★ Fortune 500 · Est. 1916 · Agents Only
How Auto-Owners Works in Arkansas
A century-old, Fortune 500 multiline insurer that you can only buy through an independent agent — there's no direct channel. Here's what that gets you, the personal and commercial lines we place, the life and farm books most people don't know it writes, and how we'll tell you when Auto-Owners isn't the answer.
Short Answer
Cribb Insurance Group is an independent Auto-Owners agency in Bentonville. Auto-Owners is a Fortune 500 multiline insurer founded in 1916 — home, auto, life, farm, and business under one roof — and it reaches you only through independent agents; there is no buy-direct option. We place its personal and commercial lines and quote all of it against 40+ other carriers. AM Best rates the members of Auto-Owners Insurance Group — the companies behind your policy — at A+ (Superior), stable, per its action dated October 31, 2024.
The only way to buy it is through an agent.
Auto-Owners was founded in Lansing, Michigan in 1916 and has grown into a Fortune 500 multiline insurer serving nearly three million policyholders. It writes home, auto, life, farm, and business — a genuinely broad book — with a reputation for conservative underwriting and long-run financial strength.
What sets it apart isn't a program name — it's the front door. For more than a century, Auto-Owners has sold its coverage exclusively through independent agents. There is no direct-to-consumer channel, no online checkout, no 1-800 sales line. An independent agency is the only way in — which flips the usual "should I buy direct?" question on its head.
There is no direct channel to skip
With many carriers you can shop the agent against a cheaper direct website. Not here. Auto-Owners made a deliberate choice a century ago to sell only through local agents, and never added a direct arm. So there's no "skip the agent and save" route — the agent is simply how Auto-Owners is bought.
Same carrier, plus an advocate
Since an agent is required either way, the question becomes which agent. Placed through Cribb, your policy is on Auto-Owners' A+ (Superior) paper — but it comes with an agency that also represents 40 other markets and will tell you honestly when one of them fits your account better.
One carrier for the whole household — and the farm.
Auto-Owners' real strength is breadth done well. The base coverage grid looks like everyone else's; the difference is that home, auto, life, farm, and business can all sit with one insurer, and Auto-Owners builds features that reward keeping them together. A few worth naming here; the line pages go deep on each.
Its own life company under the same roof
Unlike many property-casualty carriers, Auto-Owners writes life insurance through its own affiliated life company. That means term, whole life, and related coverage can sit alongside your home and auto with a single insurer and a single agent — and carrying life with them can factor into how the rest of your account is treated. It's the kind of thing an annual review surfaces.
Cross-policy features that reward bundling
Auto-Owners is known for features that only make sense when your policies live together: a deductible that can shrink over claim-free years, and an arrangement where a single event that damages both your home and a vehicle can be handled without stacking two full deductibles. The exact terms live on the line pages — the point here is that keeping the household under one carrier isn't just tidy, it can be built into the coverage.
Farm & ranch — a book most people don't know it writes
Beyond the suburbs, Auto-Owners has a long, serious farm and ranch program — dwellings, outbuildings, equipment, livestock, and the liability that comes with land and operations. For Northwest Arkansas properties that are part home, part working ground, that combination is exactly the kind of account an independent agent should be matching to the right carrier.
A broad personal book. Plus a full commercial one.
Not everything Auto-Owners writes nationally — what we place for Northwest Arkansas. Because Auto-Owners is a true multiline carrier, the list runs wider than most, and it includes life and farm & ranch alongside the usual home and auto.
Home, life & property
- Auto
- Homeowners
- Condo
- Renters
- Landlord / rental dwelling
- Personal umbrella
- Life
- Farm & ranch
On the road & water
- Motorcycle
- Motorhome / RV
- Boat
- ATV / off-road
Commercial
- Business owners policy (BOP)
- General liability
- Commercial property
- Commercial auto
- Workers' compensation
- Commercial umbrella / excess
- Inland marine
- Surety bonds
The toys ride on your auto policy — not your home policy
This is the one that sits between pages, so it's easy to miss. A motorcycle, a camper, a classic car, a side-by-side — the things parked in the garage or on a trailer in the driveway — don't belong on your homeowners form, where a contents sublimit was never built to pay a real loss on a machine that leaves the property under its own power. With Auto-Owners, the good news is they don't need a separate policy either.
Auto-Owners lets you list motorcycles, mopeds, classic cars, motorhomes and RVs, travel trailers, and ATVs right on your auto policy — one policy, one renewal, and the multi-vehicle credits that come with it (watercraft is handled separately). If it has a motor and a title, ask — that's a two-minute call, and most households who own one have never been told it can go on the policy they already have.
Auto-Owners Commercial — the same one-carrier logic for business
The multiline story carries straight into business coverage: the BOP, general liability, commercial property, commercial auto, workers' compensation, commercial umbrella/excess, inland marine, and surety bonds. Auto-Owners has written commercial insurance for decades, and the appetite spans the kinds of Main Street and trade businesses common across Northwest Arkansas. Because eligibility is decided on the facts of your operation, the fastest path is a short conversation. Start a commercial quote or call us.
The lines, in detail.
Each of these gets its own page, with the Arkansas specifics and the parts the brochure leaves out. They're publishing one at a time — links go live as each page does.
Personal lines
Commercial lines
Auto-Owners Cribby reads the fine print for you.
Cribby the Chameleon is our guide to reading a policy in plain English.
A chameleon notices what's actually there. On an Auto-Owners account that's usually the things nobody mentioned — the life policy that could sit with the rest, the deductible credits you've been building, the farm outbuilding that isn't really covered, the camper that needs its own policy. That's a coverage review, in chameleon form.
A+ (Superior) — and which company that describes.
A rating is a solvency opinion, not a claims opinion
AM Best is explicit that a Financial Strength Rating does not address a carrier's claims-handling practices and is not a recommendation to buy or keep any policy. So an A+ (Superior) tells you Auto-Owners' companies can pay. That's real and worth knowing — it just isn't the same question as how a claim will go. Different questions, different sources. Anyone handing you a letter grade as the answer to all of them is handing you a logo.
What we actually do at a claim
Narrower than some agencies imply, and we'd rather be straight about it. We don't adjust your claim and we can't overrule an adjuster.
What we do: tell you whether a claim is worth filing before you file it, make sure the coverage that should respond gets identified, chase the file when it stalls, and move you to another of our markets if Auto-Owners stops fitting. Because Auto-Owners has no direct channel, that last one is the part working with an independent agency structurally makes possible.
Planning ranges, not quotes.
Typical ranges for policies placed through Cribb Insurance Group across our markets; the homeowners band reflects a five-year-old $400,000 Northwest Arkansas home. These are not quotes, not carrier-specific, and not a guarantee. Auto depends on vehicles, drivers, limits, deductibles, garaging ZIP, driving history and credit-based insurance score. Home depends on dwelling value, roof age and material, construction, protection class, deductible selections, claims history and credit-based insurance score. Some households fall below these bands and some fall well above them.
Auto-Owners in Arkansas: common questions.
What does Cribb Insurance Group place through Auto-Owners?
Can I buy Auto-Owners insurance directly or online?
Is Auto-Owners financially strong?
What makes Auto-Owners different from other carriers?
Does Auto-Owners write farm and business insurance in Arkansas?
How do I get an Auto-Owners quote in Bentonville or Rogers?
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Auto-Owners is one of 40+ carriers we represent.
Which means we can tell you honestly whether Auto-Owners is the right home for your account — or whether one of our other markets fits better. Send the declarations pages for whatever you're carrying and we'll read them back to you in plain English, including the deductibles. If what you have is already right, we'll tell you that too.
1601 SW Regional Airport Blvd, Bentonville, AR 72713 📞 (479) 286-1066 ✉️ service@cribbinsurance.com 🕘 Mon–Thu 9:00–5:00
Fri 9:00–4:00
Cribb Insurance Group Inc. is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas. We are not Auto-Owners, and this page is not endorsed, sponsored, reviewed, or approved by Auto-Owners. "Auto-Owners" and "Auto-Owners Insurance" are service marks or trademarks of Auto-Owners Insurance Company and its affiliates, used here nominatively to identify products we are appointed to place. Auto-Owners' Arkansas personal and commercial property-casualty policies are issued by Auto-Owners-affiliated underwriting companies, and life coverage is written by its affiliated life company.
This page describes coverage in general 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. Coverage, discounts, program terms, product availability and eligibility vary by state, by policy, and over time, are set by the carrier, and are subject to underwriting approval and to the terms, conditions, limits, and exclusions of the policy actually issued. Eligibility for any risk is determined by the carrier on the facts of your property, vehicles, or operation; this page makes no representation that any particular property or business qualifies. If anything on this page conflicts with the issued policy, the policy controls.
Financial strength ratings are opinions of an insurer's ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations, are subject to change, and are not recommendations to purchase, hold or terminate any policy, nor do they address an insurer's claims-handling practices; current ratings are at ambest.com. The A+ (Superior) rating referenced applies to the members of Auto-Owners Insurance Group. Cost figures reflect policies placed through Cribb Insurance Group across our markets and are not a quote, not carrier-specific, and not a guarantee of your rate.
Last reviewed July 2026.