What is more exciting than winning a brand new car or truck?
The opportunity to win the car of your dreams is merely a registration form away. Or maybe a boat, motorcycle or truck is on your “wish list.” There are always plenty of sweepstakes to enter for those as well. As a matter of fact, there are sweepstakes for just about any vehicle you can think of.
Back in 2003 we won an $18,000 voucher to get the vehicle of our choice. We traded in our current vehicle and walked away with a brand new 2004 Dodge Ram extended cab truck with a 7 year warranty. We still drive it today and it is totally paid off because of the sweepstakes.
We won it from a local sweepstakes that required the entrants to send in postcards. We won just on 4 postcard entries.
Finding and entering local sweepstakes or ones that are limited to just your state or a few states usually have much better odds. This sweepstakes was sponsored by our local grocery store.
When you win a vehicle you have several choices to make.
You can keep the vehicle and pay sales tax on it right away. You will receive a 1099 for the value of the vehicle and then you must claim it on your taxes the next year.
Or, you can sell it back to the dealer and take the cash. You still have to claim the cash on your taxes but it could be a lower amount to claim.
In our case the cash was only going to be $13,000 so we decided to get the truck because we knew we would have a new vehicle to drive that would be paid off and had a warranty.
There are pros and cons of each decision.
- If you take the vehicle you will have a brand new vehicle to drive that is paid off and has a warranty
- If you take the cash it usually is a lower value because you are selling the vehicle back to the dealer at the cost of the vehicle, not the sticker price. But, you have cash and do not have to pay property, registration, or sales tax on a vehicle.
Here is my husband (in the middle) accepting the truck we picked with our $18,000 voucher.
Check out more popular articles on sweepstakes including:
- 8 Tips to Winning Sweepstakes Consistently
- 6 Top Tips for Winning Blog Giveaways
- The Secret to Winning Instant Win Games
- Effective Keyword Searches to Find Sweepstakes
- Tracking and Recording Sweepstakes Wins
Crystal says
Hey Wendy! Thanks for joining the Moms In A Blog group on Mom Blogger. Just checking out all your links, you are one busy lady!!
Lori aka A Cowboy's Wife says
I had no idea you won a vehicle…you amaze me!!!
Tiffiny says
Lucky! That is what I really would like to win someday!
julie says
I won a vehicle from the Wendy’s Best promotion a 2012 Ford focus.
I’m not sure if I will keep it or sell back to the dealer.
I’m glad to know there is options.
Nancy B from Many LA says
I won a car before; it was a 2003 Mitsubishi EVO VIII. We kept it for about 9 months and sold it. It was a fantastic car and loved it so much, but the money we sold it for was so nice.
Now, I do have a question. I won a Yamaha Grizzly. I always thought that you couldn’t ask the dealer if they would buy it back, that they had to offer. I really want to sell it back to them, but do I ask them or see if they will offer to buy it back?
Sweetie says
Sure, I would ask. Tell them you really could use the cash and you can’t afford to register it right now and see what they say. It never hurts to ask
Claudia says
Almost all the vehicle sweepstakes I’ve entered have this statement or something like it “”Prizes cannot be transferred, substituted or redeemed for cash””.
I always interpreted that to mean I could not sell it back to the dealer and get cash and I also thought it meant I could not sell it to anyone else either. In other forums I’ve also read that people have gotten nasty legal letters from Sponsor’s when they’ve attempted to sell vehicles.
I read that a few of you DID sell it back to the dealer or to other people in 2011 or earlier. So have the rules changed in 2015/2016 and now sponsor’s have wise-ened up and are deliberately preventing people from doing that or do they throw it in there to protect themselves and sometimes change their mind and allow people to do it anyway?
Venaswearengin says
I hope N pray I win I need it