LAPLACE — William Paredes Jr. knows his customers.

As the general manager of Rainbow Chevrolet in LaPlace for more than nine years, Paredes knows what people like and what they want to buy in the way of cars.

Now he plans to expand those choices even more.

Next month, Rainbow will expand its operation by opening a car lot at 465 Belle Terre Blvd., featuring pre-owned vehicles.

Rainbow Luxury will not be your typical used car lot, though, according to Paredes.

“It’s going to be a pre-owned luxury car lot,” he said. “We are going to offer the lower end vehicles from Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Infinity and so on.”

Paredes said the idea has been bounced around for years.

“You see these vehicles driving around the area,” he said. “You’re sitting at a light and they pull up next to you. Well, they’re buying them somewhere. They’re going to Metairie or New Orleans to buy them. We want to provide those quality pre-owned vehicles here.”

Dave “Big Dave” Pennington will manage the new establishment, bringing more than 20 years of expertise with him, Paredes said.

“He’s been in the business a long time,” he said.

Rainbow Chevrolet has been a staple in LaPlace for nearly 20 years, offering the full line of new Chevrolet cars and trucks as well as a wide inventory of used vehicles.

There are six other locations throughout Louisiana and Mississippi.

The local dealership also has a custom shop for outfitting trucks. “Iron Horse” at Rainbow Chevrolet has truck specialists on hand who can make all the modifications customers want.

“We can create customized up-fits for new and used vehicles,” Paredes said. “Instead of going from place to place to purchase accessories, we have them all right here.”

Paredes said the new lot is intended to help bring in new customers, as well.

“We have an established customer base of those people who travel west of LaPlace,” he said.

“This will give us a different traffic pattern of those people traveling between LaPlace and I-10, to and from Baton Rouge and New Orleans. It’s not going to have the same inventory.”