Martin Wildgoose, it’s all in the name. Martin began his journey here in the United States back in 1980 after he emigrated from England. He shipped his 1965 Sunbeam Tiger, (which is a tiny British car with the steering wheel on the right hand side), then drove all the way from New Jersey across the United States to California, where he settled and still lives today. Martin still owns the Tiger to this day. It was in late 1980 when Martin began working for Audiovox as a regional sales manager. He had only been in the United States for a few months, and was suddenly traveling the Western United States- pretty much on somebody else’s dime! At times Martin didn’t know what state he was in, because he traveled so much.
Following his time at Audiovox, Martin worked for Jerry Farrar at General Warranty in Marina Del Rey, Jerry along with Phil Quinn and Kenny Argent had basically started the service contract industry out of the trunk of Phil’s car. Martin, much later on, with the help of Phil, put together a window Theft Protection program, to rescue Auto Etch out of bankruptcy. He renewed the insurance to protect past retail customers, and set up an early reinsurance company to consolidate premium for the policies. While working at General Warranty in 1982 Martin had started Aftermarket Insurance Marketing Inc., (AIM Inc.), selling automobile insurance with Carousel, a company started by Dennis Smith, and credit life insurance, a company started and run by Helen Gaskin. After leaving General Warranty in 1984 he added service contracts to his portfolio, and then GAP in the very early days when Henry Jeminez was amongst the industry leaders to spearhead the beginnings of GAP as we know it today. Most recently the agency added ancillary products, se we can now boast income development in dealerships involving insurance for everything from the wheels to the windshield and all the components in between, not to forget the paint that covers everything up!
Martin Wildgoose
On Martin’s very rare free time- he is not a work-aholic but a work-enthusiast. Martin likes to physically exhaust himself. Triathlons of any distance are his passion. He has been racing in sprints since the early 1990’s and entered his first ironman distance event at the tender age of 59, with a starting point with cycling in 1967 at the National Schoolboy cyclo-cross Championship in London England. He added running as a hobby in the early 1980’s and started a streak of 40+ marathons in the 1990’s and added triathlons before the end of that decade. He now gets out of bed at 5:40 am three mornings a week to join his swim training group, although he still hasn’t figured out why swimmers get up so darned early. We won’t give Martin’s age, but let’s just mention that he ran the Boston marathon at the age of 52, and that was more than a decade ago. So, his will, drive, and sheer passion must be what keeps him going. Interestingly enough, Martin did not even like to run as a teenager. He didn’t begin running until 1983 after he got married.
Martin has passed many of his traits to his 3 children- they too are athletes and work enthusiasts. Tammy his eldest, is a college graduate from UC San Diego with a degree in Human Biology and Neuro Science and is now the first ever Dr. Wildgoose in the family. She has a great passion for athletics and particularly Cross-Fit, having been invited to compete internationally in Sweden and Brazil this year. Timmy, also a college graduate, has a degree in Philosophy from Long Beach State and is coined the “world traveler" of the family, having spent his last university summer back packing around Europe and North Africa. He now loves to go to exotic places like India, Ecuador Guatemala, Thailand, Australia, China, and Nepal and is the families Yoga expert. Timothy earned an Emmy for Sports Documentary last year for a pre-Superbowl short film he shot. Tommy, the youngest, graduated from college in Northern California followed his mother’s side of the family into the medical field and is now working as a paramedic with the Cosumnes Fire Department in the Sacramento City area, and lives in Elk Grove. His grandfather was a fire department captain on the L A City fire department and his uncle is a retired LA City fire department paramedic, so the acorn has not fallen very far from is oak tree!
August 18, 2020 marks the 38th Anniversary of AIM Inc. Martin managed to make it through almost four decades of the car business and all of its ups and downs. He is now helped by Becky who has been with the company for a few years beyond thirty, Paul who is now over twenty years on board, and Kassie who is top side of ten years with the company. There is no doubt he couldn’t do it without them any longer.
