Cycle to work scheme

Nasqueron

Ballard said:

I think that my firm still offer it so I will try to find out on Monday. From memory I could use either Halfords or a Welsh, mostly online, bike shop.

edit: it was here. https://www.tredz.co.uk/help-advice/customer-service/shopping-services/cycle-to-work/employee

I’d have needed to pay 25% after the year. I spoke to them and they didn’t explain the option to extend the lease so I’m not sure whether that was available when I was looking. 

That's clearly the second option - take ownership of your bike and pay 'fair market value' fee. Why would you do that rather than first option of the 4-5 year extended hire agreement for £0?

Matt_22

So I asked at work
 They said the scheme becomes live at certain times. And I'd get an email when next live. Likely the 1st of May. Does this sound correct?

Nasqueron

Matt_22 said:

So I asked at work
 They said the scheme becomes live at certain times. And I'd get an email when next live. Likely the 1st of May. Does this sound correct?

It's down to your firm, due to the admin time and cost, not all of them want to do it all the time. The schemes themselves run 24/7/365

Matt_22

Thanks makes sense.

Emily_Joy

Nasqueron said:

Emily_Joy said:

I haven't realised there is a restriction on the retailer. Somehow I was under illusion you can go to any retailer nationwide. Is this imposed by the employer or by the scheme?

Schemes agree deals with retailers e.g. Cyclescheme I got mine from Evans with a choice of any brands they sell. The Halfords one can be used at some other shops too. Paul's Cycles (think the name is correct!) was an online retailer who accepted them too but charged you an admin fee as well due to their costs

My employer uses Cyclescheme as well. As far as I can see there is a bike shop roughly 80 miles away that has the bike I want (a Dutch one with upright riding position) and that does accept Cyclescheme vouchers according to their webpage. Could the distance be a problem from the viewpoint of the scheme/employer/bike shop?  It is also supposed to be as far as I can see a 12 months hire agreement. How exactly is the monthly hire cost calculated? 

Nasqueron

Emily_Joy said:

Nasqueron said:

Emily_Joy said:

I haven't realised there is a restriction on the retailer. Somehow I was under illusion you can go to any retailer nationwide. Is this imposed by the employer or by the scheme?

Schemes agree deals with retailers e.g. Cyclescheme I got mine from Evans with a choice of any brands they sell. The Halfords one can be used at some other shops too. Paul's Cycles (think the name is correct!) was an online retailer who accepted them too but charged you an admin fee as well due to their costs

My employer uses Cyclescheme as well. As far as I can see there is a bike shop roughly 80 miles away that has the bike I want (a Dutch one with upright riding position) and that does accept Cyclescheme vouchers according to their webpage. Could the distance be a problem from the viewpoint of the scheme/employer/bike shop?  It is also supposed to be as far as I can see a 12 months hire agreement. How exactly is the monthly hire cost calculated? 

Distance would only be an issue if you had to return it, you could get it serviced anywhere, you can buy online where a shop might be 500 miles away.

The way the scheme works is that whatever the voucher value is, that's divided by 12 and taken out of your pay slip each month before tax, this reduces your income and thus how much tax you pay, hence the savings. After 12 months, smart people switch to the extended hire for a one off fee based on bike value and then after 3 years or whatever, it's nominally worth 0 and hey presto.

Emily_Joy

@Nasqueron thank you so much. I was confused by others saying they had a choice between Halfords and Evans Cycles. Do you know maybe a nice cycling forum where one could get a good advice on choosing the bike? I thought I know what I want but now I am not that certain. I am basically looking for a bike that would be a car replacement (I currently cycle anywhere within 25 miles radius, basically, and if I need to go further, I normally cycle to the train station and take a train...) 

Matt_22

Emily_Joy said:

@Nasqueron thank you so much. I was confused by others saying they had a choice between Halfords and Evans Cycles. Do you know maybe a nice cycling forum where one could get a good advice on choosing the bike? I thought I know what I want but now I am not that certain. I am basically looking for a bike that would be a car replacement (I currently cycle anywhere within 25 miles radius, basically, and if I need to go further, I normally cycle to the train station and take a train...) 

That's good going. 
Where I am any where within 4/5 miles or so is quicker on a bike
.

Nasqueron

Emily_Joy said:

@Nasqueron thank you so much. I was confused by others saying they had a choice between Halfords and Evans Cycles. Do you know maybe a nice cycling forum where one could get a good advice on choosing the bike? I thought I know what I want but now I am not that certain. I am basically looking for a bike that would be a car replacement (I currently cycle anywhere within 25 miles radius, basically, and if I need to go further, I normally cycle to the train station and take a train...) 

CycleScheme vouchers are anywhere that takes them though the indy bike shops may charge a fee as the cost to them for admin can wipe profits on bike sales. Halfords, purely for a bike sale, is not a bad thing, just don't get it serviced there! Evans used to be alright too with their choice of brands but now Ashley runs it, I wouldn't trust it.

Bike wise, I am not on any forums but Reddit has a few r/bicycling and r/cycling for example and there are commuter ones too. For 25 miles for work especially, I'd be looking at an e-bike (and I say that as someone who typically did 5k miles a year (3k commuting) until we moved office - you'll just end up tired and sweaty after a long ride - though bike + train, you'd probably want to look at folding bike options as well unless locking at the station

kinger101

I looked at it once previously a long time ago (as a basic rate taxpayer) and decided against using it.  I was told by the bike shop I had to pay list price for the bike.  At the time, it was much cheaper to buy the previous year's model at a discount.

So check carefully whether the savings are real.