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While sites like Cars.com have been created to simplify the car buying process, there haven’t been any online options for a customer looking to lease. That’s where Honcker, “The cheapest and easiest way to lease a car on planet Earth,” comes in. Honcker recently received series A funding, to the tune of $23 million from IAC, a multimedia corporation that currently owns apps and websites such as Tinder, Angie’s List, and Vimeo.
We’ve either experienced or heard the horror stories about car dealerships. You go to a dealer’s website, and get a quote for a lease. Once you get to the dealer, the price is suddenly higher than what was advertised, plus the assortment of fees that are drafted during the visit. A poorly run dealer will then do anything it can to keep you from walking out the door, short of giving you the fair price. Then, whether or not you decide to lease the car, seven other dealerships in the area will be calling the phone number required to get a quote, all trying to win you over. Honcker looks to eliminate this process.
Honcker is a new app, available for iPhone and Android, that allows users to look at available cars in their area, get a personalized lease price, and order the car. This is all done within the app, and there are no hidden fees added to the price of the vehicle. If the customer is within 25 miles of the dealer, it can even be delivered free of charge.
Nathan Hecht, the founder of Honcker shared how he came up with the app with The Drive. While looking for a new car, Hecht went to a dealership and spent most of the day going back and forth with salespeople. The dealer also ran a credit check on him, which can negatively affect a credit score. After hours of negotiation, they weren’t willing to give Hecht the lease price he wanted, and he ended up going home empty-handed. As frustrating as this situation was, it gave him an idea. He wanted to create a solution for customers to quickly find the lease deal they want, without ever leaving the couch.
The prices listed on Honcker are based on “soft” credit checks, which do not change the users’ credit score. Hecht also claims that “Honcker’s Price is unbeatable.” He hopes to appeal to new customers by giving them a better deal than the old school salespeople may be willing to provide. At the the time of this writing, Honcker is partnered with about 300 dealerships across the U.S, the inventories of which are listed on the app. The majority of these dealers are clustered in the areas surrounding Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami, but Honcker is looking to expand its operation all across the nation.
The recent funding stream will go toward marketing and hiring new employees.
