Apparently Beepi is shutting down, at least outside of CA

"E90M3" (e90m3)
12/12/2016 at 12:36 • Filed to: Beepi

I’m sure some of you remember that !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! after I couldn’t find a buyer. Well apparently they’re shutting down. It’s kind of a shame because they were great to work with.

If you’d like to read some more:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

DISCUSSION (25)

Shady Balkan Subject, Drives an Alfa > E90M3
12/12/2016 at 12:42

I have missed your earlier story, but how the fuck there is no interest on an 128i in coupe form. At this point all coupe variants except the diesel here in Europe have price creep upwards, because they have become desirable and lets not talk about the 1M.

E90M3 > Shady Balkan Subject, Drives an Alfa
12/12/2016 at 12:45

I have literally no idea. I had it priced reasonably and it was in really good shape. I didn’t even have one low ball offer. I guess there just really isn’t a market for them San Antonio Texas.

Arrivederci > E90M3
12/12/2016 at 13:23

That’s a real bummer - I was considering using them like you did.

E90M3 > Arrivederci
12/12/2016 at 13:34

I assume by using you mean selling to them. What state are you in and what car would you have sold to them?

Nick Has an Exocet > Shady Balkan Subject, Drives an Alfa
12/12/2016 at 14:31

Shady - that was the only version available here. Just 2 door coupe and convertible. We didn’t get the 3 or 5 door hatch.

Nick Has an Exocet > E90M3
12/12/2016 at 14:37

Was the value better than a dealer trade-in? I got an appraisal on my car from Shift (just for fun but now I get all their spam) and it was lower than a decent trade.

As much as I love cars, these use car startups seems like they are barking up the wrong tree. They never have enough actual pictures and scheduling an appointment for a test drive is worse than going to a car dealership in terms of mental load. I know someone will eventually get it right but the used car lot is a shockingly convenient thing and curb appeal has a lot to do with it. You’ve been thinking about getting a Sentra and every day this week you passed one on your way to work at Joe’s Car Emporium, you know where to go and you know roughly when they’ll be open.

When you think about it, the ideal version of a used car lot experience is shockingly close to what we already have - a used car lot. The part that sucks is the buying experience - paperwork, sales people, etc and Carmax has already kind of solved that.

E90M3 > Nick Has an Exocet
12/12/2016 at 14:44

Carmax offered my 12.5k for it, Beepi offered me 14.5k. I was going to bring my car to some dealers that offered to buy it, but I figured that they weren’t gonna come close to Beepi’s offer. If you click they hyper link you can read more about my experience.

I think companies like this can be great. You just have to go somewhere and test a car. Then you find the exact one you like. I bought my M3 over the phone, sight unseen, but I had driven an E90 M3 before and knew it was what I wanted. I just couldn’t find one local to me to buy.

nermal > E90M3
12/12/2016 at 17:05

The guy that started TrueCar is starting up a new site, Fair.com, which will do a kinda hybrid between TrueCar and Beepi.

The Fair.com peeps bought out Beepi, fired most of the workforce, and kept a few people and most of the technology / ideas / etc.

E90M3 > nermal
12/12/2016 at 17:10

I saw that, I wonder how that’s gonna work out. I thought Beepi had a pretty decent business model. Seems some people lamented over not being able to drive before buying. However I’d argue most people now would be willing to buy a car sight unseen off the internet as long they have driven the same model of car and it comes with a warranty.

E92M3 > E90M3
12/12/2016 at 18:15

Well that’s a shame. They seemed to have better prices than Carvana.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > nermal
12/12/2016 at 18:16

Well, that doesn’t seem very... Fair.

E90M3 > E92M3
12/12/2016 at 18:23

Yeah, I wonder why carvana has been successful, or at least I think they have been, while beepi wasn’t.

Nimbus The Legend - Riding on air like a cloud > E90M3
12/12/2016 at 18:39

Thats really too bad,

we sold my now ex gfs car on beepi and it was a great experience...

E90M3 > Nimbus The Legend - Riding on air like a cloud
12/12/2016 at 18:44

Yeah it is too bad, I also had a great experience selling my car to them.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3
12/12/2016 at 18:47

I liked their idea, but I always imagined that the compliance part of their operation being a damned nightmare.

DynamicWeight > Nick Has an Exocet
12/12/2016 at 19:25

I’m not sure if this is a good idea or not, but I always imagined it would be cool to sit somewhere stationary and have all the potential cars I’d like to buy driven past me. Then I can pick which one(s) I would like to see closer and they would be brought over to me.

Nick Has an Exocet > DynamicWeight
12/12/2016 at 19:45

Haha, maybe beautiful women can feed you grapes while this happens!

nermal > E90M3
12/13/2016 at 08:44

Right, test driving is the major limitation to buying cars unseen, especially used ones. On new ones, the Tesla model works fine - Drive a demo, then order one exactly how you like.

On used, the issue is that every used vehicle is unique. I think the only way around this is to make sure the online retailers only stock “good” cars, and keep them late model and low mileage, in addition to offering a warranty and generous return policy.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3
12/13/2016 at 10:23

Quote from the FP this morning: “Everyone who has been successful has realized that used cars are unique, depreciating assets, and the margins are shrinking because the Internet allows consumers to choose more freely between vehicles,” Haig said. “You have to be a good retailer, not just a software developer.”

E90M3 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
12/13/2016 at 10:30

I would like to point out that they didn’t make a mention of this until I posted something then used the top link I posted as their source, coincidence much?

E90M3 > nermal
12/13/2016 at 10:36

While Every vehicle is unique, a stock well maintained car should be about the same as another stock well maintained car. Obviously there are going to be differences, but if the car comes with a warranty and a return policy, then I would have no problem buying. As long as there wasn’t some undocumented accident, you should be fine.

I bought my M3 over the phone from a dealer in Dallas when I was living in Corpus Christi. It was 2014 and the car was a 2011 and still had the remainder of the BMW factory warranty. It was also completely stock and only had 15k miles on it. So I felt confident as long as it was cosmetically good, the mechanicals would be covered.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3
12/13/2016 at 10:37

Yup - happens to me frequently. But it’s not hard to surmise that he reads Autonews to keep up on industry stuff. It is his job, after all.

E90M3 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
12/13/2016 at 10:44

That is true, it’s just that this is news from last week. The autonews story is from yesterday, but I found out about it last week, I just didn’t post about it until yesterday. It is his job, so I’ll just file it to coincidence.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3
12/13/2016 at 11:36

The coincidence is strong some days!

DynamicWeight > Nick Has an Exocet
12/13/2016 at 13:03

Yeah duh, and don’t forge the young boys fanning me ever so gently with the palm fronds. I’m not a Barbarian after all.