Cycle 2 Work

[defy-one]

I asked one of my colleagues and they charged him £1 :-)

 

[Poacher]

Wish my employers charged £1. Instead it was 21% of purchase price, PLUS VAT!!!! A long, long way from the "£20 or 5%, whichever is the less" which tempted me to shell out on Cycle to Work in the first place. The monthly deductions were designed to pay off the whole purchase price of the bike with a nominal sum to pay to transfer ownership at the end of 18 months, instead of which I got hit with another major outlay.

 

[defy-one]

That sounds excessive and doesn't give you much off the RRP of the bike surely?

 

[Darcy]

At the end of the 12 month agreement, just extend the hire agreement at no cost to yourself. When the extended agreement ends your employer usually gifts you the bike as the market value is very low and they don't want to be left with a 4 year old bike to dispose of.

 

[DaveW]

My employer extends the agreement to 3 years and whilst the contract says they transfer the bike to you at fair value in practice they give it you/forget all about it. Not worth a global company collecting a few quid off employees, the admin will cost more.

 

[stephen.rooke]

At the end of the 12 month agreement, just extend the hire agreement at no cost to yourself. When the extended agreement ends your employer usually gifts you the bike as the market value is very low and they don't want to be left with a 4 year old bike to dispose of.

interesting, so when my company brings the scheme in, (if they finally finish all the small details they say theve been doing for months) i could get a bike, at the end, extend the hire period and also get another bike and basically keep doing the same thing to get a new bike every time without having to pay a final value?

 

[cyberknight]

interesting, so when my company brings the scheme in, (if they finally finish all the small details they say theve been doing for months) i could get a bike, at the end, extend the hire period and also get another bike and basically keep doing the same thing to get a new bike every time without having to pay a final value?

My company does not allow overlapping schemes, if you do they can only add up to the 1k limit in total,i asked if i could use the scheme to buy some wheel upgrades and it was a no no.

 

[Norm]

interesting, so when my company brings the scheme in, (if they finally finish all the small details they say theve been doing for months) i could get a bike, at the end, extend the hire period and also get another bike and basically keep doing the same thing to get a new bike every time without having to pay a final value?

No-one can answer that without seeing the details of your scheme but the regulations do not allow more than two bikes at a time with a £1k limit unless your employer has a consumer credit licence.

 

[stephen.rooke]

the company i work for owns a bank so they should have a credit licence, there still finalising the details of the scheme so will have to see what they allow.

 

[Norm]

You still won't be able to have 2 bikes at a time (in theory, so you can have one at either end of a train journey).

 

[Darcy]

The following is taken from the Cycle to Work web sight

http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/employers/employer-updates/hmrc-update 6. Can an employee participate in a new scheme during the extended use period?
Yes, the employee is free to participate in future Cycle to Work schemes with their employer. The Extended Use Agreement is not a salary sacrifice arrangement and, apart from the refundable deposit, no further payments are required from the employee.

Hope this helps

 

[Norm]

The following is taken from the Cycle to Work web sight

No it isn't.

It was taken from the Cycle Scheme (Scam) web site. They are a commercial company who run schemes for employers. They do not even set the rules for the employers whose schemes they run.

 

[defy-one]

Our company uses cyclescheme

 

[Crankarm]

My company only allows £500 max. I would like a new Brompton but a 6 speed costs in the region of £800 so is not eligible. You can't but any decent new bike for £500. Would love an Alfine hub belt drive bike for low maintenance but the cheapest I have seen is £1,100 which is way over the £500 we are allowed. Neither am I a higher rate tax payer so the scheme looks pretty poor value IMHO. As has already been suggested you are better off shopping around at sale time at end of season.