stop responding. The rideshare and delivery companies carry their own coverage, but it turns on and off in phases and often leaves a gap during the period when you are waiting for a request.
The fix is a rideshare or delivery endorsement where the carrier offers one, or a commercial auto policy where they do not. Tell us if anyone in the household drives for a platform, even occasionally. An undisclosed one is a claim denial waiting to happen.
How do I get an auto insurance quote in Northwest Arkansas?
Start a personal quote online or call (479) 286-1066. It moves faster if you have your current declarations page, the year, make, model and VIN of each vehicle, the driver license number and date of birth for every driver in the household, and a rough history of accidents, tickets and claims.
Send the declarations page if you have it, because it lets us match your existing coverage exactly and compare like for like rather than guessing. We review the limits before we shop them, price uninsured and underinsured motorist alongside liability, check whether an umbrella belongs above it, and compare it across our markets.
If our coverage explainers are useful, mark Cribb Insurance as a preferred source so more Northwest Arkansas drivers can find our local, plain-English guides.
Send us the declarations page. We'll tell you what it actually does.
Give us your current policy and the household — every driver, every vehicle, how they're really used — and we'll show you what your limits do in a serious accident, price UM/UIM next to your liability, check gap on anything financed, see whether an umbrella belongs above it, and compare the whole thing across our markets. If your coverage is already right, we'll tell you that too.
Cribb Insurance Group Inc. is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas. This page describes personal auto and car insurance 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, medical payments, gap, rental reimbursement and roadside coverages, along with limits, deductibles, covered causes of loss, 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 to you. Rideshare and delivery activity, business use, wear and tear, and mechanical breakdown are commonly excluded. Total losses are generally settled on an actual cash value basis. Eligibility, rating and available discounts depend on the drivers, vehicles, use, garaging location, coverage history and prior claims.
About the rate ranges on this page. The figures shown are drawn from Cribb Insurance Group's own book of Arkansas personal auto clients. They are historical and descriptive: they report what a set of other households paid for a stated coverage level, over a past period, under the carriers and rating rules in effect at that time. They are not an estimate of your premium, not a quote, not an offer, and not a representation that any particular price is available to you or to anyone. Individual premiums are determined solely at quote and by the policy actually issued, and are affected by drivers, vehicles, garaging address, mileage, limits, deductibles, coverage history, claims and violations, carrier underwriting and filed rates, and available discounts. Rates change over time and past figures are not a prediction of future pricing. No saving, discount or comparative advantage is stated or implied.
Statements about Arkansas financial-responsibility requirements are general information, not legal advice, and requirements change; confirm current requirements with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. References to the share of uninsured drivers are general industry estimates for context only and are not a measurement of any specific road, community or period. Any cost or coverage descriptions are general and illustrative, not a quote, and not a guarantee; your premium and coverage are determined at quote and by the policy issued.
Last reviewed July 2026.