Car Lease?

So on Saturday we went out to dinner with friends, again splitting the bill equally, and again pissing us off. Anyway though one of the people we were out with told us something really interesting and cool.

His bonus from the company was a car, toyota prius to be exact. Instead of more stock options or a cash bonus the company leased him a toyota prius. Of course cash would be better, but a a free car was better than nothing.

DH and I were discussing this later and decided would we take a car if offered it? I suppose we would, after all its' a free car. And it would be rude not to take the offer. Plus it's not like the company was offering a cash bonus in lieu of.

But why a leased car? DH says it's because the amount paid is monthly, instead of a lump sum. So for a business that cash flow is handled better. Also buy leasing a car, the company doesn't have to worry about the guy leaving and taking the bonus. Another issue is a car lease is tax deductible to a business, unlike a typical bonus.

So I guess having a car leased for you a nice bonus. But would I sell my car if I were offered this perk? I don't know, probably because it would be wasteful to have 3 cars and 2 drivers. What would you do? And would you take the car lease? Is it a typical perk/bonus of a job? We'd never heard of this before, usually people who get company cars are salesmen, not just office jockeys.