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  27 Years of Standard Leasing
One Car at a Time

By Sheldon A. Himelfarb

     On a day in 1956, a businessman walked into the showroom at Standard Pontiac and asked about the possibility of leasing four cars.  It was as if someone were to walk into my office today and ask me to fly to the moon!   Possible, but not likely.  And that's how Standard Leasing was born.
     Many car leases later, the area's largest and oldest operational independent leasing company still prospers as Standard Leasing Corporation.
     From the 1950's to the present, the "concept" of leasing an automobile remains unchanged.  The only difference lies in the now advanced public awareness of the leasing idea, and, that cars are more expensive today.   The heavy commitment for a down payment on a depreciating item are swaying professionals and the average customers to consider leasing as an alternative to the 48 or 60 month loan.  Remember, in 1957 when we began, the top price Cadillac was only $5,000.  Today, we're often looking at a price range beginning at $20,000!
     After the first four cars, my father and his partner in Standard Pontiac decided to follow through with the leasing concept as an adjunct to the then flourishing Pontiac sales business.  He hired a leasing manager and sent him off to drum up leasing business.  We didn't advertise.  We used word of mouth and lots of personal contacts to get started.
     From the very beginning, we knew that there had to be one driving force or idea behind the very existence of Standard Leasing...SERVICE.  Our appeal was  primarily to professionals, such as doctors,

lawyers and company executives.        You must remember, in those days, professional people were already aware of the financial benefits of leasing.  And our direction was to them - those people too busy to be bothered with an automobile.  We offered 100% service.  When a leased vehicle needed repairs or scheduled maintenance, we picked it up, left a replacement vehicle, had the work done and then returned it without our customer ever lifting a finger or waiting in a line.  And we still follow the same rules of business today.   Maybe that's why Standard Leasing retains its first place in the leasing market.
     According to my father, who still comes by to offer his expert advice, 90 to 95% of Standard Leasing customers do not know where we are nor have they ever seen our building.  That's what I mean by service...we come to them.
     In 1963, I took over the company as operating officer and "dug in" to get the company flying.
     All along, we thought there was a place in the market for automobile leasing.  If we could just get a head start on the competition it might prove meaningful for us.  And it was.  Today, brokers, bankers and dealerships are all riding the upswing of automobile leasing.  Financing institutions have jumped on the bandwagon, from our first leasing efforts through a local bank with those first four cars, to major automobile manufacturers and independent lending institutions.   And Standard Leasing is leading the leasing pack with a 20,000 square foot service facility and a fleet much, much larger than the four cars we began with.
     The leasing industry certainly has changed over the past 27 years...from computerization to financing to the very prices of automobiles themselves.