Cyclescheme bicycle condition assessment

[Theseus]

Just to play the advocate for a moment ...

Do Cyclescheme know what bike you got through the scheme?
Say you have a number of bikes in the shed, as we all do, right!. Now one of them, the summer road bike, is the one you got on the scheme. You also have a winter hack that is about a year older and has been well (ab)used. Who can say which was which at valuation time?

When I got my C2W bike all the scheme providers (Halfords) knew was that they were issuing me with a letter of collection. I have found out that we are not really in the government scheme, we have something else going on that I don't fully understand. Just that at the end of the period (3yrs) it just ends with no final payment.

 

[sunnyjim]

Just to play the advocate for a moment ...

Do Cyclescheme know what bike you got through the scheme?
Say you have a number of bikes in the shed, as we all do, right!. Now one of them, the summer road bike, is the one you got on the scheme. You also have a winter hack that is about a year older and has been well (ab)used. Who can say which was which at valuation time?


<Looks round shed & spies sad looking 1984 vintage Raleigh Grand Prix in corner -
Scores out 'Raleigh' & writes 'Raptobike' in felt tip on top tube>

That 'll fool 'em.

 

[mcshroom]

I know my lbs took the frame number so they'd probably know

 

[rogersavery]

Can someone explain to me how the cyclescheme works? It sounds like you could end up paying for the bike at more that full price

ie choose a bike for £1000
company buys the bike
you pay £1000/13=£76.92 from your salary before tax and ni for 12 months ie £923.07
then you pay the market value at the end of the 12 month term - for example say it loses 50% of its value £500

total paid for a £1000 bike is £1423.07

it doesn't make sense

 

[benb]

I've also just found another document on our intranet, with both my organisation's logo and the cyclescheme one (so not obvious where it's from) that specifically says the final FMV payment will be 2.5%. So I'm going to refuse to pay more than that if it comes to it on the grounds of misleading advice.

Still I've got another 10 months to see what happens.

 

[rogersavery]

If have just spoke to cyclescheme

they have just been given guide lines from the hmrc as to the value for the different catagories depending on the initial purchase price

catagory A on a £1000 bike is £200 + VAT

the catagories are supposed to be self assesed, so I am not sure why the original poster has to take it back to a shop

The whole scheme is silly and ill conceived - hmrc has introduced a set of rules for the scheme, to bypass existing rules that they have complete control over

ie the only reason you hire the bike and then have to buy it is to avoid is being classified as 'benefit in kind', so you end up with an overly complicated scheme, with the employee not really having much clue as to what the total cost of the bike is going to be to them at the end of 12 months

why don't the hmrc simply change the rule to say a company buying a bike for an employee and allowing it to be payed for over 12 months before tax and ni is not considered to be benefit in kind

 

[amnesia]

No way am I paying 40% on the value of my bike at the end of the year... I only paid 5% last year, and pretty sure that was the contract I signed this year.

Apart from that, EVERYONE knows that carbon frames decompose after 12 months and a day, so it won't be worth squat

 

[crankyhorse]

I can't see many employers wanting to get lumbered with a job lot of used bikes. This will be a storm in a tea cup.

 

[potsy]

Can someone explain to me how the cyclescheme works? It sounds like you could end up paying for the bike at more that full price

ie choose a bike for £1000
company buys the bike
you pay £1000/13=£76.92 from your salary before tax and ni for 12 months ie £923.07
then you pay the market value at the end of the 12 month term - for example say it loses 50% of its value £500

total paid for a £1000 bike is £1423.07

it doesn't make sense

As I understand it you are only hiring the bike from your employer,at the end of the hire scheme you have the option to buy it from them,but if things go as they seem to be then it could end up cheaper to just buy one yourself on 0% finance if you can.

 

[rogerzilla]

So...if HMRC tried to go for the back tax retrospectively, how could they tell what condition my bike was in as at 31 December 2009? They couldn't. If you took a £1000 tourer and rode 2,500 miles of commuting (half of it on country lanes) without cleaning or maintaining it much, all the drivetrain would be shot, the tyres would be worn out, it would have a bit of rust and maybe it would only be worth £100.

 

[Downward]

Ok.
You get your bike from the LBS through Cyclescheme.

Good for CS, LBS and you.

You take back said bike to LBS for final valuation.

It's unlikely and bad business for the LBS to rate your bike as A1 condition perfect lumbering you with a hefty bill to pay to take ownership. If this does happen there will be a lot of people that won't use the scheme and word will soon get around your company not to use either Scheme or LBS.

And as stated above, I wanted Bike X 2009 model for £1k. By the time the admin was all done it's late august and the 2010 bikes are out. The £1k bike turns into a nice shiny 2010 £775 model with £225 going towards some nice new clothing, shoes, spds and helmet. The voucher though states Bike X costing £1k.

I'm sure my LBS will be more than accommodating in the valuation as I have spend nearly £2k with them over the past 2 years.

Also would it be fair for you to be penalised against the next person for looking after your bike ?

 

[JoysOfSight]

Guys,

I took the liberty of cross-posting some of this chat onto a new thread on the CTC site. It now includes a direct response from Cyclescheme to the effect that you won't get shafted (for more than RRP) on a scheme bike.

Might still be bad news for any saving, but it means at worst you're getting interest free credit.

Hope that helps.

 

[2Loose]

Guys,

I took the liberty of cross-posting some of this chat onto a new thread on the CTC site. It now includes a direct response from Cyclescheme to the effect that you won't get shafted (for more than RRP) on a scheme bike.

Might still be bad news for any saving, but it means at worst you're getting interest free credit.

Hope that helps.

Ta for the reassuring info. link: Cyclescheme assurance

 

[rogersavery]

<br>I took the liberty of cross-posting some of this chat onto a new thread on the CTC site. It now includes a <a href="http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.p...422e8cf4e76c7cf1c7aa15db&amp;start=30#p318019" class="bbc_url" title="External link" rel="nofollow external">direct response from Cyclescheme</a> to the effect that you won't get shafted (for more than RRP) on a scheme bike.<br>

<div>Except cyclescheme have no authority to promise that, they have to conform to guidance from hmrc</div><div><br></div><div>yes cyclescheme are correct in that the current guidence from hmrc will mean that you wont get shafted for more than the rrp - however hmrc can issue revised guidence anytime they like, so starting the scheme today is no guarantee that the guidance in 12 months time will be 50% depreciation

</div>

 

[potsy]

That's good to know,but the main draw of the scheme is getting a fabulous bike for 60% of it's true value,interest free credit can be got at a few places without the restrictions on bike/price etc.