Rufus Leakin

Guru of Folklore

A Utah man who won a $380,000 Lamborghini in a convenience store chain’s contest says he crashed the sports car six hours after he took it home.
 
KSL-TV reports the lime green Murcielago Roadster will head to a Las Vegas body shop for repairs, days after David Dopp won it from Maverik stores’ “Joe Schmo to Lambo” contest.

Dopp says he was taking friends and family on joy rides when the vehicle hit ice or gravel and started spinning. The car hit some fence posts and came to rest in a field.

The Lamborghini has front-end damage, a punctured wheel and scratches along the passenger side.

Dopp wasn’t injured in the crash and says the vehicle is insured. He also says he’ll be “more careful next time.”

Let’s say that you’re just some average Joe who suddenly wins a $380,000 vehicle. Wow! That’s amazing, isn’t it? Well, let’s also take into consideration that when you win anything, you are required by law to pay the taxes on its value. If you are a contestant on a game show and you win a brand new car, hopefully you win some extra cash too, to help pay for the taxes that will come due.

Even if you win a little cash at a casino (over $400), that money has to be taxed. So, for this particular prize–a luxury Italian sports car– the tax would probably come to a little over $100,000. Hmm... that’s not the kind of spare change that any “average Joe” I know could come up with at tax time.

Let’s look at another hypothetical situation: If this very expensive car is totaled, then the insurance should kick in, and you could end up with about a $300,000 windfall. Hmm... that may start to sound good to an “average Joe.”

What do we know about this “Joe Schmo,” anyway? According to my research, Mr. David Dopp is a mild-mannered, Frito-Lay truck driver from Santaquin, Utah. So technically, driving is what he does for a living. Hmmm….

Mr. Dopp was noted to be doing about 40-50 MPH on icy roads when he lost control of the all-wheel drive, winter supercar (with the right tires) and crashed. It’s also been reported that before the “accident,” he tried to sell the car to the late night talk show host Jay Leno, who is also known for having an elaborate muscle car collection. Apparently, Jay didn’t bite.

And sure enough, the terms of the contest (PDF) stated that he would be responsible for any other costs associated with the vehicle. If he keeps the car, he’s likely to have to pay more taxes than he probably makes in a year!