My name is Joseph Brittain III, Owner and sole salesman for Initial Imports LLC. I am the 7th generation to be raised on our family farm located in Mills River, the same property where the dealership is located today! Recently, as of November 2021, I became a married man to my beautiful and successful wife. Without her support I likely wouldn’t have took the necessary steps to become the man this world needs me to be.
Yes! Initial Imports LLC has been a fully licensed Independent Dealership in North Carolina since the year 2018 and will continue to maintain that license indefinitely.
We do not offer any in-house financing options currently. However, you as a customer do have a few options. First being a personal loan from whichever banking establishment you currently use, this option may have very competitive interest rates. Second is our affiliate partner, LightStream, who have been in business since 2012 and offer interest rates from 3.99%-9.49% APR.
Absolutely! However, the process might not be for every customer. First, we would have a personal conversation with you about what you’re looking for in an import. A relative price range will be established and a small deposit will be made that correlates to that specific price range. Then it’s a waiting game for the perfect example to come across the auction floor or on a lot in Japan. We have established relationships with multiple auction platforms as well as local dealerships in Japan to source the perfect vehicle as efficiently as possible. Once the customer states a vehicle we found is the right one worthy of importing comes the excitement of placing bids and playing the auction. Woo-hoo we won you your perfect import! Next step is we will need 100% of the remaining agreed upon funds within 24 hours of winning the bid. Then my partners and I get to work on setting up oceanic transport, recently oceanic shipping times have gone up slightly from 4 to closer to 6 weeks. Then I personally clear the vehicle from the oceanic Shipper, US Customs and Port Authority. As soon as the vehicle is brought up the mountains to our dealership we have it fully inspected by our partner shop and every problem is resolved. At that point the vehicle is ready to be turned over to the customer!
It is a lengthy process with multiple, very important steps but that is what it takes to import your dream car.