Model 3 in Tesla raffle

[Pollux]

@ThisIsTrue - we looked at paying state taxes. Too many states. We actually structured last raffle's Grand Prize with the thought that some of the money we were using on behalf of the winner would go towards state taxes, an HPWC, an electrician to install it. The thought being that someone would get a complete package, and especially that someone new to EVs who didn't know what to do would appreciate the care we had put into structuring the Winner's package. Couldn't have been more wrong. All anyone wanted to know was the total cash involved. They were perfectly capable of figuring out the rest. So, if someone wants to use a portion of the Winner's prize to pay for state/local taxes, all s/he has to do is under-configure the vehicle. For instance.

@boaterva - not to rain on anyone's parade, but I'm dubious whether the 33% results in any extra refund for the Winner. At least, no more so than the 25% that a Winner would have to pay if we made them pay the federal income tax themselves. The extra 8% is just the layering of tax upon tax upon tax that we are "gifting" to the Winner. Heck, your mileage may vary, consult your local tax professional, don't touch your tongue to a cold metal flagpole.

 

[EfficientWatts]

So I waited in line the day of reservations and so I got one of the early reservations. I am not a Tesla owner right now so I don't have that priority.

If I hypothetically won one of the Model 3 prizes, does that reservation have the same priority level as the one I got? Or is it a magical one that has a higher one due to what I assume is the reservation coming from someone who is a Tesla owner? I'm not sure if that part transfers over.

Either way I would assume that should I get this, I then can cancel my other one and get back my original $1,000 deposit, and I'll still be left an early reservation or sorts. (Don't think there's a way to keep my original reservation and still get all of the money).

 

[PeterK]

So I waited in line the day of reservations and so I got one of the early reservations. I am not a Tesla owner right now so I don't have that priority.

If I hypothetically won one of the Model 3 prizes, does that reservation have the same priority level as the one I got? Or is it a magical one that has a higher one due to what I assume is the reservation coming from someone who is a Tesla owner? I'm not sure if that part transfers over.

Either way I would assume that should I get this, I then can cancel my other one and get back my original $1,000 deposit, and I'll still be left an early reservation or sorts. (Don't think there's a way to keep my original reservation and still get all of the money).

I think it would likely be roughly the same priority as your existing reservation, and I expect that any Tesla owner priority doesn't transfer. So your plan to cancel your original reservation and get back the $1000 sounds sensible - plus you get the $10,000 or $5000 plus tax coverage!

But why aim low? Don't you want to win an S or X?

 

[EfficientWatts]

I think it would likely be roughly the same priority as your existing reservation, and I expect that any Tesla owner priority doesn't transfer. So your plan to cancel your original reservation and get back the $1000 sounds sensible - plus you get the $10,000 or $5000 plus tax coverage!

But why aim low? Don't you want to win an S or X?

Haha of course I would like to jump into a model S or X. But I'll settle for a discounted model 3. Will get my raffle ticket in the next week or so!

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Wonder if the cash to tesla could be applied to a solar roof?

 

[astrothad]

I think it would likely be roughly the same priority as your existing reservation, and I expect that any Tesla owner priority doesn't transfer. So your plan to cancel your original reservation and get back the $1000 sounds sensible - plus you get the $10,000 or $5000 plus tax coverage!

But why aim low? Don't you want to win an S or X?

Or - I'm guessing - you could work with Tesla to get the $1000 applied to the purchase price of whichever model you win. If it's one of the Model 3 prizes, that would still involve dropping your reservation from waiting in line. **Disclaimer** I am wildly speculating, but would sure like to know more since I'm also a pre-reveal, waiting-in-line reservation holder and purchaser of a raffle ticket.

I know this is new territory for both the operators of the raffle and Tesla.

And, yes, I'm hoping for the Model X.

 

[cliftonite]

Can we remain anonymous if we were to win?

 

[Pollux]

Wonder if the cash to tesla could be applied to a solar roof?

Hi, @Xenoilphobe!

Any cash that you take out of a Carbon Pricing Awareness Raffle prize is yours to spend as you wish. The wisdom of not spending some of that cash on your Significant Other... well, I leave that to you.

Alan

 

[Pollux]

Or - I'm guessing - you could work with Tesla to get the $1000 applied to the purchase price of whichever model you win. If it's one of the Model 3 prizes, that would still involve dropping your reservation from waiting in line. **Disclaimer** I am wildly speculating, but would sure like to know more since I'm also a pre-reveal, waiting-in-line reservation holder and purchaser of a raffle ticket.

I know this is new territory for both the operators of the raffle and Tesla.

And, yes, I'm hoping for the Model X.

Hi, @astrothad,

We definitely planned for the possibility that a 2nd Prize or 3rd Prize Winner might be someone who already has a Model 3 reservation. In that case, we figured that the Winner would cancel their existing reservation, get back their deposit, and probably toss that deposit right back into the Model 3 that they would get with the early reservation. If someone wins who already has a pretty early reservation, I'd think that we'd call up Tesla jointly (or separately, whatever works for the winner) and basically say, give us a hint as to which reservation is going to put a vehicle into this winner's hands sooner. Then cancel the other one, get the money, rinse, repeat.

Then, either way, we kick in the Prize's cash component and tax payment component.

I think a really interesting variable is the initial pricing on Model 3. There seem to be suggestions that Tesla will NOT follow the policy they did with the S and X, where early deliveries were limited to the top-end configuration. Which opens up the possibility that a Winner could choose to configure a truly base model @ $35K. So for 2nd prize, we're looking at $35K - $1K deposit - $10K CXC cash - $7500 federal tax credit = $16,500. If the Winner already had another reservation to cancel and reclaim the deposit, the cash required to fully pay for the car is down to $15,500. And not much in the way of taxes to pay from the Prize, since we're picking up the federal income tax @ $3,666. Well... it's nice to daydream.

Alan

 

[Pollux]

Can we remain anonymous if we were to win?

Hi, @cliftonite,

I read your question an hour or two ago and it's still nagging at me. I confess, I prefer the anonymous route myself, especially when it comes to donations, prizes and the like. And the Internet era has been pretty upsetting when it comes to loss of privacy. Your question hit me much harder than you could have known, because you're pointing to what in my view is a core value.

That said, anonymity presents a problem for Climate XChange and for the Raffle. We are only doing this for the second time. Let's face it: we're still raising the profile of Climate XChange -- who's that? ever heard of them before? -- and its associated Raffle. We need visible Winners to help assure other ticket purchasers as well as ordinary, non-ticket purchasers that this whole thing is real and real people really do win. That's why we wrote in the raffle rules that we get the right to use the various Prize Winners' names and likenesses.

I am sorry to have to say no to your request.

Alan

 

[ThisIsTrue]

@ThisIsTrue - we looked at paying state taxes. Too many states.

Just to be clear, I had NO thought, even, of complaint. Just giving an example of how one could structure it, since indeed "They were perfectly capable of figuring out the rest." not only applies to me, but probably most people here.

Good luck to everyone on getting 2nd-4th prizes, since after all the Grand Prize is mine.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Hi, @Xenoilphobe!

Any cash that you take out of a Carbon Pricing Awareness Raffle prize is yours to spend as you wish. The wisdom of not spending some of that cash on your Significant Other... well, I leave that to you.

Alan

Mama already has a loaded 2016 90D and I am still "slumming" in my loaded 2014 P85+. Adding a Solar Roof would be awesome!

 

[Pollux]

Just to be clear, I had NO thought, even, of complaint. Just giving an example of how one could structure it, since indeed "They were perfectly capable of figuring out the rest." not only applies to me, but probably most people here.

Good luck to everyone on getting 2nd-4th prizes, since after all the Grand Prize is mine.

I've actually found someone who might be able to help me with 50-state + territory taxes. Maybe if we do another of these things in a year. We are seeing lots of people skip from the raffle over to our main website, plus people spending a lot of time -- relatively speaking, this is the web after all, "a lot of time" is like 3-5 minutes -- browsing the raffle website and stumbling into the carbon pricing pages. So the whole virtuous circle thing is alive and well -- the fund-raising is helping us get the message out and the messaging is helping us fund-raise. I feel undeservedly lucky that that's working out.

I must say, though... before you hear your name announced as the Grand Prize Winner, you're going to have to sit through FIVE other prizes, backwards, from 6th down to 2nd. Three cash prizes. Boo, who wants lousy cash! Two jet assists into Model 3s, early. And then, finally, at long last, a bit of a boring wait, actually -- your Grand Prize.

Best,
Alan

 

[Pollux]

Mama already has a loaded 2016 90D and I am still "slumming" in my loaded 2014 P85+. Adding a Solar Roof would be awesome!

Can you get a decent Solar Roof for $75K? Because that's your cash out, *after* taxes, if you take the cash alternative Grand Prize. $100K top line, $25K for Uncle Sam, the rest for you.

You can also get cash out of the 2nd Prize and 3rd Prize.

Here's the thing, though. If you win one of these prizes, and you take the cash and run off to do a solar roof, then I want not only a picture of YOU, the winner, but ALSO a picture of the roof! In fact, I probably want a bunch of pictures of the roof being constructed! If I weren't so sleepy, I'd go modify the raffle rules RIGHT NOW to add this requirement! Oh, yeah, and if it probably weren't illegal for me to add more restrictions after the raffle had launched and people had already bought tickets. A little detail, that.

Best,
Alan

 

[MP3Mike]

@Pollux Does the grand prize have to be a new custom S/X for the maximum pay-out, or can it be an inventory/CPO S/X?

 

[Pollux]

@Pollux Does the grand prize have to be a new custom S/X for the maximum pay-out, or can it be an inventory/CPO S/X?

Love the question, @MP3Mike, wish I had a virtual chocolate to hand you!

Oh you'd better believe that you can do an inventory / CPO S or X!!!

So you could get a really new, really expensive one immediately. Maybe even a P. Might even still wind up with cash out!

Or you could get an older one with a lot of cash out.

In this scenario, because you are taking the car, well... CXC *still* coughs up the federal income tax payment of $40K. Because no matter what car you get, we will make up the difference between what you spend on that car and the Grand Prize value of $120K as cold, hard, rock-solid, all-American, backed-by-the-US-Treasury, stuff-it-in-a-briefcase, cash. Except for the minor detail that it'll be a certified bank check. No one seems to be moved by the phrase, "cold, hard check".

Looks like someone has just figured out how to tap into the Grand Prize piggybank itself and not get side-tracked into the alternative all-cash prize. Just how much is the cheapest CPO these days?

Off to bed now. No more questions to answer. Nothing to see here. Toodle-oo!

Alan

P.S. The alternative all-cash prize is there for a reason: somebody might really, really need the plain, simple, just-the-cash award. And if somebody really needs the cash badly, I want to be able to get it to them ASAP without going through shenanigans around getting an inventory car or CPO, then trying to sell that vehicle to get cash back out of it, etc. Just because I LOVE to get people into Teslas, somehow, anyhow, that doesn't mean that is automatically the right answer for everyone who enters the raffle. Especially non-Tesla worshippers who are more about the carbon pricing issue or about the environment in general.

 

[Lysol]

Thanks for helping me find this great organization. Just grabbed a ticket. I don't buy lottery tickets, but I can justify this as I know where my money is going.

 

[Pollux]

Thanks for helping me find this great organization. Just grabbed a ticket. I don't buy lottery tickets, but I can justify this as I know where my money is going.

Thank you for your kind words, @Lysol!

Alan

 

[Polly Wog]

I just purchased two raffle tickets yesterday, up from one for last year's raffle, in an attempt to improve my odds of winning. Although I love my "classic" Model S, it would be awesome to get one with all the new "bells and whistles". Past 460 tickets sold to-date.

 

[Pollux]

Thank you, @Polly Wog, for an *increasing* vote of confidence!

And let's not forget: as unlikely as it may be, TWO tickets means the possibility of winning TWO prizes! I'd just like to remind you that, for instance, you could win the 2nd Prize, purchasing a Model 3 for yourself early and at great cost advantage, while ALSO winning the Grand Prize Model S or X, which I happen to know you could put into the name of a significant other, a family member or even a friend!

And both make great beach cars, should you happen to be anywhere near a beach at all.

Just sayin'.



Alan