Prestige Imports breaks ground on building expansion

GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Prestige Imports West Michigan has broken ground on a 3,500 square foot addition to its sales and service facility on 29th Street in Grand Rapids. The added space will support a new showroom, a new customer waiting room, a car accessories department, and a place to drive in for service write-up inside the shop.

Owner Joe Licari thought it was time to update the building he built when his business moved to this location 21 years ago. “We prefer to do business the old fashioned way,” he says. “We work on relationships, not just the vehicles we sell and service. And this addition will let us move up to the next level of customer service.”

Gordon Julius is the architect for the expansion and Jerry Gauss is the contractor.

Prestige Imports has its own niche in the West Michigan market. It’s not a new car dealer and it’s not a high-volume used car dealer. “Our customers prefer high quality vehicles,” says Joe. “But they don’t want to take the big depreciation loss that hits a new car in the first couple years. So they depend on us to find low mileage, late-model vehicles and carefully screen out those that are not in excellent mechanical condition.”

Service customers like the fact that Prestige Imports specializes in import service and employs “some of the top import techicians in the Midwest,” according to Joe. “We invest regularly in equipment and training that allow us to match the services of new car dealers—but at more competitive prices.”

Joe Licari started gaining his knowledge of import vehicles at a young age in Palermo, Sicily. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 17 with his family, settling in the Grand Rapids area where he received a job as a mechanic working on Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, and Volvo vehicles. After 11 years, Joe decided to open his own repair facility in 1978. His company grew from a small repair shop on Division and, in 1985, moved to its current location on 29th Street. Since the relocation, Prestige Imports has offered high quality used cars and parts sales as well.

Several members of Joe’s immediate and extended family work in the business, including his son, Phil Licari, who graduated from the automotive program at Northwood University.

Several employees have worked for Joe from 15 to 27 years. Many customers have bought multiple vehicles from Joe and a significant number of them have been using his service department for 20 years or more.

Prestige Imports is located at 2919 29th St. SE in Grand Rapids and can be reached at 616-957-4661 or toll-free at 888-717-7004. It can be found online at www.prestigeimport.com .

Contact: Dick Hill, Atrax Marketing
Rockford, Michigan
dhill@atraxmarketing.com
616-915-2121


This release was published on openPR.