Just finished my year lease with Smart Lease. Fantastic experience from start to finish. The car…read moreworked perfectly without a single issue. I would do again.

I rented a car from Smartlease for 6 months while being a college student in the bay area. For a…read morebusiness that is geared towards "helping out" young professionals and students (people who are often new to car rentals, car ownership, and car insurance), I'm surprised at the consequences I faced for this lease. I'm deeply disappointed in this experience: one that was marketed as low-frills and economical and how Mohamad was polite and reasonable until the time for the car return came. I understand the pressure of our current economy, but cannot condone taking advantage and emotionally manipulating the exact group of customers that would vulnerable to this. The cars at Smartlease are old and delicate and any minor scuffs or scratches that inevitably happen during your lease are not considered "normal wear and tear." If you are looking to rent from Smartlease, you'd hope you can keep the condition of the car 100% perfect or you would have to pay thousands of dollars in damages out-of-pocket (that amount to over 25% of the rental car's value) or pay deductibles through your insurance which significantly increases your premium for years. In my case, I got trapped in Clause 19 of the lease agreement: "If you have not had the repairs made before the Vehicle is returned at the scheduled end of this lease, you will pay the estimated costs of such repairs, even if the repairs are not made prior to Holder's sale of the Vehicle." I had returned the car already, so Mohamad proxied for me at an auto shop (he told me last minute that there were repairs to be made). He gave me the quote that the auto shop deemed, a quote that was much higher than if I had looked to repair these myself (especially since for some damages, I wouldn't have repaired if it were my own car). Then when I asked for a receipt from the auto shop to make sure my money was actually going towards repairing the car, he sent me Clause 19, making clear that it wouldn't be. Instead, the money would be pocketed by Smartlease. This money is equivalent to the price to rent this particular car for 5 more months, nearly as long as I had the car for. As a student, it was difficult for me to find the funds to pay for the upcharged cost and it caused me a great deal of worry. I felt absolutely exploited. In the final communications with him about the repairs, he gaslighted me and would often say that he's been in this industry for a long time, so these processes are industry standard. He used his position of power, knowing I am a student and have little experience, though I can research and have parents and friends who have more experience with cars to validate his claims. When I asked if I could go to the auto shop with him, so we could speak in person and I could be part of the conversation with the auto shop, he called my request weird and unheard of. He said that it's difficult for a first-timer to speak to an auto shop, implying that I don't know how to speak to an auto shop, then threatened that if I wanted to meet him at the auto shop, he doesn't want to come; instead, I would have to handle all of this by myself. But at that time, I was flying home in a week since school had ended and I still needed a proxy. Ultimately, he did not speak to me kindly. The amount of money I have spent for this lease in total could have bought a used car of similar value to the car I had rented. But if I had chosen to buy a used car, I could have resold it.  If you still want to make a short term car lease, I would strongly recommend to avoid Smartlease and the financial, emotional, and temporal cost and search somewhere else.

I had a fantastic experience with Jeremy in buying my first used car. He was really effective in…read morefinding a good deal, arranging everything with the dealer on my behalf, answering my many probably annoying questions, and setting up a clean otd price. Throughout it all, I appreciated that Jeremy was knowledgeable, no-bs, patient, and responsive. I never had to communicate with the dealer at all, until I showed up at the dealership for my test drive, where the salesman had all the paperwork ready to go. From test drive arrival to leaving the dealer with my new car, it only took 2 hours, which feels pretty efficient. I don't really understand how Jeremy gets paid because he didn't charge me for anything, but I'm so glad I found him.

In one sentence: VIP CAR BUYING EXPERIENCE. (Excuse the…read morecaps, I want to emphasize how great it was. ) By now, Jeremy helped us buy two cars! One for ourselves and one for our friends. Both experiences were delightful, stress free (who would associate stress-free when you buy a car?) and quick. No hassle car buying - that should be his business's title. He helped us narrow down the list of cars we were looking at and make a decision that worked for us. He also scheduled all the test drives, negotiated the prices, and pointed us to a specific person at the dealership, a complete VIP experience. He did the same for our friends just this week, they bought a great car in a great condition, he negotiated the price down and steered them away from less desirable options. My friend was nervous (just like I was before ) because the process of buying a car is stressful. But after they got into the dealership and the car was waiting for them, they test drove and bought the car. My friend said: who would have thought that I can enjoy buying a car! And that's all thanks to Jeremy. Believe me I'm not hyping him up, he is professional, kind and customer centric. Thank you Jeremy!

Highly recommend working with Arkady! The entire process was crazily fast - it took just a couple…read moreof days from the moment we met until we were driving off in our new car. He helped us with absolutely everything and truly knows his stuff. If you want a seamless, stress-free car buying experience, go to Arkady

It was time for us to upgrade the family hauler, so the long research process began…read more.. Long story short, Arkady got us the car we wanted just under MSRP. Nothing to brag about right? But, in a market where cars are in high demand, supply is drastically low, and are selling for $10k+ over MSRP... thats as good as it gets. We were referred to Arkady through a friend. Hubby has a long history in retail sales, so the car buying experience has always been... eventful, as everyone knows. But now with 2 toddlers in tow, we weren't able to dedicate the months-long research, wheeling and dealing, and multiple dealership trips all over the Bay Area to get what we wanted. So we decided to give Arkady a try. We told Arkady what we wanted. SPECIFICALLY what we wanted. Down to the T. A brand new Platinum Highlander Hybrid in Pearly White. A special order color, in a very sought after trim level and combination. Arkady looked and found us a few, but we weren't ready yet. So we waited. And the aftermath of COVID was in full affect. The dreaded chip shortage. Dealer lots were empty, cars were being bought up like no other, and the market is now flooded with buyers willing to pay top dollar from a supply pool that would disappear with a sneeze. Unfortunately for us, we just couldn't afford to battle with ballers, so we waited, hoping Arkady could find us a deal. Luckily, Arkady was able to place us an order with the Toyota Factory for our specific car, in our specific trim. We waited a few weeks, putting our trust in Arkady, and we finally got the call. The vehicle had landed and was ready for us. Everything we wanted, as we had requested. Even in this market, he was able to get us below the MSRP, which is absolutely mind blowing. He promised, and delivered in spades. His cost of service is worth its weight in gold. The process was painless. He was prompt with his communication and was always straight forward. On delivery day, we met at his office and spent no more than 15 minutes doing paperwork.... to buy a car... that was tailor made to our specification.... at a deal we were more than happy with... We cannot emphasize at how valuable his services were to us, and our family thanks him greatly. Remember the kids? They didn't even have time to even THINK about throwing a tantrum before they were buckled up in the new car and we were on our way. Arkady runs a no-joke, no-frills, get-it-done business. He saved us a lot of time, stress, and yes, money during the car buying process, and has a customer for life. Thank you, Arkady, for all that you've done!

We had a great experience with Christian and his crew at Cartelligent's Sausalito office. No…read morehassling with dealers , great guidance through the process, constant communication during the sale, very seamless. only one caveat. you will get a better trade in price if you sell it yoursel.

Originally, I had heard about Cartelligent from a friend who highly recommended the company, and…read morethen I told my daughter and son-in-law about Cartelligent when they were looking for a new car, and they were very happy with the outcome as well. When I found I needed a new car after not having bought a vehicle for twenty years, I contacted Cartelligent. I, too, am very satisfied with the car, the service, and working with Ethan Sparrow at each stage of the process. Ethan made it very clear from the beginning that he was committed to finding a vehicle that would work best for me, that I would be happy with, and that would fit within my financial parameters. In handling me as a client, Ethan kept things moving and was very professional, always positive, on point, and yet I never felt pressure to make decisions. The process from start to finish was quite seamless and when I came to pick up the car, I appreciated the generous time Dylan took to acquaint me with the many features, including the details and safety features of the vehicle (especially considering changes in tech after twenty years of driving the same car). In addition, Ethan made it clear that he and his team will continue to be available to answer questions as they arise. Ethan's patience, competence, and sense of humor contributed to an overall comfortable and positive experience. High recommendations for Cartelligent!

Eran is the best! If you're not car leaning or knowledgeable, and/or you're hesitant and doubtful…read moreabout moving forward on any used car, you don't have to worry about it and can completely trust SafeBuy and Eran! He's the consummate professional, excellent work ethic, and absolutely knowledgeable and competent. Eran is so awesome and accommodating. He seems ready and eager to work for & with you, and he made himself available as best he could with me. Even though it's clear from his website the area range he covers, and that he's open to go even further (for, in my opinion a small additional charge), he went extra far for me; and furthermore he's always ready seemingly at a moments notice (which won't always be the case, of course, but shows that as long as he's available, he'll jump to work with you [reflective of how awesome service & work ethic he has])! The extra (again, for an small [IMO] additional charge) he was wonderful in considering for me was even as far as a used car dealership in Roseville! Just FYI, for him Gilroy is too far (haha, had to try, because he's awesome and I was desperate for the car, so for him to). And he works hard to make it that his customers don't have to do anything additional, and that he'll take care of it all -- he doesn't expect you to meet him there (although you have the option; he offered/was-open for me to be there to do it with him, but since the dealerships were like 40+ miles out, I opted not to), or to meet with him beforehand, or even afterward; you can correspond and coordinate just text and/or phone. If anything, you just might have to call the dealership and give them a heads up (telling them the time and Eran's name & business). He goes out, takes the car for about an hour, and checks everything. But beyond that (and what I mean about excellent work ethic and consummate professional) is that he documents it all (photos on top of his notes), and he goes in, around, and even under the car and looks at all the nook and cranny of all the car parts & aspects. He took plenty of photos of anything remarkable of the car (dents, paint deterioration, oil/grease stains [underhood of the car], interior issues, etc.). He has a whole form with a checklist that checks ranging from fluids to condition of belts to lights working to hoses to condition of the tires & brakes and the rest; even takes note if there's a spare tire & wheel jack. Of course he hooks up his OBD tool to check for any codes. Then he sends you the report with all of his findings, gives you a call to talk it all over and he gives his impression, then you send payment -- he's really cool about payment and states "however you want to pay"; Paypal, Venmo, Zelle, Apple Pay, Cash, Check, whatever. He gave me the impression that I wanted him to be my own mechanic; so I even asked him. And it's a credit to him to have replied that, to keep professionalism and can't claim exploitation, he doesn't do both (PPI and mechanic). He is on the high end of what you might estim8 ($180; more if you send him outside his normal area/range [I don't believe more than $200]), but I was happy to spend that on him. I'm a novice with cars (general knowledge enough, but not enough to be able to identify whether car parts are in good order and/or would last or not), so I wasn't confident in my ability to buy my first used car. I used him twice (would have been three times, but Gilroy was too far away). In the end, the used car I got has worked great for the last 6 months. And he saved me from buying an amazing car (high end Hyundai; $3k) but in such under-the-hood horrible shape that it would've been 3x the cost of the price just to repair everything -- which is proven when I saw the listing remain for 2 whole months and priced reduced twice down to I believe $2800! After it all, I brought my used car to 2 mechanics after him, and they confirmed 4 out of the 6 concerns he had -- which, granted, it's not like Eran has a car lift and a whole lot of time to thoroughly check as much as a mechanic with a garage would. He mistook cosmetic blemishes on the serpentine belt and the brakes as old age and maybe needing to be replaced -- which didn't end up being the case. But he did get the transmission deficiencies, signs on a certain valve gasket, parking brake, and other aspects right on the mark. I can't say good enough things about him! I was only able to feel confident enough to buy the really old used car that was in my budget because of him. And it's been nothing but a success! 6 months later, after taking care of the issues and potential concerns Eran noted, the car has not given any problems (that could have been foreseen; it still is a really old car so some things are bound to have come up organically) -- proving how much Eran and SafeBuy is really stellar and impeccable! If you're not the best with cars, you can absolutely trust Eran and SafeBuy; as much as you can trust his willingness, commitment, integrity, experience.

Had a great experience. The owner responded within a few minutes of my inquiry, and was able to…read morecome out and meet me to perform the PPI later that day, and went over the results with me. He was pleasant, responsive, on time, efficient, and charged me a really reasonable price. Highly recommended, would totally use this service again, and really went a long way towards peace of mind for my first used ev purchase. Thank you!

I was introduced to Howard by a friend when I was urgently needing a car. At the time, I was pretty…read morelost and haven't decided to go for used or new cars, so I really appreciate that he offer free charge in the beginning service so that I can still do my used-car research while he helps look for new ones. Howard was very efficient and found a car with a very good deal within three days. He provided great advice and was easy to reach out. I end up with the new car I want with a really good price. His service was really helpful and I enjoyed a lot!

Howard was able to find me the exact 2025 Toyota 4Runner Platinum that I was looking for within a…read morefew days !!! He was able to find one that was in-transit to the US which was luck in itself since Toyota is not building to many Platinum models. Definitely recommend his service it's A+++