Once upon a time, car buyers obsessed over horsepower, heated seats and whether the cupholders were “good.” In 2026, there’s a new star of the showroom: auto insurance, according to a new study that suggests rising premiums are reshaping the dealership experience as much as vehicle prices or financing terms.
Polly, which provides insurance services for dealerships, recently released its annual Embedded Auto Insurance Study, which found that most buyers want the option to compare and purchase insurance while buying a vehicle, and that doing so improves satisfaction and speeds up deals.
The study shows insurance costs are increasingly delaying or derailing purchases. Fifty-nine percent of buyers said insurance expenses caused them to postpone a vehicle purchase, up from 38% the previous year. More than a third said they walked away from or delayed a deal because they could not secure insurance in time, with that figure rising to 46% among younger buyers.
Despite the growing impact of insurance, many dealerships remain hands-off. Thirty-five percent of buyers said their dealership did nothing to facilitate buying insurance. Seventy-six percent said any support from dealers regarding insurance improved their vehicle-buying experience.
The October 2025 survey polled 1,055 Americans 18 and older who had bought a car in the previous 12 months.
Originally published on Business Insurance