As reported by TechCrunch...

Yet more developments for Beepi, the used car marketplace that had raised $150 million but then went bust: The company has completely shut down and has been sold off in parts to repay creditors. The development comes after a deal to sell itself to Fair.com, a stealth startup from car industry vets, was cancelled; and then a second deal to sell itself to Bay Area-based used car dealer group DGDG fell through, TechCrunch has confirmed with people close to the company.

With no more cash for operations, Beepi instead went through an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC process), with advisory firm Sherwood Partners as the Assignee, the firm confirmed to TechCrunch. The Wall Street Journal first reported the assignment of Sherwood Partners to sell off the assets yesterday.

The development wasn’t a complete surprise. After we initially reported in December that Beepi, out of money, would be sold to Fair.com, we’d been trying to hunt down the latest on the situation, when we noticed that the sale announcement was marked as “cancelled” on Crunchbase in January (now mysteriously turned back again to "pending"); and we started to receive emails from people saying that the site had completely shut down and was not processing any sales, or refunds for sales.

No one asked for home delivery

Beepi raised hundreds of millions of dollars on a huge addressable market (TAM) size and clear need to improve car buying online (and selling). What Beepi underestimated were the physical constraints associated with buying, inspecting, servicing and selling cars. What killed them is an average unit cost of $25,000, weight of 4,000 lbs. and expectation vehicles be moved by truck 2, 3 or 4 times more than traditional dealers. All that said, don’t bury the lead. Consumers loved the service and were willing to pay for a better experience.  

By the way, the future of auto retailing will not be built on home delivery. Consumers never asked for it and know it adds cost. What they want is a contemporary, online purchase that simplifies a complex transaction. Turbo Tax made it easy for consumers to accurately prepare and file tax returns online, it didn’t send a tax guy to their house with a calculator. Consumers are more than ready to buy and sell cars online.  

If interested you can read more of my take on Beepi's failure at the vinadvisor blog.