Buying a bike that was bought under Cycle to Work

Cardinal-Red

I'm buying the good lady wife a used bike for Christmas because she has reluctantly agreed to join me and the boy on our weekly bike rides. Not going big because it probably won't last long, and the only purpose is to join us, i.e. she won't go trail riding by herself!

We found one on Gumtree that she likes, but the seller is quite explicit that she bought it on the cycle to work scheme "recently" - the ad says the bike is less than 2 months old too.

What's the legality of this - doesn't the bike belong to the employer? I am just wondering about the horror stories of people buying stolen cars and losing cash and the car.

Thanks!

spadoosh

Last time i read the c2w the employer owned the bike.

IIRC its an asset normally written down over a year at which point the employee can buy the bike. Im guessing this will depend on employer but i believe for the most part that the bike is essentially given to employee providing its fully paid for.

I'd avoid it purley because you cant guarantee who the owner is and if it is the employer and the employee is pulling a fast one they could come knocking (not going to be that hard to trace it) and [STRIKE]ask[/STRIKE] take it back.

Cardinal-Red

spadoosh wrote: »

Last time i read the c2w the employer owned the bike.

IIRC its an asset normally written down over a year at which point the employee can buy the bike. Im guessing this will depend on employer but i believe for the most part that the bike is essentially given to employee providing its fully paid for.

I'd avoid it purley because you cant guarantee who the owner is and if it is the employer and the employee is pulling a fast one they could come knocking (not going to be that hard to trace it) and [STRIKE]ask[/STRIKE] take it back.

Thanks.

I think it could be worse than that - my old employer had a 12 month repayment period, but the buy back was after 36 months (this was to reduce the end Market Value Sale price to the employee) so presumably it's an asset of the employer for 36 months too.

Nasqueron

As above, until the bike is paid off under the C2W the company owns it - they could sell it and keep up the payments but if not the company could come knocking for it

Nasqueron

Cardinal-Red wrote: »

Thanks.

I think it could be worse than that - my old employer had a 12 month repayment period, but the buy back was after 36 months (this was to reduce the end Market Value Sale price to the employee) so presumably it's an asset of the employer for 36 months too.

Depends on the scheme, the biggest (cyclescheme) does the final payment after 12 months so while it's officially on "extended rental" they won't come after it once that final payment is done, you can return it after 3 years if you really want to but it's yours for all intents and purposes.

I wouldn't touch the bike either

elverson

Unless it's a very distinctive bike the employer is unlikely to ever find out as bikes are harder to trace than cars. However it does sound like the seller is abusing the scheme.

More generally the sellers on eBay tend to be more trustworthy than those on Gumtree.

spadoosh

elverson wrote: »

Unless it's a very distinctive bike the employer is unlikely to ever find out as bikes are harder to trace than cars. However it does sound like the seller is abusing the scheme.

More generally the sellers on eBay tend to be more trustworthy than those on Gumtree.

Not that hard.

Employee does a runner with bike.

Employer checks out employees facebook page, sees advert for bike gumtree ad. Police knock on door. Who did you sell it to?

Im not even a detective.

elverson

The employee could well be still in the employment and paying the employer back, but has decided to cut their losses and sell on the bike now.

If the employee leaves the employer is more likely to deduct the outstanding balance from their final pay packet - what will the employer do with a second hand bike?

Cardinal-Red

Yes, I'm going to work on Elverson's assumption that the seller is paying off the bike but has decided to flog it.

My worry is that it's such a short period of time between buying and selling - the discount on the bike offered is way more than the tax saving would be (although I am assuming 20% tax rather than 40%) so this is a loss making exercise.

Cash Loan perhaps?

Either way, think I should probably steer clear.

Nasqueron

spadoosh wrote: »

Not that hard.

Employee does a runner with bike.

Employer checks out employees facebook page, sees advert for bike gumtree ad. Police knock on door. Who did you sell it to?

Im not even a detective.

So long as the employee keeps the payments (taken from salary) the company won't care - if they leave, they take the full cost of the remaining balance (without tax saving) from the final payment - selling the bike isn't a problem so long as the payment continues

Altarf

spadoosh wrote: »

Employee does a runner with bike.

Employer checks out employees facebook page, sees advert for bike gumtree ad. Police knock on door. Who did you sell it to?

"I don't know. They turned up, paid cash and left with with the bike"

spadoosh wrote: »

Im not even a detective.

Clearly.