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23-Year-Old Wins $72K Cadillac CT6

Devon Vancura, a 23-year-old engineering student in Nebraska, got a major vehicular upgrade last week when we took home the grand prize in the annual Heartland United Way drawing – a 2018 Cadillac CT6.

The new luxury sedan was given away by Heartland United Way, a charitable organization based out of Grand Island, Nebraska, that focuses on local efforts to improve education, income, and health. The organization’s fund-raising efforts include giveaways for donors.

Vancura says he’s more of a fan of pickups, and will likely be trading in his new 2018 Cadillac CT6 luxury sedan. However, that still remains up in the air.

“I haven’t decided yet,” Vancura said. “I’m still processing it all.”

“Well see. I still have a lot of student loans from college yet. So we’ll see how things play out.”

Vancura is a student at CNH Industrial, where he studies manufacturing engineering.

Vancura’s new 2018 Cadillac CT6, which is listed at $72,515, is a sizable upgrade over his current car. The Caddy comes equipped with Super Cruise, GM’s semi-autonomous driver assistance feature, which enables drivers to remove their hands from the steering wheel during extended highway driving.

“Well, I actually drove here in my little sister’s car, which is a 2006 Grand Prix,” Vancura said. “That’s mine also, just a different model.”

The new CT6 is “a little bit of a step up,” Vancura admits.

Prior to winning the new CT6, Vancura said that the biggest prize he had ever won was “a candy bar, maybe, in high school.”

The drawing was between 25 different possible winners. Vancura was entered in the drawing after donating to the United Way, which he had done since starting at CNH Industrial.

“I figured I might as well start off my career at Case strong, and help start supporting it,” he said. By donating, he felt he could help the next generation of students, and that “it just makes a world of difference later on.”

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Source: The Independent

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Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. Lucky guy!!

    would change for a pick; no doubt

    Reply
    1. Until there’s a pickup truck with Super Cruise equivalent, I wouldn’t make that trade.

      Reply
  2. Cadillac CT6, to be rechristened as the new Sedan de Ville.

    Reply
  3. That is really great. It would be nice to see him keep it, but it he’s a truck guy……

    Interesting that it’s a “new 2018”.

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  4. @Dan, I was thinking the same thing. I understand the want for a truck, especially if he’s from the area of the charity, Nebraska. The fact that this is a 2018 would keep me away (the dreaded 8-speed automatic), but if this were a 2019…no way I’d trade it for a truck. I’m a year older than him, but I can imagine most of my generation wouldn’t want a full-size luxury sedan (fools!).

    Either way, truck or CT6, he’s probably better suited selling it, using some of the cash to pay off loans, and getting something way cheaper. He’s got plenty of options, that’s for sure!

    Good for him.

    Reply
    1. Probably a 2.0T 8 speed,

      Down the road it would go, for me.

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    2. Since the car is free, the 8 speed transmission wouldn’t concern me because there’s a 7 year/72,000 mile power train warranty. Plus there’s a fix for the problem, which I can personally attest to since I own a 2016 CTS with the same transmission.

      As G8Burnout said, it’s better to sell it for fair market value and convert the car to cash, especially since the guy now owes income taxes to the IRS on 1/3 of the fair market value of the CT6.

      Reply
      1. I am happy you had good luck getting your 8 speed GM junk transmission fixed with little hassle .

        You know like taking a new vehicle to the dealer to have a $70,000.00 vehicle worked on, hassle !

        But you do know that there are so, so, so, many real people who have not had the same outcome as you with the GM 8 speed junk transmission !

        And again knowing the HUGE problem with this junk GM 8 speed transmission, why would anyone take the chance ?
        Yeah, I think I will buy that $70,000.00 vehicle, worst case I will have to take in to the dealer 2 or 3 times and hope they can fix this trouble like they did C8.R’s and GrandAmGT’s., no thank you for me.

        I already hate taking my new vehicle to the dealer so they can have a tech rip it apart for recalls !

        They are new vehicles !

        Some people just want a new vehicle that doesn’t have to be torn apart by anyone !
        In my opinion.

        O that’s right, every brand is like that, so it makes it ok for GM to be like that also.

        Reply
    3. I wouldn’t count on it. He really isn’t going to have $72,000. to work with. The Kelly Blue Book value for that car, assuming he drives it a bit (1,000 miles), and trades it in is roughly $35,000. The range is $33,655. to $37,142. That is for a white CT6 2.0 T Luxury sedan being traded-in at a dealer in Grand Island, Nebraska. If he doesn’t want the Cadillac, he needs to never drive it, never title it and try and work something out with the dealer that provided the car to The United Way. Otherwise, given the terrible depreciation, he won’t be left with enough money to even buy a nice GM truck and certainly not enough to pay off any loans he might have.

      I would pose for a picture with the car but never move it and immediately see it the supplying dealer is a Cadillac-GMC dealer and if so try and twist their arm into substituting a Sierra, or whatever he wants, for the CT6.

      Reply
  5. I wouldn’t trade it for nothing. But he has other things going on that he must address. Congratulations, I hope you enjoy what ever you do.

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  6. He’s wants to trade it in for a truck. That perfectly describes the automobile market today. I would keep it if I won it but I understand not everyone prefers sedans.

    I wonder what the tax liability is on this prize? My understanding is that Vancura can expext to pay the IRS 1/3 of the car’s fair market value, which could be around $23,000. That assumes a fair market value of $72,000, which is probably inaccurate because the car is no longer new now that an individual has gotten title to it.

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  7. No one here is thinking of the sales tax he’s going to have to pay on it on top of his sizable debt,

    Reply
  8. You are supposed to pay income taxes on prize winnings, but he will need paperwork to show the car is worth only about $30k – $35k and then pay taxes based on that value, not the $72k the dealer says.

    Reply
  9. The IRS has determined that the MSRP is the value of the car. And they want 25% withholding before taking delivery of the car. This information is from the national Corvette Museum raffle homepage. Just think of it as buying a new car for 75% off.

    Reply
  10. Hopefully Mr College student understands finance. The “win” will cost him money out of pocket in about 2 weeks when 2019 rolls into 2020 and the value of the car gets scored as income. Hopefully there was a cash alternative he could take to assist in the taxes? Even a fire sale of the Caddy will leave him in a better financial position than keeping the car. I’m happy for him that he won, but he needs to understand the cost of that win.

    Reply
  11. Trade it as fast as you can! I love my 2016 CT6 TT but am about to trade due to I have had enough of the terrible transmission. I will never ever purchase ANYTHING FROM GM! There is a class action lawsuit against GM for the transmission. They are aware of it but there is no way to fix the problem. I am tired of hitting the back of my head on my headrest whenever it changes gears.

    Reply

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