1987
Hi,
I am Melissa and I originally started Sigman Auto Negotiations in 2018.
This Guy Is my Great Uncle, Ben Sigman.
SEMA Hall of Fame in 1987 (I was 2 years old, even though I'm 29 now) for Sigman-Pittman Parts, specialty vehicle parts.
My Grandpa, Ben's Brother, Bruce Sigman, was a car dealer. He owned a lot called Happy Motors, controversial, as the first dealer in the area of Tacoma, Washington, to hire African American Employees and Immigrants and pay them equal wages.
There is a fascinating history about Sigman family members before him as well, including Morris Sigman being a founder of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.
I never got to meet these great car guys, unfortunately. From all of the stories I have heard, I know they would be very proud to have a girl in the family that absolutely loves everything about the car business.
2018
When I was 14 my big brother taught me how to drive his green Honda Accord in the same church parking lot where the service to celebrate his life was held just a few years ago. He was my OG car guy. Mini Trucks, Low Riders, Air Bags, Custom Everything, that was his love. He had huge car clubs, loved Scrapin The Coast, Billy, "Mr. Gray" taught Automotive at Delgado Community College in New Orleans. He lost all use of one of his arms, in a motorcycle wreck when I was 21. Still, he went on to become one of the greatest people to ever grace the car business. Billy became a World Class ASE Certified Technician. I could go on endlessly about how he influenced my life and my career and how I miss him so much, especially when I need to know "why is this car making this noise!?" (he always knew!)
At 18 I worked as a secretary in a transmission shop. I used a program called AllData that could teach anyone how to fix anything on a car. It was the coolest thing ever! A few years later, when Cash for Clunkers happened I got a job selling cars at a Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda dealership. That was it. I have been committed to the auto industry ever since.
I have sold:
Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Kia, Nissan, Ford, CDJR, and countess preowned vehicles.
I have extensive experience with advertising and marketing for vehicles. Absolutely love finance of every sort as long as it's done right!
I nerd out about laws and regulations, so I'm happy to offer customized auditing and dealer complaince training services as well.
I enjoy working with bank reps. I like dealing with buyer/dealer challenges too. It's fun, it's easy to fix, it never feels like work to me, this is what I love.
After building a wonderful career in the auto industry, which allowed me to create Sigman Auto Negotiations, tradgedy struck.
I was severly injured by a dentist during what should have been a routine procedure. This caused some permanent nerve damage and major health issues. Subsequently legal issues were involved, it has now been just over 7 years since the day I was injured, and I have healed tremendously.
Regarding the legal issues, it's all public record now and mostly complete. My goal was to make sure that this dental office that injured me could not hurt or injure others, and I believed they were. This caused the owners to end up in prison and on house arrest, they pled guilty to RICO charges, approximately 5,000 victims are supposed to be reimbursed for being ripped off financially at one of their 7 locations, many of which were patients on Medicaid and Medicare, the most vulnerable people. I spent years healing while fighting for that court case to happen. I am very thankful to the Florida Attorney General's Office and everyone who fought for justice with and for me and so many others.
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During my break from being fully active in the car business, I still helped friends with their deals and continued learning. I kept up with the trends in the market (I am not sad that I missed Car Biz Covid days) and even got involved the exotics world a lot more.
After moving to North Carolina and settling down with my Sweetheart who loves cars as much as I do, I knew it was time to go back to work! It was Ivan that suggested we bring back Sigman Auto Negotiations. So here we are, back and better than ever, ready to help buyers and sellers have great experiences working together.