This afternoon a lucky shell customer drove off in a brand new Suzuki Grand Vitara. $50 in gas earned buyers a ticket and Caye Caulker resident Lourdes Campos Gutierrez had the winning ticket. Only 7NEWS was there when she got the keys to her new ride. But first, our story begins this morning when her name was chosen from a barrel with thousands of tickets. Sol's country manager Joe Habet says the promotion was a success.
Joe Habet, Sol Belize
"For the past couple weeks we have been doing is having this promotion for every $50 of fuel purchased by customers of Shell service stations, they get a ticket to be filled out and dropped into the boxes at the service stations
to win a Grand Suzuki Vitara.
The bottom line is trying to promote sales and increase sales for the service stations, that's the main reason. So it was a very big success for us. We saw roughly 20% to 25% increase in sales over the period that the promotion was on so it was a very good success and we will hope to do it again."
Keith Swift,
Yes it seems like a lot of tickets.
Joe Habet,
"It was a lot of tickets. The reality is we actually ordered a first batched and within three weeks we had to resend and order some more so it was a big success for us."
Lourdes Campos Gutierrez was called shortly after and given the good news. By 1 pm she along with her husband Tony Aguilar arrived at the Buca Shell Gas Station on the Northern Highway to claim their 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara. Here's how that went.
Lourdes Campos Gutierrez, Winner
"I feel happy, nervous, excited."
Keith Swift,
You told me you had a lot of tickets.
Tony Aguilar, Husband of Winner
"Yes well you know for the Easter holiday we bought about $10,000 worth of fuel only for the Easter holiday. We had a lot of tickets to put in the barrel and just some luck we win it, that's it."
Keith Swift,
So what are you going to do with this vehicle because you live on Caye Caulker?
Tony Aguilar,
"I think we will live in Caye Caulker and Orange Walk now. We are not thinking of selling it."
The vehicle is valued at $67,000 and Shell Belize will pay the taxes to the government of Belize.
