Most Australian businesses that finance a company vehicle do not choose a structure. They accept one.

A car dealer's finance arm offers a product. A bank branch has a standard facility ready to go. The business owner signs and moves on to the next thing on the list. The structural implications arrive later, usually at tax time or when the vehicle is due for replacement.

This article is for the business owner who wants to make the decision, not inherit it.

Six thousand six hundred Australians search for vehicle finance for their business every month. What most of them find is a bank's product page.

That is not a guide. It is a brochure.

This article covers what the brochures leave out: the structure decision, the tax treatment, the balloon payment calculation, and how to set up a vehicle facility that does not create problems when it is time to upgrade.