Your landlord's insurance stops at the walls.
The building is the landlord's to insure — everything inside it is yours. If a fire, a burst pipe, or a break-in takes your furniture, clothes, and electronics, the landlord's policy pays you nothing. Renters insurance replaces your belongings, covers you if you're liable for an injury, and puts a roof over your head if the place becomes unlivable — usually for the price of a couple of pizzas a month, and less when you bundle it with your auto. Placed through an independent agency that represents Auto-Owners.
The short answer
Renters insurance covers your belongings, your liability, and your living expenses — the things a landlord's policy never touches, because that policy only covers the building. It replaces your property after a fire, theft, or burst pipe, defends you if you're liable for an injury, and pays for somewhere to stay if the unit becomes unlivable. It's one of the cheapest policies there is, it often pays for much of itself when you bundle it with auto, and it's backed by an A+ (Superior) carrier — placed only through an independent agent like Cribb.
Four protections, one small premium.
A renters policy is built from four parts — all about you and your things, none about the building itself.
Personal property
Replaces your furniture, clothes, electronics, and everything else you own after a covered loss — fire, theft, vandalism, a burst pipe. Choose replacement cost over actual cash value so you're paid what it costs to buy new.
Personal liability
Protects you if you're legally responsible for injuring someone or damaging their property — including a kitchen fire that spreads to a neighbor's unit — with legal defense. Landlords commonly require at least $100,000.
Loss of use
If a covered loss makes your rental uninhabitable, this pays for a hotel or temporary rental and the added expenses of living elsewhere while it's repaired — so a fire doesn't cost you your home twice.
Medical payments to others
Covers minor medical bills for a guest injured in your rental, no matter who's at fault — a simple way to handle a small injury before it becomes a liability claim.
Off-premises coverage
Your belongings are generally covered even when they're away from home — a laptop stolen from your car, luggage lost while traveling — subject to the policy's terms and sublimits.
Scheduled personal property
Jewelry, firearms, cameras, and collectibles carry low sublimits on a base policy. Scheduling them adds full, itemized coverage — worth doing for anything you'd hate to lose.
The landlord's policy isn't yours.
The building is insured by the landlord — the structure, the roof, their liability. When your belongings burn or your liability is on the line, that policy does nothing for you.
Two policies, two completely different jobs.
A landlord's policy protects the landlord's interest: the building and their own liability. If an electrical fire destroys the contents of your unit, their insurer rebuilds the walls — and hands you nothing for the furniture, clothes, and electronics inside. Worse, if you caused the fire, the landlord's insurer may come after you to recover what it paid. Renters insurance is the policy standing between you and both of those bills.
Be careful with a policy offered through the lease, too. Many of those are built to satisfy the landlord's liability requirement, not to replace your property — so a covered fire or theft can still leave your belongings uninsured. Reading the difference between "meets the lease" and "actually protects you" is exactly what we do before you sign up for either.
Bundle it with auto and it nearly pays for itself.
The multi-policy discount is the whole trick.
If you already carry auto insurance, adding a renters policy with the same carrier usually earns a multi-policy discount on the auto side — and that discount often offsets much of the renters premium. In other words, the coverage that replaces everything you own can end up costing very little on top of what you're already paying. When your renters and auto sit with one agency, we set the discount up correctly and keep both policies working together.
Three things to get right on renters.
First, choose replacement cost, not actual cash value, so a five-year-old TV is replaced with a new one instead of paying its depreciated worth. Second, carry enough liability — at least what your lease requires, and more if you host or have a dog. Third, bundle it with your auto to capture the discount, and schedule the valuables that a base policy limits. We line all of that up in one quote.
What renters insurance won't cover.
It's broad for the price, but a few things sit outside it.
The building itself
The structure, the roof, the built-in fixtures — none of that is yours to insure. If the building is damaged, that's the landlord's policy, not yours.
Flood & earthquake
Rising water and earth movement are excluded from a standard renters policy, just as they are on homeowners. If those are concerns where you live, they need their own coverage.
A roommate's belongings
Renters covers you and household relatives, not an unrelated roommate. If you share a place, each person should carry their own policy so everyone's things and liability are actually covered.
Backed by an A+ (Superior) carrier.
AM Best rates the members of Auto-Owners Insurance Group — the companies behind your Arkansas renters policy — with a Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "aa" (Superior), stable outlook, per its rating action dated October 31, 2024. A+ (Superior) is the second-highest of AM Best's rating levels and sits in its top "Superior" category. A financial strength rating is an opinion about an insurer's ability to pay claims — its solvency — not a grade of how a specific claim is handled, and not a recommendation. The current rating is at ambest.com.
Where we earn it on renters.
The quiet renters mistakes are too little personal property coverage to actually replace what you own, actual cash value instead of replacement cost, a lease-provided policy mistaken for real coverage, and the discount left on the table by not bundling with auto. We size the contents honestly, set replacement cost, carry the liability your lease needs, and capture the auto discount. We don't adjust your claim and can't overrule an adjuster — but we make sure the policy was built to pay, and we'll compare Auto-Owners against 40-plus markets to land you the best fit.
About the price of a couple of pizzas.
A general planning range for renters coverage — not a quote, not carrier-specific, and not a guarantee. Price depends on how much personal property and liability coverage you carry, your deductible, whether you choose replacement cost, and where you live — and it typically drops further once it's bundled with auto. Standard policies commonly run somewhere around $20,000 to $50,000 of contents coverage with $100,000 or more of liability. Tell us roughly what you own and we'll build the real figure with you, Auto-Owners against 40-plus carriers.
Renters is better with company.
Auto-Owners renters insurance questions.
If my landlord has insurance, do I still need renters insurance?
Yes. Your landlord's policy covers the building — the structure, the roof, the walls — and the landlord's own liability. It does not cover your belongings, and it does not cover your liability. If a fire, a burst pipe, or a break-in destroys your furniture, clothes, electronics, and everything else you own, the landlord's insurance pays you nothing.
Renters insurance is what replaces your things, pays your living expenses if the unit becomes unlivable, and defends you if you're liable for injuring someone or damaging property. Two separate policies protecting two very different interests.
What does renters insurance actually cover?
A renters policy has four core parts. Personal property replaces your belongings — furniture, clothes, electronics, and more — after a covered loss such as fire, theft, vandalism, or water damage from a burst pipe, and it covers your things even when they're away from home. Personal liability protects you if you're legally responsible for injuring someone or damaging their property, including legal defense.
Loss of use pays for a place to stay and added expenses if a covered loss makes your rental uninhabitable. Medical payments covers minor injuries to a guest regardless of fault. You choose whether your property is valued at replacement cost or actual cash value — replacement cost is almost always worth it.
How much does renters insurance cost, and is it worth it?
Renters insurance is one of the least expensive policies there is — often somewhere around fifteen to thirty dollars a month, depending on how much personal property and liability coverage you carry, your deductible, and where you live. For that, you get thousands of dollars of property protection plus six figures of liability coverage.
Add in that bundling it with your auto policy usually earns a multi-policy discount that offsets much of the cost, and for most renters it's some of the best value in insurance. We'll give you a real number and show you the bundle math when we quote it.
My apartment offers a policy through the lease — is that enough?
Usually not. Many lease-provided or landlord-arranged policies are built to satisfy the lease's liability requirement and protect the landlord — not to replace your belongings. Read what it actually covers: if a fire or theft wipes out your property, a policy that only carries the landlord-required liability limit won't pay to replace your things.
Your own renters policy covers your personal property, your loss of use, and liability that follows you, and it's often no more expensive — especially bundled with auto. We're glad to compare the lease option against a real policy so you can see the difference.
Does renters insurance cover my roommate or my things away from home?
Your belongings are generally covered even when they're away from the rental — in your car, at work, or traveling — subject to the policy's terms and any sublimits. A roommate, though, is not automatically covered: renters insurance covers the named insured and usually relatives in the household, so an unrelated roommate typically needs their own policy.
If you share a place, each person insuring their own belongings and liability is the clean way to do it. We'll set it up so everyone's actually covered.
How do I get an Auto-Owners renters quote in Bentonville or Rogers?
Start at our personal lines quote form or call (479) 286-1066. Tell us roughly what your belongings are worth and how much liability you want — your landlord may require a minimum — and if you have an auto policy, we'll quote them together so you capture the multi-policy discount.
Because Auto-Owners only sells through independent agents, an agency like ours is the only way to buy it, and we'll compare it against 40-plus other carriers to make sure it's the right fit.
If our coverage explainers are useful, mark Cribb Insurance as a preferred source so more Northwest Arkansas renters can find our local, plain-English guides.
Protect everything you own for a few dollars a month.
Tell us roughly what your belongings are worth and whether you already carry auto, and we'll size the coverage, capture the bundle discount, and show you a real number. If Auto-Owners is the right fit, we'll place it. If one of our other 40-plus carriers is a better deal for you, we'll tell you that too.
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 renters policies are issued by Auto-Owners-affiliated underwriting companies.
This page describes renters (HO-4) coverage 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. Personal property, personal liability, loss of use, medical payments, off-premises coverage, scheduled personal property, replacement-cost and actual-cash-value valuation, limits, deductibles, endorsements, 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. Renters insurance covers the tenant's personal property and liability, not the building or other structures, which are the property owner's responsibility. Coverage for an unrelated roommate generally requires a separate policy. Flood, earthquake, and certain other perils are excluded and require separate coverage.
Discounts, including any multi-policy discount for combining renters with auto or other policies, are subject to the carrier's rules and eligibility, vary by state and policy, and are not guaranteed; actual savings depend on your specific circumstances. Renters insurance is not required by Arkansas law but may be required by your lease or landlord; those requirements are set by the landlord, not by this agency.
Financial strength ratings are opinions of an insurer's ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations, are subject to change, are not recommendations to purchase, hold or terminate any policy, and do not 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 are a general planning range for illustrative purposes, are not a quote, not carrier-specific, and not a guarantee of your rate; your premium is determined at quote.
Last reviewed July 2026.