Cycle To Work Scheme: Can I get an expensive bike?

donnydarko

Hi,

I run a Limited company and therefore am an employee of it. I heard about the cycle to work scheme some time ago and did wonder whether it is worth getting a bike.

I've read here and there that there is a cap of £1,000 per bike/employee, however I've also read that if the employee has their own 'certificate' (or something along those lines) that entitles them to a higher value bike that the employer can authorise for the employee.

So. Given the fact that I am the employer and employee, where do I stand?

I wouldn't bother to get a bike for £1,000 to be honest with you. I'd want something decent. I was thinking something around the £3k mark to be honest. And perhaps something suitable for going to work via the forest (or perhaps for use at weekends too? :A ).

What's the crack with that? How would I get a bike for £3k under the scheme?

Their website seems to allow you to calculate your wage based on a bike of any value. But checking their terms it mentions a few times a cap of £1,000 unless your employer has a some certificate or something.

Has anybody on here managed to get an expensive bike through the scheme?

And, if somebody can answer this, is it worth it when being a director of your own company to do this with an expensive bike?

Perhaps worth noting the company is VAT registered so we can claim VAT back too. Seems a lot of people online have an issue with VAT being added now or something.

Cheeeeeers in advance.

custardy

AFAIK you wont get a £3k bike
the limits are set and its relates to HMRC
Ive never come across your situation TBH.
The problem in the main is trying to convince a bean counter as to the value of a £3k bike
In RM they still have a £500 limit even though the bikes available when the schme started ar e not £500+

be good if it was possible for you

ventureuk

The answer is Yes you can buy a bike above £1000.

But the answer is also No because your company is highly unlikely to sign up to the extended scheme which allows this as they then require a Consumer Credit Licence to loan you the extra £2000.

And tbh given that the saving is only on the £1000 limit and a maximum of 42% which is £420 (plus the final payment of a likely 5% of the face value of the voucher) if you are buying a £3000 bike and cannot negotiate a discount of £420 then you need a kick up the rse.

Above £1000 the law of diminishing returns hits bikes very hard, you are generally paying for weight savings which can easily be overcome by losing weight, increasing your fitness and honing your skills.

Without these basics you are just 'All The Gear No Idea'.

vax2002

What scheme ?
Where ?

This is a bit of a well kept secret is it not ?
whats the password for the secret ?

ventureuk

vax2002 wrote: »

What scheme ?
Where ?

This is a bit of a well kept secret is it not ?
whats the password for the secret ?

http://www.cycle2work.info/siteemployeeindex

Halfords version of the scheme, savings of up to 42% on the value of a bike.

You don't have to buy a bike from Halfords they just act as an intermediary, my next bike is coming from Germany supplied via a local bike shop but bought using the Halfords scheme.

Your employer has to sign up to the scheme which means someone in finance/accounts has a bit of extra work to do but if your company wants a 'green' image it's a no brainer.

And the staff are happy they get a nice new bike, at a discount price and 0% payments over a year which they can cycle to work on (no checks are made but many people end up doing it because they can buy a quality machine).

andygb

ventureuk wrote: »

The answer is Yes you can buy a bike above £1000.

But the answer is also No because your company is highly unlikely to sign up to the extended scheme which allows this as they then require a Consumer Credit Licence to loan you the extra £2000.

And tbh given that the saving is only on the £1000 limit and a maximum of 42% which is £420 (plus the final payment of a likely 5% of the face value of the voucher) if you are buying a £3000 bike and cannot negotiate a discount of £420 then you need a kick up the rse.

Above £1000 the law of diminishing returns hits bikes very hard, you are generally paying for weight savings which can easily be overcome by losing weight, increasing your fitness and honing your skills.

Without these basics you are just 'All The Gear No Idea'.

:beer:
I reckon that I could get fit, lose weight, drag out the 1995 time trial bike and still give most people a beating on their £3K carbon fibre superbikes.
My existing road bike has an alloy frame, Ultegra 10 speed, Mavic Cosmos wheels, and only cost around £900 to build a few years ago.
You could have won the Tour de France on a bike like that not so many years ago.

custardy

andygb wrote: »

:beer:
I reckon that I could get fit, lose weight, drag out the 1995 time trial bike and still give most people a beating on their £3K carbon fibre superbikes.
My existing road bike has an alloy frame, Ultegra 10 speed, Mavic Cosmos wheels, and only cost around £900 to build a few years ago.
You could have won the Tour de France on a bike like that not so many years ago.

the other side is folks who buy a bike made of scaffold pole and struggle for a week
then chuck it in the shed
I have no problem with folks paying for a 'good' bike if they get pleasure/use from it

[Deleted User]

Last time I had a bike in the 90's, it cost about £150 max. How times have changed.

custardy

Deleted_User wrote: »

Last time I had a bike in the 90's, it cost about £150 max. How times have changed.

you can still get a £150 bike
it will be crap,but will cost £150
the bikes I was buying in the 90's were £500+

donnydarko

ventureuk wrote: »

The answer is Yes you can buy a bike above £1000.

But the answer is also No because your company is highly unlikely to sign up to the extended scheme which allows this as they then require a Consumer Credit Licence to loan you the extra £2000.

And tbh given that the saving is only on the £1000 limit and a maximum of 42% which is £420 (plus the final payment of a likely 5% of the face value of the voucher) if you are buying a £3000 bike and cannot negotiate a discount of £420 then you need a kick up the rse.

Above £1000 the law of diminishing returns hits bikes very hard, you are generally paying for weight savings which can easily be overcome by losing weight, increasing your fitness and honing your skills.

Without these basics you are just 'All The Gear No Idea'.

Is it worth noting that I own the company? Therefore I'm thinking I just offset the costs against my Tax bill. And also get the certificate thing?

A bit confused. Getting loads of conflicting information.

On a biking forum they're saying max is 4.5k with a certificate.

Also, I'm hoping to get a bike in my name and a bike in my partners name (who also runs the company with me). So I'm hoping to get about £5k's worth of bikes for £2.5k - ish.

As for the fitness lark, yeah I do skiing, and always done biking of some sort. I just thought what's the point in getting a £1k bike if I can get a £4k one, sort of thing. And if the Mrs and me both can get one, then we're laughing. I can get a XC and a downhill and we can both use them.

donnydarko

custardy wrote: »

AFAIK you wont get a £3k bike
the limits are set and its relates to HMRC
Ive never come across your situation TBH.
The problem in the main is trying to convince a bean counter as to the value of a £3k bike
In RM they still have a £500 limit even though the bikes available when the schme started ar e not £500+

be good if it was possible for you

See this thread here: mtbe.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=158429#158429

This guys seems to think it's 4.5k.