Leave worried, return in style: Gustav evacuee wins Mustang on the way home
Norris Cadiere and his family were among the thousands who evacuated their New Orleans-area homes ahead of Hurricane Gustav last week. The Cadieres, who waited out the storm in Georgia, decided to stop at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis, MS on the way back to their home in Marrero, which is around 10 miles outside New Orleans. Norris was playing the maximum bet on one of the casino's nickel slots when he got lucky, and the slot machine started going berserk. Cadiere thought he had won himself a thousand bucks or so, but he soon learned that, in fact, he had won a $30,000 2008 Mustang convertible (we're assuming it's a GT, given that price). All too often, violent storms like this result in a loss of some kind for those affected by them. In the Cadieres' case, not only did they wind up with a brand new car, but their house escaped the storm unscathed as well. Little did they know that when they took their unplanned (and almost certainly unwanted) road trip last week, Lady Luck would be riding shotgun the whole time.
Gallery: 2007 Ford Mustang GT Convertible
[Source: SunHerald.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Torrent 6:50PM (9/07/2008)
Man, I wish I had a Mustang... It'd go great right beside my future '10 Camaro.
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Terry 6:52PM (9/07/2008)
There was a guy who used to live in my neighborhood... won lottery twice in the same year.......
talk about lucky.......pfft
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mbslrm 7:06PM (9/07/2008)
"and almost cretainly unwanted"
Wait, what?
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Matt 7:13PM (9/07/2008)
The road trip was unwanted- since the only reason they did it was because of the hurricane.
Allan 7:37PM (9/07/2008)
The road trip. Unwanted.
Westside T.O. 8:02PM (9/07/2008)
He's referring to the spelling mistake, guys.
Alex Nunez 10:11PM (9/07/2008)
I cmopletely missed that...
Robbie 12:00AM (9/10/2008)
I don't see the mistake.
StinkyPete 7:17PM (9/07/2008)
It's all fun till the taxman asks for his share. He'll probably owe at least $5000 in taxes come next April if he took the car.
Unless it's a rare car or one that deprciates very slowly, the cash value option is often a better choice.
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jgp 10:42PM (9/07/2008)
Then again, a $30k car for $5k is a pretty good deal...
(assuming you can afford $5k, of course)
DKB_SATX 10:50PM (9/07/2008)
The tax burden for the car itself would depend on the winner's marginal rate, but could be as much as 33% of the price of the car. I think winnings these days are taxed as regular income (once upon a time they were taxed at the maximum rate.) Assuming the winner is an "average guy" it'll probably be 25%, or $7500. Not a bad deal for a GT convertible, especially if it lets you sell another car that it replaces, or if you sell it for say $25k.
I agree that the cash option is the better choice, unless you really really want the Mustang.
black 11:04PM (9/07/2008)
Paying only $5k for a new Mustang is pretty cheap, imo. Problem is that winning something you tend to get slammed hard for the taxes...up to 50% of the value of the item in question.
Dan 11:09PM (9/07/2008)
5 grand in marginal taxes on a $30,000 car?
Try 6% LA state income tax, 25% fed income tax.
Mike 11:30PM (9/07/2008)
jgp, i know we all love cars here, but getting a 30k car and 'paying' 5k for it isn't as good as taking 30k in money and paying 5k for it.
I mean, the car just lost 5k driving it back home, right?
I'd take the money and use it for something useful if I've already got a good car.
makeda 3:24AM (9/29/2008)
U would complain about taxes?
H. 10:57PM (9/09/2008)
My dad won a Mustang back in '98. He landed up paying a little over a third of the car's value in Federal and State taxes.
Hal 12:05AM (9/10/2008)
If he and his entire family have any those freebie's debit credit/money cards left over from Hurricane Katrina, maybe they have enough to pay off Uncle Sam.
Charles 8:00PM (9/07/2008)
I put a dollar in and I got a car. Vegas Vacation anyone?
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Berto 8:31PM (9/07/2008)
Im down. Let's steal a car, hire a bunch of h**kers, buy a load of C***ine, drive to vegas and never, ever talk about it again.
Yar 9:34PM (9/07/2008)
I think he's referring to the movie, National Lampoons Vegas Vacations.