United Auto Lease: How Online Leasing Is Replacing Dealerships

Summary

Podcast Summary: Living Your Legacy

Episode: United Auto Lease: How Online Leasing Is Replacing Dealerships
Host: Rudy Mawer
Guest: Joseph Tal, Founder of United Auto Lease
Date: November 26, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Rudy Mawer sits down with Joseph Tal, a globally experienced entrepreneur and the founder of United Auto Lease. Joseph shares how his company is upending the traditional car leasing industry, offering a digital-first, transparent, and hassle-free experience that is rapidly replacing old-school dealerships. The conversation spans Joseph's entrepreneurial journey, the future of automotive retail, consumer psychology, and building a lasting legacy through both business and long-term investments.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Disrupting the Car Leasing Industry

• The Pain of Traditional Leasing

  • Joseph emphasizes that conventional car leasing is “very painful” for consumers due to misleading advertising and bait-and-switch tactics at dealerships.
    • Quote: “You go in, you see this TV ad... You get there, test drive it, fall in love... and then they’re like, ‘oh, well... this car is going to be $900, it’s not 200.’” (Rudy, [02:18])

• United Auto Lease’s Digital Solution

  • The company offers an online-only leasing model:
    • Transparent, fixed pricing
    • Zero down payment
    • Direct home delivery within 48 hours
    • Quote: "With United Auto Lease, the price you see is what you get. And it’s zero down and it’s delivered directly to your door, so you never have to visit the dealership." (Joseph Tal, [02:39])

2. Consumer Shift & Market Trends

• Growth in Leasing

  • Leasing is booming:
    • “In 2023, there were 16 million cars leased, which is a 25% increase from 2021.” (Joseph Tal, [05:16])
  • Root causes:
    • People value flexibility and avoiding commitment
    • Rapid tech changes mean consumers want easier vehicle upgrades
  • Quote: “People like to be quick, nimble... they don't want the long-term commitment, they don’t want to own the car, they don’t want to take care of the maintenance.” (Joseph Tal, [05:38])

• Buying Habits Conditioned by Tech

  • “A lot of people do a lot of important things on their phone. Buying a car shouldn’t be anything different.” (Joseph Tal, [04:49])

3. The End of Dealerships?

• Dealerships Becoming Obsolete

  • Joseph predicts the retail dealership model will be defunct within 10-30 years as full online car purchasing becomes the norm.
  • Future: Central distribution centers, streamlined/online processes, fewer physical showrooms.
  • Quote: "Dealerships won't last. Dealerships is going to be a thing of the past. Could be 10, 15, 20, 30 years." (Joseph Tal, [00:34], reiterated at [08:00])
  • Example: Tesla’s direct-to-consumer model and Carvana’s impact on online buying.

• Inventory Without Warehouses

  • United Auto Lease doesn’t keep inventory; instead, it taps into existing dealer stock nationwide, acting as a broker with reach and efficiency ([07:21]).

4. Joseph Tal’s Entrepreneurial Path

• Diverse Experience

  • Background: Wall Street trader, software developer, international logistics innovator—all led to his current role.
  • Learning from each venture: “It’s not the greatest idea... it’s the people who you’ll meet along the way that will bridge you to your next project and goals.” (Joseph Tal, [10:01])

• Starting United Auto Lease

  • The opportunity arose by chance from a business sale. Success stemmed from identifying market gaps and focusing on design and user experience ([06:30]-[07:15]).

5. Legacy, Investment, and Long-Term Thinking

• Family and Legacy

  • Joseph prioritizes family and generational wealth: “I’m a very, very long-term investor. Decades, generational and legacy wealth is important to me.” (Joseph Tal, [11:08])

• Real Estate vs Crypto

  • Prefers real estate for its intrinsic value: “It’s needed, you could, you can live... Especially if you get trophy property, you can’t beat that.” ([11:59])
  • Crypto’s attraction: “But you have to be disciplined... You buy, take the cold wallet, put it somewhere and leave it alone. It’s a waiting game.” (Joseph Tal, [12:11])

• Types of Real Estate Investments

  • Ranks opportunities: condos < strip malls/multifamily < raw beachfront land—with raw land requiring deep expertise and patience, but the highest reward ([12:25]-[14:40]).
  • Unique story: Secured a “trophy property” in Mexico, waiting for infrastructure (like the Mayan train) to unlock massive value.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Disrupting an Industry

• “Finally, a painless way to lease a car.” (Customer review quoted by Joseph, [00:10] & [03:23])

On Technology & Consumer Expectations

• “There’s absolutely no reason for those dealers to exist.” (Joseph Tal, [00:34], [08:20])

Mindset & Entrepreneurship

• “If you want to do something, go out and do it. Don’t just sit and wait for something to happen. It’s never going to happen.” (Joseph Tal, [14:58])

On Building Real Wealth

• “The real assets for me is real estate, cryptocurrency. Those are the things that are going to appreciate... you want to be in at this game.” (Joseph Tal, [11:47])

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• [00:02-00:34]: Joseph introduces the explosive growth in leasing and makes the bold claim dealerships will disappear.
• [02:11-03:43]: Joseph and Rudy identify the pains of traditional leasing and how United Auto Lease reinvents the process online.
• [05:16-06:09]: Rapid growth of leasing, why consumers are shifting to short-term, flexible arrangements.
• [07:21-08:17]: United Auto Lease’s “pure online play” and how it leverages dealer inventory nationwide.
• [08:00-09:06]: Prediction for dealerships, discussion of Tesla, Carvana, and the role of distribution centers.
• [09:33-11:01]: Joseph’s professional background and key lessons learned through successive entrepreneurial ventures.
• [11:08-14:40]: Joseph’s philosophy on generational wealth, investment priorities, and the story of acquiring prime real estate in Mexico.
• [14:48-15:12]: Final thoughts: Mindset, hustle, and practical steps to use United Auto Lease.

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Final Takeaways

• Online car leasing is poised to disrupt and eventually replace traditional dealerships—transparency, convenience, and consumer trust are driving this transformation.
• Adopting a long-term, generational mindset toward business and investment creates lasting legacies—focus on fundamentals, not fads.
• Entrepreneurial journeys are shaped less by singular ideas and more by learning, relationships, and consistent action.

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How to Connect & Further Info

Joseph Tal:
Unitedautolease.com – Three simple steps: Select from the digital catalog; complete the online credit application; take delivery within 48 hours.
([15:12])

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“If you want to do something, go out and do it. Don’t just sit and wait for something to happen. It’s never going to happen.”
— Joseph Tal ([14:58])

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Transcript

[Rudy]

How do you see this change in the car industry?

[Joseph Tal]

The lease itself is exploding. In 2023, there were 16 million cars leased, which is a 25% increase from 2021. One customer put it on a Google review. Finally, a painless way to lease the car.

[Narrator]

Joseph Tal is a globally experienced entrepreneur and the founder of United Auto Lease, where he's transforming car leasing with smart user first solutions. Drawing on his global entrepreneurial experience from hotel and resort development to digital logistics, he he's built a seamless auto leasing experience rooted in transparency and efficiency.

[Joseph Tal]

Dealerships won't last. Dealerships is going to be a thing of the past. Could be 10, 15, 20, 30 years. But just like people are buying almost anything online today through their phones, they'll be able to do that with the cars and everything will be done online. There's absolutely no reason for those dealers to exist.

[Rudy]

What do you think it's a better investment? Real estate or crypto? You had to pick.

[Joseph Tal]

I'll tell you here, and I said it before, It spans the globe like a super high cold Internet Elvis.

[Brendan]

Brendan, I agree.

[Joseph Tal]

Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.

[Brendan]

It's not over until I win the Living, your legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible has been. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan Open Chicago with the Living is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.

[Rudy]

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Legacy Makers. Joining me today is Joseph, and he's revolutionized and reinvented the whole world of leasing a car. Pretty fascinating what he's doing and how he's changing and disrupting that industry, making it so within, you know, a few hours or a couple of days, you can walk away and lease a car without, you know, the cheesy sales, bartering and the ups and downs of going to a dealership. So excited to dive in. Welcome.

[Joseph Tal]

Thank you, Rudy, for having me. Appreciate it.

[Rudy]

Cool. So, so let's talk about it. Tell me the story. Like how, how have you changed this whole industry?

[Joseph Tal]

So United Order Lease removes the pain from leasing a car. You quickly browse our online digital.

[Rudy]

It is very painful for a lot of people, right?

[Joseph Tal]

Very painful.

[Rudy]

I, you know, I, I bought all my cars, but I hear a lot of horror stories. Like you go in, you see this TV ad, right? Lease for now, $220 today. You get there, test drive it, fall in love with it, get there. Exactly. And I teach this in marketing. They're good what the dealerships do, and then they're like, oh, well, if your credit and this car is going to be $900, it's not 200. Yeah, exactly.

[Joseph Tal]

With United Auto, at least the price you see is what you get.

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Joseph Tal]

And it's zero down and it's delivered directly to your door, so you never have to visit the dealership.

[Rudy]

Yeah. But the old way that is, you know, I teach it is actually as a marketing example because that they're, you know, they're doing like, oh, it's $299 a month on the TV ads. But that's like, oh, you got an 850 credit score and you've got the lowest model over 30 and $5,000.

[Brendan]

Yeah.

[Rudy]

Big down payment. Right. So. So, you know, that's what I teach as marketing. They hook you in and then once you get there, you fall in love with it. The kids drive it, the wife says, come on, it's going to be great. Tired.

[Joseph Tal]

You want to get out of there.

[Rudy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're hammering you, you know, how are the customers finding this experience? Because it's so different to what everyone's used to.

[Joseph Tal]

Amazing. One customer put it on a Google review. Finally, a painless way to lease a car. Yeah. So it definitely is a game changer because you can easily browse our digital catalog online from the comfort of your own home.

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Joseph Tal]

Select your car, let us know which one it is, complete the credit app, take delivery within 48 hours and does.

[Rudy]

It show you, you know, once you do the credit app, based on your credit here, the prices. So how does that work?

[Joseph Tal]

Most of the time, anyone above 650 credit score will get approved, no problem.

[Rudy]

So the price is the price.

[Joseph Tal]

If you have, if you lack credit history, it'll probably go up a little bit.

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Joseph Tal]

But we let them know everything is upfront, everything's transparent. There's no gimmicks, there's no bait and switch.

[Rudy]

Straight to the point. And how did you get into this whole idea?

[Joseph Tal]

Actually, this was presented to us from someone who wanted to sell his current business. And being that I know the experience of leasing a car, I found it very interesting and I started to do my due diligence and I saw that you can scale this business up and I understood the gaps in the market and where the pain is.

[Rudy]

What's the like, you know, the feedback obviously from customers you get in this painless way. But like they're going to dealerships and they're finding you. Right. Like, do they almost think it's too good to be true or like, you know, you know, well, keep in mind.

[Joseph Tal]

This is a new concept. So there's definitely buying habit conditioning.

[Rudy]

Yeah, that's what you got to go through.

[Joseph Tal]

But you know, the world did been a great favor to us in the last 30 years by opening up these channels. So it's look, a lot of people do a lot of important things on their phone. Buying a car shouldn't be anything.

[Rudy]

Even since COVID it's probably helped like going on like now you can buy like a mattress online and like even your house, you know, like people are buying real estate now about seeing it. So, so, and what, you know, tell us a little more about the grow. Like how do you see this change in the car industry?

[Joseph Tal]

The lease itself is exploding. So in 2023 there were 16 million cars leased, which is a 25% increase from 2021.

[Rudy]

Why do you think leasing is increasing? Is it because people are, you know, they're changing their mind more often, changing the car. They don't have the money saved. They're not as good at saving. What is it.

[Joseph Tal]

People like to be quick, nimble in and out. They don't want the long term commitment, they don't want to own the car, they don't want to take care of the maintenance. And with technology moving so quickly, whatever's in today's car is not going to be in tomorrow's.

[Rudy]

It's funny because even Apple do that now. Like two years ago Apple made it where you basically pay monthly for the phone. Correct. And you just, you know, Apple obviously phone lines did that for many years where you upgrade every year. But now Apple internally you just pay 50amonth and you just rent the phone. Yeah, rent the phone.

[Joseph Tal]

People like that.

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Joseph Tal]

The business model itself, people like.

[Rudy]

And especially in America, I find like in England, even real estate England, everyone's like wanted to buy and hated renting. Here like half the population rent forever. You know, they like that.

[Joseph Tal]

Yeah, yeah, you have that for sure. Today more than ever is affordability. Yeah.

[Rudy]

So, so. And what's your story of entrepreneurship getting into all this?

[Joseph Tal]

This came by chance. This wasn't planned. I was almost one foot retired. I'm working on a big project in Mexico and when this came along, I saw how I can easily take my 50 years of experience doing so many different things and putting it all together into United Autolyse. And that's exactly what happened. Took us a while with the initial design to really nail it down because the design is the most important thing. That's what the people are going to see and that's what they're going to come to you for. So we struggled a little bit the first few months, but then we nailed it down. We got a uniform design and then we took it a step further with the different colorful designs to really attract the people and when they're seeing, to associate united order lease with all our colorful designs.

[Rudy]

Yep. And you just still have a like location. People can view the cars or it's all online.

[Joseph Tal]

We are a pure online play. We have no inventory, no warehouses, we have nothing.

[Rudy]

That's cool.

[Joseph Tal]

But every single dealer in the United States is holding my inventory at any given moment. If you want a certain BMW and you can't find it for a good price, I'll probably get it from Nebraska.

[Rudy]

For you for a better price. Yeah, yeah. Because you have the, it's kind of like wholesaling almost. Right. Like kind of like you have the long term connections and if someone's, you know, looking at their next car and stuff, are you going to probably be the, you know, the guy down at BMW that they've been with for five, 10 years doing, you know, doing their cars or is it more for new car owners?

[Joseph Tal]

This is for anyone. But there will be a certain market that's still going to visit the dealerships. I'll tell you here, and I said it before, dealerships won't last. Dealerships is going to be a thing of the past. Could be 10, 15, 20, 30 years. But just like people are buying almost anything online today through their phones, they'll be able to do that with the car as well.

[Rudy]

So how do you think the dealership model will be in 20 years?

[Joseph Tal]

I think there's going to be central distribution centers for vehicles to be distributed and everything will be done online. There's absolutely no reason for, for those dealers to exist. Actually in New York, most of them are not even doing any business other than the brokers that are sending them business. They're doing more business through brokers than they are.

[Rudy]

Yeah, well, I guess, I mean even Tesla, right. They have like a showroom, a small one in a mall. Correct. And it's all delivered. So I guess they've kind of already. It's kind of interesting because they went the showroom model in like a mall, which is very different. Right. But then they don't have the big deal. You know, there's not a big.

[Joseph Tal]

Correct. They don't have the expense of the big dealership and all that nonsense. Correct. Carvana also helped us as well though. They're the different business than the used car Business. But still they have paved the road and helped us as well.

[Rudy]

Yeah, I can see that in 10 years everyone just takes their cars there to get rid of them. Right. And whatever. Yeah.

[Joseph Tal]

Now we offer another service when you're. When we deliver the car to you, we'll take your old lease and take it back to the dealership so you don't even have to deal with it.

[Rudy]

Interesting, interesting. And then next question, you know what have been like, that's the business side. I'd love to talk a little about your personal side. Right. Like your entrepreneur journey, what you've been through, the ups and downs. A bit of a summary of that.

[Joseph Tal]

Very colorful. So I was on Wall street for a good seven, eight years and was a trader, institutional trader. Moved down to Miami. In Miami I got into the software developing business which was great. And it turned out that most people don't know what they're building when they want to build something for their business. So I found myself studying other people's businesses so I can build their flow correctly. And that opened up a lot of doors for us. Specifically in Panama when I developed a magnificent, beautiful international ocean shipping software. And I was right at that time when I visited the Cologne free zone in Panama where they get all the merchandise and they ship it out to the rest of the world tax free. They don't know what they were doing there. They didn't have any management, any software that manages the container shipping. And these, some of them were doing 100 containers a month. They had to rely always on the steamship lines to provide them with updates, anything. So we were able to take all that, connect it through APIs directly to the container lines, get them tracking, get them anything they want. So we took what a 20 man office does and brought it out to one person can handle that. So it was pretty amazing. And that opened up so many doors for us. Like I said before, it's not the greatest idea that you'll meet. It's the people who you'll meet along the way that will bridge you to your next project and to your goals. So to me that was great.

[Rudy]

And what, let me ask you, next question. What, what is the legacy side for you? Right? What do you want to be known for, what impact you want to have on the world?

[Joseph Tal]

I have a few ventures in my life that's important to me. It's obviously my family. I'm probably going to be a grandfather soon, Grass. And it's the businesses and the assets that I'm working towards and that I'm developing. So I am a very, very long term investor. Decades, generational and legacy wealth is important to me. The cash flow business is great to live, to have fun. The real assets for me is real estate cryptocurrency. Those are the things that are going to appreciate and those are the things that you want to be in at this game.

[Rudy]

So let me ask you on that. I always love to do a bit of business advice to what you think is a better investment. Real estate or crypto. If you had to pick real estate, okay.

[Joseph Tal]

Why it's needed, you could, you can live.

[Rudy]

Everyone's got to live somewhere.

[Joseph Tal]

It's yeah, it's needed real estate. And especially if you get trophy property, you can't beat that. Crypto is great, but you have to be disciplined. You buy and you forget it. You don't trade, you don't sell. You do nothing. You buy. Take the cold wallet, put it somewhere and leave it alone. So it's a waiting game.

[Rudy]

And with real estate, what are a few types of real estate you think are the best investments?

[Joseph Tal]

For sure. So you have a few levels of real estate investors. You have the people who buy the condos. That's the, I don't want to say the lowest. That's a surface condos. Anybody can buy a condo. Then you have maybe strip malls, multifamily. And then you have the raw land. And the raw land you have to know how to buy raw land. Specifically beachfront land. You need to know how to buy. Most people don't know. I've been interviewing countless of potential builders for the project that I'm working in Mexico. It's a resort and hotel management companies. No one has any idea about beach property, how to buy, what to look for. You need to know. And we learned, we learned the hard way. But we were lucky and fortunate to get a piece of property that's I believe a trophy property that's in Mexico in Capeche. It sits on the Gulf of Mexico and this property's about 70 acres Oceanfront Laguna back and we were able to change the federal zone to hotel zone. And then they gave the area a magic city status which requires the federal government to promote for tourism. And the cherry was the Mayan train that they built. One of the most important stops is about 15 minutes away from us. Nice. So it's a big. So you're talking about 10 million tourists traveling the Yucatan peninsula nonstop. And these are high end trains. I mean you could take a cabin there, you could sleep. It's really, really nice. More so Guatemala is connecting their Train wants to build a train to connect to the Mayan train. And Belize and North Mexico is connecting all their freight line trains to the Mayan train. So you're talking about tens of millions of people traveling around this train and the decades to come.

[Rudy]

Yeah. That's great.

[Joseph Tal]

So we're.

[Rudy]

We feel that. Long game.

[Joseph Tal]

Yeah, the long, Very, very long game. But even today, I mean, we bought the property at pennies to the dollar.

[Rudy]

Yeah. It goes.

[Joseph Tal]

And today it's, you know, dollars per meter, you know.

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Joseph Tal]

So it's. It was a great investment, but this is something that we're not. It's not going to. We can't go to Publix with it. You can't buy anything with it right now.

[Rudy]

Sure.

[Joseph Tal]

This is something for 20, 30 years down the road.

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Joseph Tal]

But then you. The pay. The pay. The. The. The payday is.

[Rudy]

Yeah. More than you'll ever. Oh, ever. Yeah.

[Joseph Tal]

Ever. Yeah.

[Rudy]

Good. Last question. People love this. They love learning about the business model, a bit about you. What are they going to get from your episode?

[Joseph Tal]

They will understand mindset. They will understand to hustle and to go and make it happen. If you want to do something, go out and do it.

[Rudy]

Love that.

[Joseph Tal]

Don't just sit and wait for something to happen. It's never going to happen. That's what they'll get.

[Rudy]

Love that. That's what this is all about. Any last words? If someone wants to check you out, get their next car, learn more about you. Where do they go?

[Joseph Tal]

Sure, you can go to unitedautolase.com it's three simple steps. Select your car from our digital catalog, complete our online credit application, and take delivery of your car within 48 hours. Real simple, real easy.

[Rudy]

Love that. Well, guys, that's a wrap. As always, work hard, have an impact, and build a legacy. I'll see you guys soon. Take care.