Lotto Winner Nabs C8 Corvette Prize, But Can’t Actually Get the Car

Exclusive Interview: A Georgia resident wins a C8 from a lotto ticket, but getting a dealer to give up a car is proving tough.

Here’s a crazy story you may have seen making the rounds on social media this weekend. Imagine buying a scratch-off lotto ticket just because it’s got a Corvette on the front of it. You actually win. But only then does the lottery realize they don’t have a way to deliver the prize in a timely manner. Dennis Kahler is experiencing just that. And, as you can imagine, frustration is through the roof.

We reached out to Kahler directly for his side of the story, which revealed some interesting information. After winning, Georgia Lottery sent Kahler a letter informing him of his win, which included the Corvette, valued at $107,000 and a $250,000 cash prize. Georgia Lottery was supposed to work with local and area dealerships to supply the Corvette.

“I already know what I want, a 2LT,” Kahler told us. His exact build is simple — a Rapid Blue 2LT Z51. It comes to an MSRP of $80,465. This would grant the ability to get the Corvette for under the $107,000 assigned value and get a little extra cash on top. That’s in addition to the quarter million dollar part of the prize. Simple, right? Story done. Roll credits.

Nope.

The Catch

There are two big problems.  First, almost every C8 Corvette order has an owner already. And second, some dealerships want ADM. According to Kahler, the first dealership picked by the lottery affiliation, Five Star Chevrolet, was allegedly not forthright in charging $10,000 over MSRP. Dealers can mark up prices as they see fit, but Kahler does not like how they did it on a prize car. “I used to be a general sales manager for a dealership, so I know the way things operate,” he states. “I’m not giving up the money on my purchase by using them.”

Most other dealerships were more than willing to cooperate, and simply charge MSRP, but that brings us back to problem number one. Actually finding a C8 Corvette that isn’t sold. Kahler says the best situation he’s found so far was at Master Chevrolet. They said they could get Kahler a C8 order in the third quarter of the year, but couldn’t guarantee a delivery date. (Welcome to the club, Dennis, we feel your pain!)

With this story now on CorvetteForum, Kahler hopes his dilemma can catch the attention of the right person. If Georgia Lottery partnered with GM on the deal, someone had to know that getting the order for a new Corvette fulfilled may cause a sticky situation. Understandably, he’d like to get his Corvette sooner than later.

A legal team is currently on the situation, which, for the sake of Kahler, we hope gets a quick resolution. We know our members are anxious enough to see their build status numbers update, so we can’t even imagine how it feels to have a car out there that you know is yours, but you just can’t get it yet!

Photos: Dennis Kahler for Corvette Forum, Chevrolet