Asia United Bank, through its subsidiary, Asia United Leasing & Finance Corporation (AULFC) is offering people the chance to drive home a BMW without breaking the bank with its leasing program. Through this first-in-the-Philippines leasing program, people can choose any brand-new BMW without having to worry about registration, insurance, and maintenance.

AULFC offers the country’s first full-maintenance operating lease of its kind for luxury vehicles. The full maintenance lease on BMW was made possible through an exclusive partnership between AUB and Asia Carmakers Corp. (ACC), exclusive distributor of the bestselling luxury German marque in the Philippines.

Mr. Aristides S. Armas, President of AULFC said: “Executives and professionals such as doctors have begun to appreciate the benefits and security of full maintenance leasing. Since the vehicles are registered to us [AULFC], it offers a certain level of security for high net worth individuals who wish to remain discreet.”

According to figures given by AULFC, owning and maintaining a BMW is no easy feat. For a brand-new BMW sedan that costs P 4-million, there’s also a registration fee of P 20,000, annual insurance not lower than P 8,000 and maintenance costs that can cost double of that of a mid-priced sedan. By comparison, a BMW 3 Series can be leased for as low as P 58,730.00 a month under the BMW Flexilease agreement with AULFC. It’s also fairly easy to do: just walk into any BMW dealership, make a deposit (10 percent of vehicle cost), fill out and sign the lease documents, and you can drive home a BMW. The deal is also cancellable at any time so units can be swapped for the latest models as they come.

From a company perspective, executive car plans coursed through leasing also makes good business sense. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has ruled that only one vehicle for land transport is allowed for use of an official or employee, the value of which should not exceed P2.4 million, which is way below the selling price of most high-end brands. Operating lease is an off-balance sheet  transaction and allows companies to treat the monthly rental as an expense. “As an expense, the monthly lease also carries value-added tax (VAT) which companies use as input VAT,” Mr. Armas added.

Since AULFC started the program under an exclusive partnership with ACC in the middle of last year, more than 200 units of BMW luxury vehicles have cruised Manila’s streets under BMW’s Flexilease program.

“Business is brisk and we hope to track BMW’s projected sales growth in the Philippines,” said Mr. Armas.