Cycle to work scheme

cowbutt

tourdefrancis wrote: »

Why does the bike to work scheme expect me to buy it back off my employer at the end of the scheme when i have been paying for it out of my salary.....surely its my bike?

Because under the Cycle to Work scheme, your employer purchases and owns the bike, but rents it to you (typically for 1/12 of the cost per month). At the end of the rental period, it's still their property. Most employers don't have the infrastructure to efficiently sell used bikes, so selling them to the former user for 5% or so is pretty efficient for them.

gromituk

headcoat wrote: »

Just get a good second hand one off ebay.

The trouble is that by doing that you are very likely to be buying a stolen bike.

arcaic

Not sure now but in the past I've seen it reported on several forums that Halfords will order in almost any make/model of bike you want if you ask them too.

Worth checking if you want something a bit exotic!

gromituk

Yes, it is true that there is a "get-out clause" for Halfords.

miami_mike

Did this last year, as I cycle a lot I got the maximum allowed (in our scheme anyway) £1000 worth of bike, from a local bike shop. As previously said, although I usually get discount from them they only get £900 of the £1000 voucher (that is how the cyclescheme admin is funded), so don't expect discount. My employer took the cost off my gross (before tax) wages, but I reckon I was paying out around £55 for 12 months, the final payment was 5%, (£50), there was also a condition to take out insurance, which cost me about £50 (although that covered competitive riding too, communting only insurance was about £30).
So, I saved about £200 compared to what I'd have paid the shop for the same thing (which I wouldn't beat on the net) with a cash discount. But I'd have needed to find the cash!

For me, well worth it. Your friendly local bike shop will also probably be a bit more "flexible" with what you spend your cyclescheme voucher on, with ours it was supposed to bike a bike, luggage, helmet & lights only. My employer is undecided about re-running it though, as they are a non-vat payer, it ended up costing them more than they expected.

If you're limited to where you spend the voucher, that is your employers decison, nothing to do with cyclescheme, and may be worth challenging.

One note, because it's a tax break (you effectively don't pay income tax or VAT on what you're spending on the bike) it apparently can affect things like Child tax allowances, & can be a problem if you're on the threashold between tax bands.

2 wheels good, 4 wheels bad. Go for it.

matchmade

My partner tried to use the Cycle to Work scheme through her employer (the NHS) this summer, but found it wasn't worth her while. The local bike shops that operated the scheme insisted on using the full retail price for the bikes, and one cheeky firm that came into the hospital to advertise the scheme actually quoted one price for a particular bike and then another price when we visited their shop. She decided on a bike she liked, and we then searched on the internet for someone selling the same bike at a discount. Amazon were quite good, but eventually we found a cycle shop in the next town that sold us a £280 RRP bike for £195 plus a gel seat and mudguards after some haggling.

Moral: don't be seduced by the supposed savings in the Cycle to Work scheme and stick to good old-fashioned shopping-around.

RobotBlue

I've purchased through the scheme from my employer. It is saving me just short of 50% on the cost of bike + accessories (inc: rack, panniers, bottle cage, mudguards).

For some bizarre reason, the shop I ordered through, and got the voucher prepared for, couldn't source (i.e. lost) the bike. However, a quick call to the scheme confirmed that I could get the voucher changed to another supplier as long as the value was unchanged.

The only thing I'd do differently is to be very specific about the accessories you want - I wasn't so ended up with slightly different to what I'd imagined. Be sure to specify make/model of all parts. Also, don't forget extras such as inner tubes, tyre slime, pump, bell, reflectors (strangely my new bike came without front or rear, making it not road legal), bottle & cage, lights, helmet, high vis clothing, gloves, lock, datatag, etc.

There is usually a requirement for insurance (as mentioned by someone else), I got it added to my contents for about £5/yr.

One last thing - a first free service is also included at 4-6 weeks.

mapryan

Woby_Tide wrote: »

The C2W agreement is normally 3 years, with the loan paid off over 1 year but check the exact terms of your agreement so it's the value after 3 years not 1(though invariably it is still 5% in most cases)

Also with regards to prices most retailers can't offer more than token discounts on the price of bikes bought under the C2W scheme as they only receive 90% of the sale price acheived in return from C2W(or whoever funds it)

Where is this 90% figure coming from? My employer runs the BTW scheme, and I can buy a bike wherever I like. The only stipulation is that the shop allows me to buy it with a cheque from the company. There is no scheme to be funded as this is a government initiative to get people cycle to work and fitter.

If I can get a discount on the bike, then that's what the cheque is made out for

gromituk

Well lucky you - for anyone whose employer uses CycleScheme, 10% goes to that organisation and their employees have no say in the matter.

andy40

brigittejohn wrote: »

I cycle to work every day, and we have the "cycle to work" scheme.

I have not used it for the simple reason that I do not think it would save me any money at all.
Indeed, you can only buy the bicycle from set suppliers, such as Cycle Surgery, etc... This suppliers are not the best value ones at all.
I could for example not get a bike from Halfords, or from Tchibo (where I got a good quality fold-up bike (with lights and luggage rack!) for less than £150.
Through the cycle to work scheme, I think you can get a Brompton for £500! Hardly "money saving"!

Whilst Tchibo do not sell bikes at the moment, I would advise anyone to shop around and not only look at the shops "allowed" under the "cycle to work" scheme. Even if you are under a 40% tax rate!

Hope it helps.

"a good quality fold-up bike for less than £150. " !!!
I would question the quality of any bike that costs less than £150 new!