Cycle to work scheme

joho

I've used this scheme to buy an electric assist bike. I couldn't have afforded one outright and I got one that was on sale so reckon I saved a third of the price.

You don't have to only buy bikes that are listed on their website, nor only use the suppliers on their website. You can use a local supplier if they take part in the scheme.

You 'rent' the bike for 1 year. Then either send it back, or pay a percentage of the market value to own it outright. Or you can continue 'renting' it for two more years but without paying anything. 

You are supposed to use it for 50% of your journeys to work. Though I don't know how they monitor that.

I'm not a fan of cycling, and am only a fair weather cyclist at the moment, but it has made the 6 mile journey a pleasure - despite motorists and other cyclists  I'm lucky to have cyclepath for most of my journey.

MacPingu1986

joho said:

You are supposed to use it for 50% of your journeys to work. Though I don't know how they monitor that.

There's government guidance that 50%+ of the bike usage should be used to travel to work, but it's not monitored at all and I haven't come across a single instance of anyone being quizzed or sanctioned over this.

vacheron

There are a couple of things to note. 

If the bike is worth more than £500 you have to pay a higher percentage of its initial value at the end of the scheme, so this could be a not insignificant sum if you buy a very expensive bike.

Accessories do not have any residial value, so it is a great idea to buy as many accessories (gloves, helmets, tools, shoes, mudguards, panniers etc. as possible under the scheme. There are a few exclusions (turbo trainers and car racks being some IIRC) but most things reasonably needed to commute are permitted.

You can even have more than 1 bike if your commute has 2 journeys such as home-station, station-work

RHemmings

Reading through the description here, I'm glad I didn't use the scheme even though my employer offers it. I just buy my bikes. 

BTW: I cycle every journey to work, regardless of the weather. The fan in my office gets used to cool me down in the summer, and dry me off in the winter. 

MacPingu1986

vacheron said:

There are a couple of things to note. 

If the bike is worth more than £500 you have to pay a higher percentage of its initial value at the end of the scheme, so this could be a not insignificant sum if you buy a very expensive bike.

Accessories do not have any residial value, so it is a great idea to buy as many accessories (gloves, helmets, tools, shoes, mudguards, panniers etc. as possible under the scheme. There are a few exclusions (turbo trainers and car racks being some IIRC) but most things reasonably needed to commute are permitted.

You can even have more than 1 bike if your commute has 2 journeys such as home-station, station-work

We really are in danger of unduly scaring the poster off here, the "post hire period" charge is minimal. I used cycle to work for a £750 bike a couple of years ago and end of scheme charge was somewhere in the region of £50 or similar (noting I made a c£250 saving on the purchase price of the bike through the scheme and get to pay that reduced cost in installments too)

MacPingu1986

RHemmings said:

Reading through the description here, I'm glad I didn't use the scheme even though my employer offers it. I just buy my bikes. 

BTW: I cycle every journey to work, regardless of the weather. The fan in my office gets used to cool me down in the summer, and dry me off in the winter. 

Obviously your choice of course but you really are missing out - a 32% saving on purchase price (42% if your higher rate tax payer) is huge and vastly more than offsets the final "ownership" charge (0-7% depending on the scheme operator).

newsgroupmonkey_

Matt_22 said:

I'm about to start a new job that offers this scheme
 Has anyone used it recently?
 Seems you can get about 30% off a bike 

Yes, but there are caveats.
If you're after a top-end £3000 Marin or something, probably not.

If on the other hand, you're OK with a Boardman bike from Halfords or similar and prepared to play games, then you can!

Halfords are unfortunately the PC World of bike shops. There are times when you have to use them.
However, they also have sales in a 6 (I think?) week cycle.

I managed to pick up a Boardman CXR which was the previous year's model. They had some deal on all Boardman bikes, plus it was already discounted. Ultimately, it was something just over £600 and then got the 30% off from the cycle to work.

I've still got it. Great bike tbf. The beauty of the CXR is that it looks like a road bike, but is setup for being able to use slightly off-road. Obviously, not mountain bike material, but I do a lot of grass / rough paths on the canals.

seraphina

I bought an (admittedly very expensive) e-bike using the cycle to work scheme last year.

My employer has a good scheme where you can rent a bike for longish periods (up to 3 months), so I borrowed a similar e-bike for a month to see if I would actually use it, before buying my own.

My cycle commute is reasonably long (8 miles) and when I used a normal bike, I generally needed a shower before work to look presentable. Since I have my e-bike, I sweat far less and the wind is never against me!

It's been an unqualified success. My journey is quicker by e-bike (I get overtaken by cars leaving my village and then overtake them in traffic later in the journey), I can park my bike in a secure bike park right outside my building, as opposed to the car park on the other side of the campus, and I don't pay £3.30 a day to park (thanks, NHS!). I'm saving at least £60/month in petrol, let alone wear and tear on my car, and once I have finished paying off the e-bike, that will be £60 in my pocket each month. I'm also using my car less for local journeys as well. 

So there are significant non-financial benefits as well!

Ballard

My company offer a bike to work scheme over 12 months and on the face of it, it is appealing. The problem with the scheme that was available to me was that I had the option of Halfords, which didn’t have the level of bike I was after, or an online company (who’s name escapes me). The online company wanted something like £700 at the end of the year for a c£2,500 bike. I don’t recall the figures exactly but it would have left me something like £100 better off.

Had I had a better option of supplier I may well have gone this route but I got it through a bricks and mortar shop outside of this scheme. £100 isn’t to be sniffed at but I was happy to pay a bit more and get to see the bike in person. 

Nasqueron

Ballard said:

My company offer a bike to work scheme over 12 months and on the face of it, it is appealing. The problem with the scheme that was available to me was that I had the option of Halfords, which didn’t have the level of bike I was after, or an online company (who’s name escapes me). The online company wanted something like £700 at the end of the year for a c£2,500 bike. I don’t recall the figures exactly but it would have left me something like £100 better off.

Had I had a better option of supplier I may well have gone this route but I got it through a bricks and mortar shop outside of this scheme. £100 isn’t to be sniffed at but I was happy to pay a bit more and get to see the bike in person. 

£700 at the end doesn't sound like a valid amount for the scheme - the extended rental is usually under 10% of the value of the bike, it can even be lower