Selling my car, what I found out.

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JustinH

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Guys,

So in a previous post, I said that I was purchasing a 2010 Rav4 Sport 4wd from my Father in Law for a good price.

We have done what I think is the smart thing and took steps to get rid of our car payment, in the form of a 2014 Toyota Rav4 LE.

I read some positive posts on here about selling a car to carmax.

Here is my experience.

Car books out at 22k-24k. Private party is 20.5k. Trade in is 19k.

Carmax offered me 17k and not a penny more. Said it was a very agressive offer.

Autotrader offered me $17,400.

Another Dealer offered me $17,300.

I owed $19,700 on the vehicle.

I put the car on craigslist, and attracted a bunch of scams, and bunch of people who wanted to drive the car then offer me nothing for it.

Came across an ad for Beepi.com

I read their yelp review, all very high. Every review I could find about the company was good.

So I called Beepi and arranged for a Tech to come out and take photos of the car, and inspect the whole vehicle, so that they could make me an offer on it.

Tech came out, and took 200 high resolution photos of the car. He spent 2 hours inspecting every inch of the car. Said everything was in very good shape, and he noted every "dimple" which is a little stone chip, etc.

Did a very FAIR appraisal of the car. Beepi offered me $20,451 for the vehicle.

Here is how it works, they listed the car for $20,900 on their website. The car may sell at any time, I still can drive it, so long as I do not damage the car.

After 30 days of posting, they agreed to buy the car from me for $20,451. I have a written offer in ink in my hand.

If you are wondering, $20,451 is the exact Edmunds Private Party value for Clean condition.

https://www.beepi.com/Buy/toyota/rav4/2014/JTMZFREV0ED032932

I'm pretty happy with the deal, and I do like the way they do business.

I called the 1800 line twice to ask questions, and they had answers right away and were friendly about it.

So, when it is time for my wife to get a new car, I would consider buying her a Camry or Corolla on Beepi. Much less annoying than buying a car at a dealer.
 
That's interesting...I don't see how they can pay you PP value for your car...where does their profit come from?

How many miles does it have on it?
 
Originally Posted By: pbm
That's interesting...I don't see how they can pay you PP value for your car...where does their profit come from?


Looks like they just broker the buy and with very little overhead vs dealer.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
Guys,

So in a previous post, I said that I was purchasing a 2010 Rav4 Sport 4wd from my Father in Law for a good price.

We have done what I think is the smart thing and took steps to get rid of our car payment, in the form of a 2014 Toyota Rav4 LE.

I read some positive posts on here about selling a car to carmax.

Here is my experience.

Car books out at 22k-24k. Private party is 20.5k. Trade in is 19k.

Carmax offered me 17k and not a penny more. Said it was a very agressive offer.

Autotrader offered me $17,400.

Another Dealer offered me $17,300.

I owed $19,700 on the vehicle.

I put the car on craigslist, and attracted a bunch of scams, and bunch of people who wanted to drive the car then offer me nothing for it.

Came across an ad for Beepi.com

I read their yelp review, all very high. Every review I could find about the company was good.

So I called Beepi and arranged for a Tech to come out and take photos of the car, and inspect the whole vehicle, so that they could make me an offer on it.

Tech came out, and took 200 high resolution photos of the car. He spent 2 hours inspecting every inch of the car. Said everything was in very good shape, and he noted every "dimple" which is a little stone chip, etc.

Did a very FAIR appraisal of the car. Beepi offered me $20,451 for the vehicle.

Here is how it works, they listed the car for $20,900 on their website. The car may sell at any time, I still can drive it, so long as I do not damage the car.

After 30 days of posting, they agreed to buy the car from me for $20,451. I have a written offer in ink in my hand.

If you are wondering, $20,451 is the exact Edmunds Private Party value for Clean condition.

https://www.beepi.com/Buy/toyota/rav4/2014/JTMZFREV0ED032932

I'm pretty happy with the deal, and I do like the way they do business.

I called the 1800 line twice to ask questions, and they had answers right away and were friendly about it.

So, when it is time for my wife to get a new car, I would consider buying her a Camry or Corolla on Beepi. Much less annoying than buying a car at a dealer.



Let me know when you have a check in hand from Beepi.
 
No haggle pricing and delivered right to your driveway. That is smart and I can see a market for that kind of service.
 
The $449 dollar markup doesn't seem like enough (profit for Beepi) for all the service they provide (2 hour detailed inspection...200 photos etc...) On top of that they agree to buy the car (tying up their money until they sell it).

I can't help thinking there is a 'catch' here somewhere.
 
I looked at their website, cars for sale seemed to be quite a bit above market to me, at least what I would offer anyway. It might be a good experience for someone knowing nothing about cars though. Yeah, I will wait until the check is in hand and has cleared on this one.
 
something sounds very fishy. No way can they pay someone to spend 2 hours time going over the vehicle for so little margin. I don't buy any of it.
 
Originally Posted By: pbm
That's interesting...I don't see how they can pay you PP value for your car...where does their profit come from?

How many miles does it have on it?
+1
 
Originally Posted By: philipp10
something sounds very fishy. No way can they pay someone to spend 2 hours time going over the vehicle for so little margin. I don't buy any of it.
+1 The hook isn't set yet.
 
I hope it works out well.

My guess is right now they are losing money like many startups to entice folks like you to actually sell their cars(inventory) and get buyers to purchase. This is all subsidized by VC money. The return for them currently is data on transactions, market analysis, reviews, and social media buzz etc.

A few of my friends don't like car dealers and have purchased new and certified used vehicles without going to any dealers except local to try them. They end up as part of transaction asking for delivery to work or home with some vehicles trucked from other dealers in South>North.
 
I could see this model making a lot of sense...very little overhead and making it easier for someone to buy private party by assisting someone who doesn't know how to buy a car without going to a dealer do so.

I am sure they are also making some money by hooking the buyer up with financing if they don't pay cash.
 
How many miles are on this 2014 RAV4?
If this falls through let me know I'd be interested at $19K.
 
Originally Posted By: Joel_MD
Beepi is a legit business, funded by some venture capital from Silicon Valley. The jury's still out on whether the business model will translate into something profitable. Here's a news story: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/15/beepi-aims-to-change-the-way-you-shop-for-used-cars.html

I saw that episode on CNBC. This is an idea whose time has come. Good business model. I bought our 2013 Dodge GC from Carmax, after trying all the local dealers. No one had any inventory, except Carmax. They trucked in 2 different vans locally, and another 2 from out of state, before I got what I wanted. I'm sure I paid top $$ for it but I got what I wanted. If Beepi succeeds, I would expect Carmax to offer the same type of service. They are huge and have a massive inventory.
 
I sold my 2012 Hyundai Accent through Beepi.com in May. It was a great experience. It was a low mileage car in near perfect condition. One Hyundai dealership offered me $7500, another offered me $8000. Both dealers were incredibly nasty to me when they learned I didn't want to do a trade-in. Carmax offered me $9000- they wanted to put it in their showroom.

I contacted Beepi and arranged an inspection. It was just like JustinH described. The inspector told me that Beepi had just opened in the Phoenix market and was looking to build up inventory here. He suggested that they might buy the car outright from me instead of waiting 30 days for it to sell.

Beepi offered me $9200. I read that they will beat any other offer by $1000 so I emailed them a copy of the Carmax offer. They immediately raised their offer to $10,000, which I accepted.

I asked them if they would like to buy the car immediately. They said "Yes." A few days later a young man came to my home, did a short inspection, we did the title transfer and he handed me a cheque for $10,000. They later sold my car for $10,500, which is less than what the local dealers are selling similar cars for.

So they're definitely legit, but whether or not their profit margin is high enough to stay in business remains to be seen.

They only take fairly new cars that have never been in an acciddent and are in very good condition. They give the cars a more thorough inspection than dealers do, and they sell them with a better warranty than a dealer will offer, with a no-lemon guarantee. Seeing how they inspected my car, if I was purchasing a used car on terms I would buy from Beepi rather than a dealer.

One tip: any time you want to sell your car, pay for a full detailing. The $200 you spend will more than pay for itself.
 
Last edited:
Checking out their website, it looks like they have some nice cars and the prices appear very good at first glance. Their website is just awful though, I can't find a way to search by location and it's way too busy.
 
You don't need to search by location. You buy a car according to the description on the website. They will ship it to you from anywhere. Then you get to test drive it for 10 days, IIRC. If you don't like it, they'll buy it back from you.
 
Just an update, Beepi is very highly rated on yelp.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/beepi-los-altos-2

I called their office twice to ask questions, and they answered both questions properly and they were pretty friendly.

I received a written offer and have that in my possession right now.

Here is my honest opinion of this type of car buying.

I think it is good for many different people, folks who do not have the time to deal with salesmen at the dealership, and do not want to get gouged.

I have so many of my friends, men and women who have not read the fine print on used car purchases, and they end up with a few thousand dollars in extras, then the dealer just rolls it into the payment.

Beepi makes 500 off my car, they make a few bucks off shipping (not always free for the buyer), they make a few bucks off their fees, and they make a few bucks if the buyer finances using them.

I bet they will make 1500-2000 off my car, maybe a little more.

If this catches on, and they do this all day long it could get interesting.

As a buyer, is it worth me to buy a car for a few grand under Edmunds dealer retail, and get a car that is inspected and guaranteed, every blip in the paint everything?

Then have the thing delivered to my house, it is a point and click car.

I've bought so many cars on autotrader, or worse craigslist. I've dealt with so many shady used car dealers, or private party people. This eliminates all the risk of getting ripped off, or getting a bad deal, and I see it being worth it for a lot of people.

In a couple years, when we are ready to sell the Matrix, I will take a look at a nice Camry on Beepi, and may pull the trigger.
 
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