NILES — A Benton Harbor car dealership has opened a new branch in Niles, with the aim to provide a local place for residents to find affordable pre-owned vehicles.

LeValley Pre-Owned opened in late July and hosted a grand opening on Sept. 15 to welcome customers to their store.

Here, customers can find pre-owned cars that are considered to be late model – around three years old. The dealership is a franchise of GM and Chevrolet, in addition to those brands, prospective car buyers can find Jeep, Ford, and Dodge brand cars, among others.

Managers Frank Johnston and Neil Matheison run the business located at 2401 S. 11th St. Johnston has 27 years of experience selling cars and Matheison has more than 30 years of experience in the business.

Johnston, of Elkhart, said LeValley’s goal was to give customers local options for buying a car. 

“People in Niles don’t recognize Benton Harbor, St. Joseph a lot – that is not where they shop, that is not where they go,” Johnston said. “They probably identify more with the South Bend market. We wanted to reach out to this part of the market where you know where we can obviously sell pre-owned cars, but also try to show what we can do both service and sales-wise.”

What Johston said makes the lot unique is that it seeks to offer customers the feel of a small town car lot, with the benefits of big dealer. Customers are welcome to browse the cars with help from either Johnston or Matheison, take the car for a test drive and to a mechanic.

“You can come to a place like this and it is small, the person you meet is the person that can help you out through the whole process,” Johnston said. “Let’s sit down and have an honest conversation, what is the person trying to accomplish in their next vehicle and work together to get them done.”

LeValley Chevrolet Buick, GMC in Benton Harbor has been in operation for 45 years. Johnston said LeValley acquired the property from longtime business owner Don Webber, who also sold pre-owned cars at Don Webber Motors. Webber, who was well-known among Niles residents, now works for LeValley and is transitioning into retirement.

“Don was here for 30 plus years,” Johnston said. “He is kind of a local icon. In fact, he is still working here. One of the great things about this lot is that Don had a very big presence in this area.”

Johnston said he looks forward to growing and becoming part of the Niles community.

“One thing our studies showed is that people who live in Niles don’t buy their cars in Niles, they buy them elsewhere,” Johnston said. “We want to provide an area where people want to buy within their own community, just provide that outlet.”   

LeValley Pre-Owned is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.  To learn more about LeValley Pre-Owned, those interested can check out levalleypreowned.com or call (269) 684-2400.