American Honda Motor Co.’s new insurance agency could give its dealers a powerful new lever for boosting F&I profits and long-term customer retention.
While the manufacturer is still working out how dealerships will be able to incorporate an insurance offer into the purchase process, dealers are encouraged by the move.

“While I don’t believe this will have an immediate impact at the dealership level, we could benefit down the road from increased brand retention if this is executed properly,” Tim Hlavenka, national sales director at the Rick Case Automotive Group, tells WardsAuto.

The Rick Case Group has Honda and Acura dealerships as well as a Honda powersports franchise selling motorbikes, ATVs, scooters and Honda-brand power equipment.

Honda Insurance Solutions, as the new business is known, is a licensed insurance agency providing insurance options for autos, motorcycles, RVs, homes and more. VIU by HUB – a hybrid digital‑and‑advisor insurance marketplace – is the insurance brokerage platform it uses.

Honda Insurance Solutions will operate in all 50 states as a licensed agency.

As an established brokerage, VIU by HUB has agents and relationships with multiple insurance carriers, Wendi Sheehan, senior manager of strategic planning and innovation at American Honda Finance Corp. and now vice president of American Honda Insurance Solutions, tells WardsAuto.

“They can put the best deal together for the customer,” she says. “That might be to bundle it all into one carrier or, in other cases, it might be individual policies with different companies, but that agent is going to take care of the customer and give them the best thing that works for them.”

Embedded Future

Honda and Acura dealers could get an F&I lift from offering insurance during the purchase process.

Polly’s Q1 2025 Embedded Auto Insurance Report found that dealerships offering embedded insurance quotes saw 21% higher F&I gross. When a customer actually purchased insurance as part of the vehicle buying process, F&I gross rose 28%, according to Polly.

Polly is an embedded insurance marketplace that allows a car buyer to compare different insurance offers before purchasing a policy.

The reports comprise survey data on $1.1 million-plus transactions across 147 dealership groups.

American Honda has a “vision” to embed buying insurance into a digital purchase process, Sheehan says. “Is it (in existence) today? No, but it is on our road map,” she says.

The insurance option will first appear in the Acura ZDX digital purchase platform, Sheehan adds.

The all-electric ZDX is the first Honda Motor Co. Ltd. model available for online purchase in the U.S.

“It would be along the lines of hey, you pick your car, you pick your accessories, you choose if you want, you know, XM Radio subscriptions, then at that point you might also get a quote for auto insurance,” she says.

The automaker will continue to introduce online purchases to other Acura models and “one day” to Honda models, she says.

One hurdle to moving faster to embed insurance is that “insurance is extremely complicated,” Sheehan says. “In some states, it is very easy for the dealer to get involved. In others, not so easy.”

American Honda will take the expansion of embedded insurance step-by-step, she says, as it wants to get feedback from its dealers about what works for them.

It may start with some less-regulated states to figure out the best way to offer insurance, Sheehan says.

Everybody Loves Saving Money

Dealers will ask what’s in it for them, and Honda wants to be able to answer that question.

“We’re going to get together with the dealers and … do some research with our field force … and ask them what works, what makes sense (and) ‘How would you like to see this?’” Sheehan says.

Offering insurance through a Honda company is a wise decision, Hlavenka figures. Not only can it boost Honda’s profits, but someone who is insured by Honda’s agency is more likely to stay with Honda as he or she moves forward, he says.

“Think about it,” Hlavenka says. “I buy a Honda, they offer an insurance bundle that saves me money on not just auto but other types of insurance, and you’ve earned a very loyal customer. Everyone loves saving money!”