NEW YORK -

Levy Grunwald didn’t know what to expect when he tried Honcker, a new app that lets people lease vehicles online.

What he knew was that his last lease had expired, and between work and life, he just didn’t have time to visit a dealership.

Still, could he trust the newly launched Honcker?

“I develop apps myself,” said the New Yorker, “and I know that it takes time to develop trust. So I said, ‘why not be pioneer and just trust it?’”

It took about 10 minutes on his phone for Grunwald to get a price on a two-year Toyota Highlander lease: $385 a month, which Grunwald said was $44 less what he had been quoted after calling a local dealership.

And the best part? Vehicle delivery was scheduled for later that afternoon.

“I’m surprised nobody did this until now,” Grunwald said. “It really is a game changer.”

The background

Nathan Hecht is chief executive officer and founder of Honcker. It was his personal experience with leasing that gave him the idea for the app.

He didn’t want to point fingers, but he told Auto Remarketing that he had had a “less than fun” experience at the dealership.

“It dragged on for days,” he said. “By the end, I said, ‘I just can’t believe this can’t be on the internet yet.’

“Eighteen months later, we are where we are.”

Within two weeks of its September launch, Honcker had amassed a network of 150 dealers in five states.

 “We’ve been fielding a lot of inbound dealer groups reaching out to us since we went live,” Hecht said. We hope to be at 500 or 600 by year’s end.”

‘It’s really as simple as that’

Honcker is available on Android and iOS as well as all major web browsers.

According to Hecht, the process goes like this: “Download, choose, click lease, answer basic questions, and the entire lease gets pushed to a dealer. The dealer handles everything else in the background."

The lessee submits his or her address and date of birth up front, and Honcker obtains a soft credit check through Experian, which does not affect credit score. Once a lease is chosen, the customer submits his or her license and insurance information through the app.

“It’s really as simple as that,” Hecht said, emphasizing that the customer is given a customized price — not just a quote.

Honcker is live in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida and California, with plans to expand. With some exceptions, Honcker offers free delivery within a 25-mile radius of the dealer; customers in outlying areas can arrange for pickup.

Honcker does not currently accept down payments, allow co-signers or offer financing, but that will change, Hecht said.

“We just wanted to introduce a very simple, very basic product. Every month going forward we will add another feature. We have whiteboards flooded with features and functions that will come out over the next 12 to 18 months.”

What’s next

One of Hecht’s major plans is for Honcker to get involved in used-car leasing.

“I have a dream that used leasing is going to become a massive market,” he said. “The faster new leasing grows, what’s happening is that cars coming out of leases, used car places can’t move them fast enough. A lot of the manufacturers and banks are looking at this as an opportunity for used-car leasing.”

Asked whether he’s hit any resistance, Hecht said: “Off the top of my head, maybe two dealer groups that we wanted on board that were regional groups that said, ‘we love the idea but we want to see what happens.’ Everyone else was anxious to get on board.”

At the heart of it, Hecht believes what Honcker is doing is a no-brainer.

“You can do so much online now,” he said. “Why should cars be any different than anything else?”