As soon as a famous person touches, sits in, drives or purchases a car, one can expect its resale value to skyrocket.
Case in point, this Fiat 500L used by Pope Francis.
On Friday, the small Italian hatchback sold for $82,000 at auction, four times its retail value.
That’s just because this particular 500L was the one the Pope was chauffeured around aduring his US visit in 2015. The auction lasted just 11 minutes and drew 19 bidders. All the money raised will benefit the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Even though Fiat 500L’s retail for $19,000, the Pontiff decided to use it to display his concern for the environment and to cast aside the wealthy aura surrounding the Vatican.
Interestingly, the Fiat was one of six vehicles used by the Pope during his visit. It will be interesting to see if the rest will be heading to an auction, too, and how much they’ll fetch.