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| - Forewarning, this will be an incomplete review. There are basically 3 distinctly different businesses at work here: the financing side, the sales side, and the consignment side. I only delt with 2/3 (and the reviews I've seen of the consignment side are almost unanimously bad, so it will almost certainly stay that way) but I will review what I DID experience.
SALES - I started my experience with Treadz by emailing to ask a bunch of questions. I did this will 4 or 5 comparable dealerships going in, most were very friendly but Vincent was the only one who seemed to be very honest and frank with me, rather than dodging specifics and obviously up-playing things to get my business. I found this so refreshing in the used car business, I decided to submit a financing application (more on that later).
When I heard back from another salesman, Justin, saying I'd gotten approval I was still on the fence as to whether I wanted to use it or not as I'd been badly burned by a similar dealership in the past (see my review of the con men that call themselves Cavalcade Auto). However, I took a look at their inventory online and came down with 2 cars I was interested in. Both were huge disappointments, and had several flaws that either weren't shown in the pictures online or weren't noticeable when they were, so I was almost ready to walk out... but Justin showed me 3 others I hadn't looked at seriously, and 2 of which were great. Before I knew it, I was at a toss up and seriously debating which way to go. So basically, if you expect a huge selection or go in with some preconcieved idea of what you want, this probably isn't the place. Their lot is small and most of them have moderate-level problems ranging from rust to high kms to mild body damage, but there ARE (or at least were yesterday) a few diamonds in the rough to be found, if you're open to things you haven't considered.
Justin himself is probably the main reason I decided to deal with Treadz. He was not only super friendly and accommodating, but knowledgeable and honest. I never felt like I was dealing with the cliche "used car salesman" type. I was probably a huge pain too, treating him like a con artist based on my previous experience, bringing through two different friends to give look overs and test drives to make certain I wasn't missing anything, just all around taking up a lot of his time and not always being very nice about it, but he never faltered and even (very proudly, it seems) explained how Treadz doesn't work on commision, but rather on a volume based performance bonus system, so it didn't benefit him at all to upsell me to something I didn't want or to pressure me into anything, which showed (and was appreciated).
Also it should be noted that the prices listed online ARE a good 10% or so above fair market value on most vehicles (some may be even more, I'm just going from the ones I looked at) but they're pretty good about negotiating - I got a very fair price, with a couple of minor repairs thrown in as a bonus.
FINANCING - Unlike my previous experience, these guys don't do their own financing. It's not a "here's the deal, sign it or don't" kind of setup. They broker deals between buyers and financing companies, which not only helps you get a better rate but in the case of someone like me who's credit rating isn't the best, increases your odds of finding approval. In my case, Justin found me two companies that would approve me, one of which gave me a rate almost 10% lower than what I'd previously been assessed at by competitors.
I list this as a seperate "business" because apparently you can even have these guys broker financing on vehicles bought elsewhere - I didn't do that, but I've read reviews from people who have.
All in all, I'm docking one star because of the small selection, frequency of issues with vehicles in the lot, and the fact that many of these issues are not represented online... but everything else was VERY positive, and since I don't expected anybody would buy without taking a closer look in person, those seem like relatively small things, so I would still very much recommend giving these guys a look if you're looking for a used vehicle on the cheaper end of things.
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