Fabrice Grinda

  • Playing with
    Unicorns
  • Featured
  • Categories
  • Portfolio
  • About Me
  • Newsletter
  • AI
  • RO
    • EN
    • FR
    • AR
    • BN
    • DA
    • DE
    • ES
    • FA
    • HI
    • ID
    • IT
    • JA
    • KO
    • NL
    • PL
    • PT-BR
    • PT-PT
    • RU
    • TH
    • UK
    • UR
    • VI
    • ZH-HANS
    • ZH-HANT
× Image Description

Subscribe to Fabrice's Newsletter

Tech Entrepreneurship, Economics, Life Philosophy and much more!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Menu

  • RO
    • EN
    • FR
    • AR
    • BN
    • DA
    • DE
    • ES
    • FA
    • HI
    • ID
    • IT
    • JA
    • KO
    • NL
    • PL
    • PT-BR
    • PT-PT
    • RU
    • TH
    • UK
    • UR
    • VI
    • ZH-HANS
    • ZH-HANT
  • Home
  • Playing with Unicorns
  • Featured
  • Categories
  • Portfolio
  • About Me
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy
Sari la conținut
Fabrice Grinda

Internet entrepreneurs and investors

× Image Description

Subscribe to Fabrice's Newsletter

Tech Entrepreneurship, Economics, Life Philosophy and much more!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Fabrice Grinda

Internet entrepreneurs and investors

Lună: iunie 2014

The used car buying and selling process is broken and we are going to fix it!

The used car buying and selling process is broken and we are going to fix it!

The used car industry is massive. There are 40 million used cars sold per year in the US representing $320 billion in value and $70 billion in industry revenues. The average household buys a $8,000 used car every 3 years. This is the second largest household expenditure after housing.

Given how massive the industry is, it’s shocking how awful the used car buying and selling process is. To sell a car online, owners have to endure the pain of taking pictures, describing their car and posting them on Craigslist, eBay Motors or Auto Trader. They have to receive people at their home with all the security risks this entails, especially for women. After showing the the car to buyers, sellers have to organize getting paid and deal with the paperwork to transfer possession. This is a huge pain especially if there is a lien on the car. Alternatively if they deal with dealers, sellers get 10 to 20% less than the KBB trade-in price (which is already very low) and have to spend hours in the process. Dealers rarely give offers on the phone forcing them to visit 3 or 4 dealers to get a reasonable price. Let’s be honest, no one ever said they looked forward to spending 5 hours with a car salesman!

For buyers it’s even worse. There is no real way to buy a car online. After doing an average of 9 hours of research, buyers have to reach out to sellers to organize a test drive. This entails further safety concerns, especially if the payment is in cash. Buyers also have to deal with registration and financing. If they are buying offline, they spend an average of another 9 hours at the dealer. They  go through a lengthy negotiation process. If they good negotiators they end up paying the KBB retail price, which on average is 54% more than what the dealer bought the car for. Worse buying a used car is fraught with risk given that sellers have more information about the car than buyers, and it’s very possible that the car is a lemon. Most states don’t have cool off periods and used cars are not returnable once purchased.

As I mentioned in my article The Evolution of Marketplaces, a new generation of marketplaces is emerging that focuses on providing delightful consumer experiences in categories that were essentially broken. This is best exemplified by Uber’s massive improvement of the taxi experience. For the past 18 months, I have been spending all of my time building or investing in such marketplaces. As luck would have it, Ale Resnik, a successful Latin American entrepreneur who was helping me manage my angel investments during his second year of business school at MIT Sloan, bought a lemon.

He did tons of research online, went to a dealer and bought a $14,000 Jeep Liberty. Three days later his wife called him from the I-94 while he was working with me in NY: smoke was pouring from under the hood. He took it back to the dealer who made a few fixes, only to experience the same problem two more times. The dealer eventually washed his hands of all responsibility. Ale hired a lemon law lawyer, sued the dealer through the attorney general of Massachussets. It took him three months and a lot of time, but he eventually won, but it was arduous and expensive. There had to be a better way. Beepi was born!

team

We partnered with Owen Savir, an Israeli entrepreneur who was finishing his second year at GSB and set out to reinvent the used car buying and selling experience by addressing everything that is wrong with the experience. We wanted sellers to be able to sell cars in 3 clicks from the comfort of their home. On Beepi, all a seller needs to do is select the make, model, year and mileage of the car. We then offer a price that is always above the KBB trade-in price and we offer to beat any dealer offer by at least $1,000. If the seller accepts our offer, we send an inspector to their home or office.

Our inspector does a 195 point inspection. Should the car pass the inspection process, the inspector then does all the work necessary to place the car on sale: takes the pictures, writes the description, check the options, etc. Beepi then guarantees to sell it within 30 days or buys it at the price we quoted on the site. We also deal with terminating the lien or financing if need be.

For buyers Beepi organizes registration, financing, extended service and parts warranties and soon insurance. The price is always better than the dealer price. We deliver the car to the buyer’s home or office washed and ready to use. To address the lemon’s dilemma we offer a 10 day money back guarantee and a 3 month, 3,000 mile warranty for free included in the price.

We are only live in the Bay Area right now but buyers and sellers are loving the service and we are already on a $5 million in sales run rate 2 months after launch!

We look forward to expanding to the rest of the US and the world in the coming months and years!

Autor FabricePublicat pe iunie 6, 2014august 21, 2023Categorii Muzici de afaceri, AntreprenoriatLasă un comentariu la The used car buying and selling process is broken and we are going to fix it!

My first interview in Spanish!

My first interview in Spanish!

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Emprendedor Universal … in Spanish! They asked me to relate my entrepreneurial journey, focusing on the challenges I faced along the way. I also shared what I have been up to since leaving OLX along with advice for budding entrepreneurs.

If you want to hear me embarrassing myself in Spanish, you can listen to the interview:

It’s also available on iTunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/12-fabrice-grinda-angel-inversionista/id865252986?i=313805747&mt=2

Autor FabricePublicat pe iunie 4, 2014februarie 27, 2024Categorii Antreprenoriat, Interviuri și discuții pe marginea foculuiLasă un comentariu la My first interview in Spanish!

Search

Recent Posts

  • Actualizarea FJ Labs pentru T3 2025
  • Elogiul de a fi tu însuți
  • Sensul vieții
  • FJ Labs Q2 2025 Actualizare
  • Conversația World of DaaS cu Auren Hoffman: portofolii diversificate, vânzări secundare și cine festive

Recent Comments

    Archives

    • octombrie 2025
    • iulie 2025
    • iunie 2025
    • mai 2025
    • aprilie 2025
    • martie 2025
    • februarie 2025
    • ianuarie 2025
    • decembrie 2024
    • noiembrie 2024
    • octombrie 2024
    • septembrie 2024
    • august 2024
    • iulie 2024
    • iunie 2024
    • mai 2024
    • aprilie 2024
    • martie 2024
    • februarie 2024
    • ianuarie 2024
    • decembrie 2023
    • noiembrie 2023
    • octombrie 2023
    • septembrie 2023
    • august 2023
    • iunie 2023
    • mai 2023
    • aprilie 2023
    • martie 2023
    • februarie 2023
    • ianuarie 2023
    • decembrie 2022
    • noiembrie 2022
    • octombrie 2022
    • septembrie 2022
    • august 2022
    • iunie 2022
    • mai 2022
    • aprilie 2022
    • martie 2022
    • februarie 2022
    • ianuarie 2022
    • noiembrie 2021
    • octombrie 2021
    • septembrie 2021
    • august 2021
    • iulie 2021
    • iunie 2021
    • aprilie 2021
    • martie 2021
    • februarie 2021
    • ianuarie 2021
    • decembrie 2020
    • noiembrie 2020
    • octombrie 2020
    • septembrie 2020
    • august 2020
    • iulie 2020
    • iunie 2020
    • mai 2020
    • aprilie 2020
    • martie 2020
    • februarie 2020
    • ianuarie 2020
    • noiembrie 2019
    • octombrie 2019
    • septembrie 2019
    • august 2019
    • iulie 2019
    • iunie 2019
    • aprilie 2019
    • martie 2019
    • februarie 2019
    • ianuarie 2019
    • decembrie 2018
    • noiembrie 2018
    • octombrie 2018
    • august 2018
    • iunie 2018
    • mai 2018
    • martie 2018
    • februarie 2018
    • ianuarie 2018
    • decembrie 2017
    • noiembrie 2017
    • octombrie 2017
    • septembrie 2017
    • august 2017
    • iulie 2017
    • iunie 2017
    • mai 2017
    • aprilie 2017
    • martie 2017
    • februarie 2017
    • ianuarie 2017
    • decembrie 2016
    • noiembrie 2016
    • octombrie 2016
    • septembrie 2016
    • august 2016
    • iulie 2016
    • iunie 2016
    • mai 2016
    • aprilie 2016
    • martie 2016
    • februarie 2016
    • ianuarie 2016
    • decembrie 2015
    • noiembrie 2015
    • septembrie 2015
    • august 2015
    • iulie 2015
    • iunie 2015
    • mai 2015
    • aprilie 2015
    • martie 2015
    • februarie 2015
    • ianuarie 2015
    • decembrie 2014
    • noiembrie 2014
    • octombrie 2014
    • septembrie 2014
    • august 2014
    • iulie 2014
    • iunie 2014
    • mai 2014
    • aprilie 2014
    • februarie 2014
    • ianuarie 2014
    • decembrie 2013
    • noiembrie 2013
    • octombrie 2013
    • septembrie 2013
    • august 2013
    • iulie 2013
    • iunie 2013
    • mai 2013
    • aprilie 2013
    • martie 2013
    • februarie 2013
    • ianuarie 2013
    • decembrie 2012
    • noiembrie 2012
    • octombrie 2012
    • septembrie 2012
    • august 2012
    • iulie 2012
    • iunie 2012
    • mai 2012
    • aprilie 2012
    • martie 2012
    • februarie 2012
    • ianuarie 2012
    • decembrie 2011
    • noiembrie 2011
    • octombrie 2011
    • septembrie 2011
    • august 2011
    • iulie 2011
    • iunie 2011
    • mai 2011
    • aprilie 2011
    • martie 2011
    • februarie 2011
    • ianuarie 2011
    • decembrie 2010
    • noiembrie 2010
    • octombrie 2010
    • septembrie 2010
    • august 2010
    • iulie 2010
    • iunie 2010
    • mai 2010
    • aprilie 2010
    • martie 2010
    • februarie 2010
    • ianuarie 2010
    • decembrie 2009
    • noiembrie 2009
    • octombrie 2009
    • septembrie 2009
    • august 2009
    • iulie 2009
    • iunie 2009
    • mai 2009
    • aprilie 2009
    • martie 2009
    • februarie 2009
    • ianuarie 2009
    • decembrie 2008
    • noiembrie 2008
    • octombrie 2008
    • septembrie 2008
    • august 2008
    • iulie 2008
    • iunie 2008
    • mai 2008
    • aprilie 2008
    • martie 2008
    • februarie 2008
    • ianuarie 2008
    • decembrie 2007
    • noiembrie 2007
    • octombrie 2007
    • septembrie 2007
    • august 2007
    • iulie 2007
    • iunie 2007
    • mai 2007
    • aprilie 2007
    • martie 2007
    • februarie 2007
    • ianuarie 2007
    • decembrie 2006
    • noiembrie 2006
    • octombrie 2006
    • septembrie 2006
    • august 2006
    • iulie 2006
    • iunie 2006
    • mai 2006
    • aprilie 2006
    • martie 2006
    • februarie 2006
    • ianuarie 2006
    • decembrie 2005
    • noiembrie 2005

    Categories

    • Posturi recomandate
    • New York
    • Anul în revistă
    • Joacă
    • Antreprenoriat
    • Fericire
    • Discursuri
    • OLX
    • Joc cu unicorni
    • FJ Labs
    • Filme și emisiuni TV
    • Interviuri și discuții pe marginea focului
    • Reflecții personale
    • Jocuri video
    • Muzici de afaceri
    • Cărți
    • Crypto/Web3
    • Economie
    • Piețe
    • Gadgeturi tehnice
    • Călătorii
    • Anul în revistă
    • Optimizarea vieții
    • FJ Labs
    • Luarea deciziilor
    • Economie
    • Asset Light Living
    • Reflecții
    • Optimism și fericire
    • Câini

    Meta

    • Autentificare
    • Flux intrări
    • Flux comentarii
    • WordPress.org
    • Home
    • Playing with Unicorns
    • Featured
    • Categories
    • Portfolio
    • About Me
    • Newsletter
    • Privacy Policy
    × Image Description

    Subscribe to Fabrice's Newsletter

    Tech Entrepreneurship, Economics, Life Philosophy and much more!

    Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

    >