BMW is “in discussions” with its franchisees over the remuneration they will receive from the German premium car brand’s pay-as-you-go mobility partnership with Drover.

BMW and Mini cars are being made available as part of the scheme, which will see customers able to drive away a Mini hatchback, complete with insurance, maintenance, servicing, taxes and breakdown-cover covered by a single £131 monthly payment.

The Mini range, along with BMW’s 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 series, X and i models, will be made available through new scheme, operated by London-based Drover, which also allows users to swap, upgrade or downgrade their car monthly cost or just cancel altogether, without any long-term commitment or steep upfront down-payments.

In a statement issued to AM, BMW said that the retail network would benefit from the scheme as a potential source of extended test drives.

It may also feature as an optional pick-up point for cars provided via the Drover scheme.

However, the financial benefit for retailers is yet to be determined.

BMW’s statement said: “The pilot is currently between BMW Group UK and Drover, with us supplying the fleet of 50 vehicles.

“In addition to this fleet, we are working with the retailer network for a number of reasons. Firstly, to gauge their capacity to provide more vehicles to Drover, including i3s, i8s and high performance M cars. This will allow the users, sourced through Drover’s digital marketing, to drive the latest cars in our range.

“Secondly, we are working with the network as an optional pick-up location, rather than just the pick-up location in London or paying £50 to get the vehicle dropped at their house.

“Finally, retailers are supporting us in sourcing rental users – for example, if a retailer has a potential customer who needs a bit more convincing, they can rent one of Drover’s vehicles for a month for an extended test drive.”

The statement added: “Regarding remuneration, we are still in discussions with the retailers involved.”

Last month AM reported how Drover had seen its “mobility as a service” venture given a £5.5m funding boost in a recent funding round after existing investors Version One and Forward Partners previously invested £2 million in a pre-seed round.

BMW said in a statement that its partnership with Drover was born during BMW’s Innovation Lab program, a ten-week programme which enables start-ups to trial products at scale, receive expert mentoring from senior members of the BMW Group UK management team and access insights from leading subject matter experts in the automotive and automotive finance sectors

Chris Brownridge, BMW UK sales director, said: “New, creative solutions allow the chance for car users to experience BMW or Mini ownership for as long or as little as they require.

“BMW Group UK is at the forefront of such development and we are excited to announce a partnership with Drover, the car subscription platform.

“Through its new subscription model we are able to provide an even wider range of ways to access BMW and Mini vehicles for retail buyers to suit their changing requirements.”