Beepi Announces Massive $300 Million Funding Round

Beepi, the California-based used car marketplace site, has just announced a massive funding round of at least $300 million.

Companies like Beepi are attempting to change the way that consumers buy and sell pre-owned vehicles. Beepi’s plan is to remove the difficulties in finding, negotiating and purchasing a used car, to make the process simpler and more enjoyable for consumers. Dealerships are taking note of its massive funding round as companies like Beepi can be seen as competition in the ever-changing landscape of customer expectations for purchasing a car.

“People nowadays are used to buying things online,” said Owen Savir, co-founder of Beepi. “They are used to transacting with Amazon, they are used to transacting with others and so buying a car online is the next logical step.”

Beepi allows people to sell cars to it online, and offers hand-inspected cars for purchase on its website with delivery to the customer’s door. Ale Resnik, Beepi’s CEO, says that the funding round will be used to begin operations in one new American city every week, and to scale the company up from 150 to 500 employees. Additionally, the funding will be used to ensure regulatory compliance in new markets, and for eventual international expansion. Currently, the company operates in California, Arizona and Texas.

One of the biggest hurdles for companies like Beepi is to gain consumer acceptance for the concept of buying a used car online, without having ever seen it in person and without having given it a test drive. Clearly, Beepi’s expansion plans are massive, and it will be interesting to see whether or not it can grow at the rate that it is expecting.

“It is definitely a little scary to make such a major investment without ever having sat in the car or driven it,” said Miles Johnson, a Mountain Valley, California resident who recently purchased a 2012 Honda Civic through the site.

Considering the fact that a large majority of consumers expect a less-than-perfect experience when purchasing a car from an auto dealership, sites like Beepi have the potential to catch on in a big way. For dealerships, companies like Beepi serve as another reminder to improve the customer experience to ensure that the expertise that can be found at a dealership will continue to bring customers in and will keep companies like Beepi from gaining any significant market share. Many shoppers certainly prefer the idea of seeing and test driving a car before making such a large purchase, and Beepi has a long way to go before it will be able to convince a large percentage of car shoppers to use its site. However, the company is growing, and its expansion plans are ambitious.

What can dealerships do to stay on top?

The most valuable thing for dealerships to remember is that consumer expectations are changing. On average, people come in to make a purchase with much more knowledge than they did in the past, and they expect to be listened to and treated as individuals. By adjusting to the ever-evolving shopping landscape, dealerships can retain their place as the primary choice for the majority of consumers by providing superior customer service and sales expertise.