Your landlord's policy isn't yours.
Your landlord insures the building. Nothing in it — your furniture, your electronics, your clothes, or your liability if someone's hurt — is on that policy. Renters insurance is the cheap, genuinely-yours policy that fills the gap, and Branch can bundle it with your auto. Here's what it covers and how to read it honestly.
The short answer
Branch renters covers your personal property, personal liability, loss of use (a place to stay), and medical payments — everything your landlord's policy leaves out. It's cheap, often lease-required, and bundles with auto. The settings that matter: replacement cost vs actual cash value on your belongings, and a liability limit that actually protects you. Branch Insurance Exchange is rated A (Exceptional) by Demotech — a real rating, read honestly — and its renewals are worth a look like any policy.
The landlord insures the building, not your life inside it.
It's the most common misunderstanding about renting — and the one that costs the most when a fire, a burst pipe, or a burglary hits.
The landlord's insurance covers the structure and the landlord's liability. Your furniture, electronics, and clothes — and your own liability — are not on it. That's a separate policy, and it's yours to carry.
Two things renters quietly protects.
First, your belongings — everything you'd have to re-buy after a fire, theft, or many weather losses. Add it up once (furniture, a laptop, a TV, clothes, a bike) and the number is bigger than most people guess. Second, your liability — if a guest is injured in your unit, or you're responsible for damage, renters coverage defends and pays up to your limit.
And it's genuinely inexpensive. For roughly the cost of a couple of streaming subscriptions, you protect thousands of dollars of stuff and a real slice of liability. Adding it to a Branch auto policy makes it cheaper still — which is exactly why the bundle exists.
Not required by law — often required by the lease.
Arkansas doesn't require renters insurance by state law. But landlords very commonly require it in the lease, often with a minimum personal liability amount as a condition of moving in. So for a lot of renters the practical answer is: you need it because your lease says so — and even when it doesn't, it's one of the best-value policies in insurance.
The Arkansas angle is the weather. Wind, hail, and tornado are real exposures here, and they don't skip apartments — a covered storm or fire that damages your belongings is exactly what renters coverage is for. Theft is covered too, on and often off premises. Two boundaries worth knowing: flood is not included and would be a separate policy, and how your contents settle depends on replacement cost vs actual cash value.
One more that renters underrate: liability travels with you. If your dog bites someone, or a guest is injured in your unit, the liability portion defends you — often anywhere, not just at home. Setting that limit high enough is cheap and worth doing on purpose.
Replacement cost is the setting to get right.
On a few dollars a month, choosing replacement cost on your belongings instead of actual cash value is the difference between being paid enough to re-buy and being paid the depreciated value of used furniture. It's a small premium difference for a big claim difference — and easy to miss in an instant quote.
The coverages inside a renters policy.
Personal Property
Your belongings against covered perils — fire, theft, many weather losses, and more. The core of the policy; worth carrying on a replacement-cost basis.
Personal Liability
Defends and pays if someone is injured in your unit or you're responsible for damage — a dog bite, a guest's fall — often anywhere, not just at home.
Loss of Use / ALE
Pays additional living expenses — a hotel, meals, extra costs — if a covered loss makes your unit uninhabitable while it's repaired. The coverage you're grateful for after a fire.
Medical Payments to Others
A small no-fault amount for minor guest injuries in your unit, regardless of fault. It handles the little incidents before they become liability claims.
Replacement Cost on Contents
Pays to buy new rather than depreciated value — a small premium bump that makes a big difference at a claim. Usually worth electing on purpose.
Scheduled Items & Water Backup
Add-ons for jewelry, firearms, cameras, or a musical instrument above standard sub-limits, plus water-backup coverage. Worth a deliberate yes-or-no.
The factors behind the number.
Renters is inexpensive, but a few things still move the price — and with Branch, the auto bundle is one of them.
Contents Value & Valuation
How much your belongings are worth, and whether you choose replacement cost or actual cash value. The main driver of both your premium and your payout.
Liability Limit
How much liability protection you carry. Raising it is usually cheap, and it's the part a lease often dictates — worth setting on purpose, not at the floor.
Deductible
What you pay out of pocket before coverage kicks in. A higher deductible lowers premium but raises your cost at a claim — a small trade-off on an already-cheap policy.
Location & the Bundle
Your building, area, and claim trends — plus, with Branch, whether auto rides along. Bundling renters with auto is where the extra savings show up.
Cheap protection, especially bundled.
If you rent and own more than you'd want to re-buy at once, renters earns its keep. Appetite and eligibility vary by state and underwriting.
The bundle is the smart way to buy it.
Renters is cheap on its own and cheaper bundled with auto — the same idea as home-and-auto, at a smaller scale. We'll quote the Branch renters-plus-auto bundle against our other markets and make sure the contents value, valuation basis, and liability limit are set right, not just defaulted in an instant quote.
One of the cheapest policies you'll own.
Renters is one of the least expensive policies most people ever buy, but the exact price still depends on your contents value, your liability limit, your deductible, and your location — and Branch's auto bundle and Subscriber Savings Account can lower it further. A planning number would mislead more than help, so we don't publish one. This isn't a quote or a guarantee. What reliably helps: a rough sense of what your belongings would cost to replace, so the comparison is real.
Rated A (Exceptional) — read honestly.
The Branch Insurance Exchange holds a Demotech Financial Stability Rating of A (Exceptional), affirmed in March 2026, and some underwriting is supported by other carriers such as General Security National Insurance Company with reinsurance from SCOR. Read that honestly: Demotech is a different agency from AM Best, and Branch is a younger insurtech rather than a decades-old balance sheet. On a small, inexpensive policy like renters, what you feel most is claims handling and whether the coverage was set up right in the first place.
Where we earn it on a renters policy.
The renters mistakes are small but real: contents undervalued, actual cash value chosen by default, a liability limit too low for the lease, and valuables left unscheduled. We set those right at the quote, bundle it with auto to save, and keep an eye on renewal — and because we're independent, we can move it if a better deal shows up.
The policies around this one.
Branch renters questions.
What does Branch renters insurance cover?
Four main things: personal property (your belongings against covered perils like fire, theft, and many weather events); personal liability (if someone's hurt or their property damaged and you're responsible); loss of use (additional living expenses if a covered loss makes the unit uninhabitable); and medical payments to others for minor guest injuries.
What it doesn't cover is the building itself — that's the landlord's responsibility. Branch can bundle renters with auto for savings.
Doesn't my landlord's insurance cover my stuff?
No — this is the single most common misunderstanding about renting. Your landlord's policy covers the building and the landlord's liability, not your belongings and not your personal liability.
If a fire, a burst pipe, or a burglary hits your unit, the landlord's insurance does nothing for your furniture, electronics, or clothes, and nothing to defend you if you're sued. Renters insurance is the inexpensive policy that fills that gap — and it's genuinely yours.
Is renters insurance required in Arkansas?
It's not required by Arkansas state law, but landlords very commonly require it in the lease, and many require a minimum amount of personal liability coverage as a condition of renting.
Even where it's not required, it's one of the best-value policies in insurance for what it protects: your belongings, your liability, and somewhere to stay if the unit becomes uninhabitable. In an area exposed to wind, hail, and tornadoes, the case for it is stronger, not weaker.
What's the difference between replacement cost and actual cash value on my belongings?
Replacement cost pays what it costs to buy new versions of your belongings today. Actual cash value pays their depreciated value — which for used furniture and electronics can be a fraction of what replacing them actually costs.
Replacement cost coverage on contents costs a little more and is usually well worth it. It's one of the settings we make sure is chosen deliberately rather than defaulted in an instant quote.
Does bundling renters with auto at Branch save money?
Yes — bundling is the core of the Branch model, and adding renters to an auto policy is often inexpensive and can lower the overall cost through the multi-policy structure and the Subscriber Savings Account. It's the same bundling idea as home and auto, at a smaller scale.
The honest caveat is the same too: watch the renewal. Because we're independent, we'll compare the bundled number against our other markets and move it if a better deal appears.
How much does Branch renters insurance cost, and how do I get a quote?
Renters is one of the least expensive policies most people will ever buy, often a modest monthly amount — though the exact price depends on your contents value, chosen liability limit, deductible, and location. We won't publish a planning figure, because it varies and a number would mislead.
Start at our personal quote or call (479) 286-1066, ideally with a rough sense of what your belongings would cost to replace and whether you want to bundle it with auto.
If our coverage guides and carrier comparisons are helpful, mark Cribb Insurance as a preferred source so more Northwest Arkansas renters can find our local explanations.
Branch is one of 40+ carriers we represent.
Which means we can tell you honestly whether Branch renters — bundled with your auto — is the best-value option, or whether another market fits better. It takes minutes, it's cheap, and we'll set the contents value, valuation basis, and liability limit the way they should be. If a different carrier prices it better, we'll say so.
Cribb Insurance Group Inc. is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas. We are not Branch, Branch Financial, LLC, or the Branch Insurance Exchange, and this page is not endorsed, sponsored, reviewed, or approved by them. "Branch" and related marks are marks of their respective owners, used here nominatively to identify a carrier we may compare. Branch personal-lines coverage is issued largely by the Branch Insurance Exchange, a reciprocal insurance exchange, and by additional underwriting companies which may include General Security National Insurance Company and Everspan Insurance Company; the underwriting company and program vary by state and product.
This page describes coverage in general terms for informational purposes only. It is not a policy, not an offer of insurance, not legal advice, and not a guarantee of coverage, availability, eligibility, or price. Branch writes personal lines only, is available in a limited set of states (for example, it is not available in California), and product availability and eligibility vary by state and are subject to underwriting approval and to the terms, conditions, limits, and exclusions of the policy actually issued. Renters insurance is not required by Arkansas state law but is commonly required by landlords; lease requirements vary. Descriptions of personal property, liability, loss of use, replacement cost, and actual cash value are general; your policy's terms control, and flood is a separate policy not included by default. If anything on this page conflicts with the issued policy, the policy controls.
Financial Stability Ratings are opinions of an insurer's financial stability, 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 demotech.com. The A (Exceptional) Financial Stability Rating referenced is assigned by Demotech to the Branch Insurance Exchange and was most recently affirmed in March 2026. Demotech is a separate rating organization from AM Best; ratings from different agencies are not directly comparable. Cost and pricing statements describe how personal-lines premiums are generally rated and are not a quote, not carrier-specific, and not a guarantee of your rate or your renewal.
Last reviewed July 2026.