François Hollande’s ‘love visit scooter’ sells for €20,500
The price was more than 15 times the typical cost of the same vehicle without the famous association
A scooter of the exact same type, age, and kilometrage - but without the President Hollande association - would normally be expected to sell for less than €1,300Rouillac.com
The scooter that was used by former French President François Hollande to visit his lover - in a trip that appeared to be the catalyst for the end of his marriage - has sold for €20,500, more than double the starting bid.
Mr Hollande used the scooter to visit his lover (now wife), actress Julie Gayet, on New Year’s Day 2014. He was still officially with Valérie Trierweiler at the time.
The president was snapped by paparazzi leaving Ms Gayet’s house in the early hours of the new year aboard the scooter, and a political rival once described him as looking like a “pizza delivery man”.
The story led to the president’s break up from Ms Trierweiler but did not appear to dent him politically - in fact his popularity rose by five percentage points in a BVA poll conducted after the public’s discovery of the affair.
Mr Hollande and Ms Gayet married in June 2022.
Vehicle owners
A grey Piaggio MP3 from 2009, the scooter has three wheels, measures 125cm3, and 34,000 km on the clock.
The vehicle never actually belonged to Mr Hollande specifically. At the time of the scandal, it was owned by the Elysée Palace, until its sale in 2015.
It has had several owners since then, including the most recent (prior to the auction) Patrick and Manola Sionneau, who bought it to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. President Hollande even mentioned the couple in his 2022 book Bouleversements, writing: “To Patrick and Manola, who were lucky enough to hop on my scooter to better share their happiness.”
The vehicle was sold at auction on May 26 at the Chateau d'Artigny (Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire), by the auction house Rouillac, at its 36th ‘Vente Garden Party’. It had been listed on the auctioneers’ website as “the scooter of the scandal”, and had a starting price of €10,000.
The black helmet worn by the president, however, was not included in the sale.
Mr Hollande is said to have followed the auction live online.
Auctioneers Philippe and Aymeric Rouillac, who posed on the scooter themselves ahead of the auction, described the vehicle as “legendary”, and said that the interest in the sale - and the final sale price - was “madness”.
A scooter of the exact same type, age, and kilometrage - but without the President Hollande association - would normally be expected to sell for less than €1,300 in the current market (15 times’ less).
