For two decades, Siman Auto Sales has been a fixture in the Regina business community. Started in 1999 by Dwight Siman and his wife Lana the second-hand car dealership started with a mobile phone and $1,000, and is now one of Regina’s most established businesses. But the road to success would be a bumpy one. Dwight and Lana have experienced car theft, credit card fraud and even dramatic car rescue in their time in business

With some help from Lana’s parents and Dwight’s brother, they were able to start their business. Lana takes care of the business finances and can remember what it was like when she and her husband first started out. “We had no money. All we had was the first month’s lease for a property, 3 months worth of cell phone coverage, and about two or three hand-me-down used cars from an old dealer that was a friend of my husband.”

During those first few months, Lana had a job outside of their company. “I had always had outside employment and that was what stabilized us in the beginning. As I said, we were from meager beginnings. So, he [Dwight] was just an entrepreneur ready to jump in with both feet, and I was not. I maintained employment outside of our company, to pay the bills and keep things floating in the slow early months when we didn’t sell anything or make a profit.”

Dwight is tall and soft-spoken and stands in contrast to his wife who is quite petite, but who is very friendly and talkative. Her office is located just across from Dwight’s workspace and is filled with all sorts of Saskatchewan Rough Rider paraphernalia. Dwight’s workplace, on the other hand, is quite bare, except for three picture frames that have an incredible story to tell.

In January of 2013, Dwight saved a man from a car accident in which the vehicle that was struck caught fire moments after Dwight pulled the driver out. This story was covered in the Leader Post and he currently has it hanging in his workspace just across from his computer.

The used auto sales business would not be without challenge for Dwight and Lana, as they soon found out. They would run into some financial trouble after opening up two new business locations, one in Swift Current and the other in Saskatoon. These new locations would prove to be a source of economic loss for their business. “There were three consecutive years back in 2015, 2016, and 2017 because we have a fiscal year-end, it’s not a calendar year-end, where we had lost $188,000 (2015) then we lost $144,000 (2016), and then we lost only $88,000 (2017).”
Following these losses, Dwight and Lana decided to close down their other two auto dealerships. This turned out to be a good move for them as it afforded them time to recover. According to Lana, once their taxes for this year are complete they will be looking at a 5 digit profit for their fiscal year, which they plan to use to pay off some of their current debt.
But, Dwight and Lana would still run into trouble through a number of thefts that took place from their Regina Location.
During the month of September 2018, Siman Auto Sales was moving locations. “It was the worst time of year to move,” said Lana, explaining that September was one of their busiest months. “It was the two biggest months we’ve ever had in our twenty years of business. It was incredible. despite the fact that, on the last week in September when we were wrapping things up and had to be out and moved in so we can continue business, we had a theft at the old lot. someone stole a car off the lot. and the way they had done it was they had come in for a test-drive, asked if they could take it to a mechanic, and we do permit that, and we took their license and they took it to a mechanic and simply never came back.” That was not the only incident, however, as an even more fiendish theft would occur at the new location. The thief smashed in their front window, stole several sets of keys, and then escaped in one of the cars that they had on the lot. As if that was not enough, another three vehicles were also stolen through a fraudulent credit card scam. Through these thefts, Siman Auto Sales suffered about $65,000 in damages. However, much to the Siman’s relief, all of the stolen inventory was eventually found and returned with only minimal damage done.
These events, however, have not been enough to deter the Siman’s. They have just made them more vigilant. “You don’t want to become distrusting of the public. You want to always think the best of humanity, and people, but it does jade you and you keep your eyes really open and ears really keen to watch for potential misgivings in people.”