Cycle to work scheme - is it worth it?

Scuff

We've just again been offered the cycle to work scheme, and I'm tempted to do it. Seriously tempted. My only concern is is it actually worth it, do you save money? What are other people's experience with the scheme? Currently I drive 17 miles each way (on the motorway) to work, although the 'shortest route' distance is only 12 miles (it's just clearly faster by car to go on the motorway, and take the extra 5 miles. Cycling I'd go the shorter route obv) which costs me on average £30 a week. If I only cycled in one day a week (doable) I'd save my petrol money and more (the bike I'm looking at is £540, which according to their calculations is ~£20 pm payments from me) so from that side it's not a worry, it's just would I be better off saving and buying a bike outright? All the signs obviously point to it being better value, my main point of confusion is the fact that the bike is 'hired' and I will have to buy it off them at the end of the scheme. Thanks in advance!

thelawnet

I don't think there's any doubt that cycling is cheaper if you do actually cycle!

Also it's a good idea to get accessories, helmet if you want one, a lock for sure, lights (though these can be purchased cheap from dx.com, so perhaps not lights), mudguards, rack, luggage if appropriate.

I would post on http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=40052 for more advice.

There's some more detail here regarding hire implications:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/guide-to-the-uks-cycle-to-work-scheme-18360/

Short version is that you don't need to worry about it.

kwmlondon

I have bought 3 bikes on the cycle-to-work scheme over the years. You "hire" the bike as a technicality, the final payment to "buy" the bike is normally £5.

The only thing you need to consider is that if you want a decent commuter you'll pay £300-£400. Accessories (lights, mudguards, locks etc.) may come to £100-ish. You'll then pay, say (for the sake of argument) £600 over 12 months. You will then receive back all the tax on those earnings, so if you pay 20% tax (just as an illustration) you'll pay £50 a month and get £10 rebate. This can be a really good deal, but you'll need to check one thing.

Sometimes you can get a bike at a 30% discount, and if you shop around you could get a lock cheaper than instore. However, the more tax you pay the better the deal so if your partner or a close friend is a high tax payer you could buy one through them and just pay them the money upfront. (I got my partner his bike and he saved 40% off a bike with an already good price so it made total sense for us to do this, it's a bit against the rules but still within the spirit though - it gets him off public transport and exercising and it's not like we're exactly making a profit out of the deal).

Hope this helps.

Idiophreak

kwmlondon wrote: »

I have bought 3 bikes on the cycle-to-work scheme over the years. You "hire" the bike as a technicality, the final payment to "buy" the bike is normally £5.

Hmm, this is why I don't trust the scheme at all. Ours at work always said there would be a "token payment" to transfer ownership of the bike...When the time came, it was actually £70 or something, which halved the amount of money I'd saved in total.

Then we got sent a memo talking about a variation that was having to be made due to some kinda tax issue - and that the bike would need to be sold on to the user for the current market value...To me, this would make it more expensive to buy using the scheme than just buying outright.

So next time I wanted a bike, I asked both my employer and the cyclescheme repeatedly for clarification on how much the final payment would be, but didn't get anywhere. I wasn't willing to enter into the agreement without a clear total cost for the bike, so I just went on the web and found somewhere offering 0% on bike purchases. May have cost a few more pounds (who knows), but at least I knew exactly what I was getting in to. (and it saved faffing around with vouchers etc, too)

Idiophreak

thelawnet wrote: »

I don't think there's any doubt that cycling is cheaper if you do actually cycle!

Really? I cycle and would have to dispute that it's cheaper than driving, really.

I do about a 30 mile roundtrip and it costs me around £3 per day in fuel.

If I cycle, I'll always have an extra snack in the morning and maybe one in the afternoon - costing £1 - 1.50 total. Then when I get home, I've got to wash and dry two sets of cycle kit (one in, one out) and my towel. Washing tablet, water, energy...I also go through shower gel, shampoo, hair product etc fairly quickly...Between all of these things, I imagine I'm not far from the £3 anyway...then add in the ridiculous amount I spend on clothing, bits for the bike (admittedly, most of them are luxuries ), new inner tubes...

All of this, combined with the cost of buying the bike, means it would have been significantly cheaper for me to drive to work every day over the last year - with all the washing, drying and eating involved, I'd imagine driving would have been better for the environment, too...thankfully, I do it for fun and exercise, so neither of the above bother me...but I really think it's a bit of a myth that cycling saves money and/or the environment in all cases...

(I appreciate that if I were to switch completely and *only* cycle, I'd probably save money....but I bought the bike thinking "well, even if I only cycle once or twice per week I'll save a few quid in fuel" - and it's really not worked out like that )

kwmlondon

Idiophreak wrote: »

Really? I cycle and would have to dispute that it's cheaper than driving, really.

I do about a 30 mile roundtrip and it costs me around £3 per day in fuel.

If I cycle, I'll always have an extra snack in the morning and maybe one in the afternoon - costing £1 - 1.50 total. Then when I get home, I've got to wash and dry two sets of cycle kit (one in, one out) and my towel. Washing tablet, water, energy...I also go through shower gel, shampoo, hair product etc fairly quickly...Between all of these things, I imagine I'm not far from the £3 anyway...then add in the ridiculous amount I spend on clothing, bits for the bike (admittedly, most of them are luxuries ), new inner tubes...

All of this, combined with the cost of buying the bike, means it would have been significantly cheaper for me to drive to work every day over the last year - with all the washing, drying and eating involved, I'd imagine driving would have been better for the environment, too...thankfully, I do it for fun and exercise, so neither of the above bother me...but I really think it's a bit of a myth that cycling saves money and/or the environment in all cases...

(I appreciate that if I were to switch completely and *only* cycle, I'd probably save money....but I bought the bike thinking "well, even if I only cycle once or twice per week I'll save a few quid in fuel" - and it's really not worked out like that )

Well, for me it works out incredibly efficient. I don't eat any more than I'd do normally, although it does mean I'm not taking advantage of my gym membership as much as I have done in the past. I would take a shower each day anyway, I just try to time them so that I have the shower after I've cycled, but unless it's a particularly hot day I just need a freshen up anyway.

I do have a motorbike that I take in sometimes, but it's still £12 a week in fuel I can save, and a return journey on public transport is about £6 a day. No contest. And I arrive at work awake, refreshed, de-stressed (mostly, occasionally someone tries to kill me, but that happens whatever form of transport I take) having gone through a couple of parks on the way.

Also, I have buns of steel!

Scuff

kwmlondon wrote: »

I have bought 3 bikes on the cycle-to-work scheme over the years. You "hire" the bike as a technicality, the final payment to "buy" the bike is normally £5.

Idiophreak wrote: »

Hmm, this is why I don't trust the scheme at all. Ours at work always said there would be a "token payment" to transfer ownership of the bike...When the time came, it was actually £70 or something, which halved the amount of money I'd saved in total.

See this is where my confusion starts; when I first became aware of the scheme I thought brilliant, no-brainer, (as kwmlondon says) then the more I thought about it I started to think about the final value payment and wasn't sure again whether it was a good idea. The fact that it's an easy '0% interest loan' (in essence) is good, and all I can find is that it's at the company's discretion as to how much you pay to 'free' the bike to yourself, but say on this £540 bike alone, no accessories, I pay over 18 months, after that time I've paid for the bike minus tax (20% in my case), I'd pay a total of £348.84. Great, a saving of £191ish If work then demand what is considered the bike's final value after 18 months, this is another 16% = £86.40, taking the total price to £435ish, and my saving shoots down to £105(ish) which yes, is still a 20% saving, but not the 31 - 48% promised. I suppose it still is a good saving, and as I already said, a good 0% loan that means I can get a decent bike (one of the main reasons behind me not cycling to work being that all I have at the moment is my mountain bike, which will make hard work of 25 miles a day on the road, and I can't justify or afford a road bike outright)

kwmlondon wrote: »

However, the more tax you pay the better the deal so if your partner or a close friend is a high tax payer you could buy one through them and just pay them the money upfront. (I got my partner his bike and he saved 40% off a bike with an already good price so it made total sense for us to do this, it's a bit against the rules but still within the spirit though - it gets him off public transport and exercising and it's not like we're exactly making a profit out of the deal).

Hope this helps.

I'm on 20% tax, and sadly don't know anyone to ask (or who I would dare ask, is more the truth) to do this for me. I can see it's an excellent, excellent scheme for the higher rate tax payer. (Still a pretty good scheme for lower bands, don't get me wrong!)

I think I'll probably go for it, I'm just not sure if it seems better on paper than in practice. Hmmm

Thanks for your help

kwmlondon

I'd say spend an evening doing some boning up on prices. I've had Specialized bikes and always been happy, but my partner got a Giant and it's so light and cost about half what mine did so I'm really rating them right now.

If you can get a credit card with 0% spending and maybe cashback too you could possibly do better than you'd get with the cycle-to-work, but it's a tough time out there for retailers and you could get last year's model and cycle to work from a shop willing to play ball so that extra 20% off and interest free over a year could work out better.

Whatever you do, for me taking up the scheme was one of the best things I've done.

Idiophreak

Scuff wrote: »

but say on this £540 bike alone, no accessories, I pay over 18 months, after that time I've paid for the bike minus tax (20% in my case), I'd pay a total of £348.84. Great, a saving of £191ish If work then demand what is considered the bike's final value after 18 months, this is another 16% = £86.40, taking the total price to £435ish, and my saving shoots down to £105(ish) which yes, is still a 20% saving, but not the 31 - 48% promised.

Actually, for bikes over £500, value is calculated at 21% after 18 months, 16% is for < £500...So you're looking at 113.40 final payment...£462 total repaid...so your saving's down to 15%.

Like you say, 15% is 15%, so better than a kick in the nuts...But I really think the way the scheme's pitched is fairly misleading...

dandelionclock30

You say you already have a mountain bike, if its o.k and not a downhill rig, it will easily do 25 miles per day!.This is not a long way on a mountain bike at all.
What you need to do is put slicks on the wheels and it will go fast enough and you will save yourself a fortune. The forks should lock out, if not get yourself a rigid fork from On One and fit it yourself.
You dont need to get a hybid or road bike for this distance your not doing the Tour de France

1886

I'd love to see the figures for people who have bought a bike on the Cycle to Work Scheme and then actually used it, even once, to cycle to work!

It's a tongue in cheek title