Cyclescheme - Extended Use

[Sheepy1209]

I've got two bikes, one I bought myself and the other is 'hired' through Cyclescheme - I signed up to the Extended Use agreement fully aware of what it means, paying a 7% deposit for an extension that expires at the end of August 2015.

I'm now in a position where I need to go down to one bike, also my son needs a bike to get to a work placement. The complication is that my son lives 150 miles away!

The obvious answer is to keep hold of the Cyclescheme bike, and let my son use the other one - however, for various good reasons I don't want to do that.

I know I have the option of paying a higher final value and taking ownership immediately, I also know I can't sell the bike otherwise and I'm supposed to carry on using it for commuting.

However, the common sense option (and Cyclescheme / C2W isn't liberally endowed with common sense) would be to loan my son the bike on condition that I can have it back at short notice, he won't sell it, and he'll use a decent lock.

I can't see any problems with this unless Cyclescheme go into receivership; nobody knows what would happen in that situation of course.

Reasonable?

The whole C2W thing is a farce really, it's clear what the intent is but nobody's allowed to say anything. The one I like best in the extended use agreement is that if the bike's stolen and I don't replace it I lose the right to return the bike and claim the deposit back. Yet if I DO replace the bike it becomes the property of Cyclescheme!

 

[BSRU]

Once you have extended the hire period effectively the bike is yours, assuming you do not want to return it at your expense and get your 7% deposit back in 2015.
So I do not see any problem.

 

[Leodis]

Just paid my extension, thougth I had got away with it. Left the only job and coughed up £760 out of my redundancy after 4 payments then had to pay £70 to extend so it has cost me more than the £1000 I got.

It is a farce the whole scheme, if you are 40% tax rate then its wonderful. At the start the whole thing was cracking, then cyclescheme started and took any profit the end user received.

Next bike I get is on interest free credit, you can get discounts and the bike is always yours so to speak. Once down to 11.5 stone my target weight I am switching bikes as a prezzie but will go down the interest route instead, though at work CD runs all year.

 

[Sheepy1209]

Thanks - you're only confirming what I already know - I just despair at the way C2W trips up over its own nonsense!

 

[2Loose]

*cough* It really depends on the companies implentation and agreement with CycleScheme and how they apply the final payment rules.
I am not in the 40% Tax bracket and yet I have always owned my bikes (done it twice since HMRC changed the rules) after paying slightly less than 13 monthly payments and svaing me over 300quid on a grand bike.

Instead of paying 25% of the value of the bike after 12 months, my company has me pay the taxable value of the 25%, therefore keeping HMRC & me happy.

The scheme can be very good even if CycleScheme are used. Even better for the employee if the company manages the scheme itself and bypasses Cyclescheme, but it certainly doesn't have to be a waste of time.

 

[Downward]

Cyclescheme have made some major profits and thus HMRC got on the case.
Scheme isn't as good as it was. I have just extended too - To be honest I might sell my bike, they are an admin company, they don't care about the bike.

 

[fossyant]

My employer binned it after the extended hire came in, and offered staff interest free loans over 12 months, which works out a good deal if you wave the cash at a bike shop.

Did the first round of cycle scheme myself, and although saved a little on the normal tax rate, I lost it by not being able to claim the mileage allowances for business travel. But the missus let me get a new bike.

 

[Crankarm]

I've got two bikes, one I bought myself and the other is 'hired' through Cyclescheme - I signed up to the Extended Use agreement fully aware of what it means, paying a 7% deposit for an extension that expires at the end of August 2015.

I'm now in a position where I need to go down to one bike, also my son needs a bike to get to a work placement. The complication is that my son lives 150 miles away!

The obvious answer is to keep hold of the Cyclescheme bike, and let my son use the other one - however, for various good reasons I don't want to do that.

I know I have the option of paying a higher final value and taking ownership immediately, I also know I can't sell the bike otherwise and I'm supposed to carry on using it for commuting.

However, the common sense option (and Cyclescheme / C2W isn't liberally endowed with common sense) would be to loan my son the bike on condition that I can have it back at short notice, he won't sell it, and he'll use a decent lock.

I can't see any problems with this unless Cyclescheme go into receivership; nobody knows what would happen in that situation of course.

Reasonable?

The whole C2W thing is a farce really, it's clear what the intent is but nobody's allowed to say anything. The one I like best in the extended use agreement is that if the bike's stolen and I don't replace it I lose the right to return the bike and claim the deposit back. Yet if I DO replace the bike it becomes the property of Cyclescheme!

Yeah lots of feckers buying exponseev bikes with no intention ever of riding them to or from work. I object to subsidising these crooks. It was a good scheme until lots of people started taking the pi$$.

 

[BenM]

Yeah lots of feckers buying exponseev bikes with no intention ever of riding them to or from work. I object to subsidising these crooks. It was a good scheme until lots of people started taking the pi$$.

This. I bought an expensive (recumbent) bike on Cyclescheme and have ridden it to work nearly every day since... yet there are people with "carbon confections" that only get them out to look at and then put them away if there is rain forecast in the next 6 weeks...

 

[Sheepy1209]

Yeah lots of feckers buying exponseev bikes with no intention ever of riding them to or from work. I object to subsidising these crooks. It was a good scheme until lots of people started taking the pi$$.

Couldn't agree more - then there's the fact higher-rate taxpayers benefit more than basic rate, tends to be the larger employers who provide it, if you're on minimum wage you can't afford much anyway, and if you're not working you get no help at all (yes I know it's called Cycle2Work, but what about cycle2findwork?).

It's become a middle-class perk (I know that's a sweeping generalisation and I'm certainly not middle class) but that's how it looks.

Also - and I've already posted about this - I think pedelecs have real potential to get some of those four-or-five-mile commuters out of their cars but there's no government support for them and they're mostly too expensive for C2W. If the intention of C2W was to get more people commuting by bike then I think it's done as much as it's likely to achieve, and is now subsidising leisure bikes in many cases.

 

[cloggsy]

However, the common sense option (and Cyclescheme / C2W isn't liberally endowed with common sense) would be to loan my son the bike on condition that I can have it back at short notice, he won't sell it, and he'll use a decent lock.

... and insure it, so if it does 'go walkabout', you'll have sufficient funds to cover it...

I'd lend him the bike and say nowt. Like you said 'on the proviso you can have it back on short notice!'

 

[inkd]

I am not sure what to do at the end mine, probs do the extension depends on final payment cost. I will be looking at doing another one but I think i will look at intrest free or finance options, trouble is cyclescheme has helped me as I couldnt afford a bike outright and my credit rating is shot due to a few problems 2 years ago.
Mate at work is on his third one and has only cycled to work twice!!

 

[Downward]

My employer binned it after the extended hire came in, and offered staff interest free loans over 12 months, which works out a good deal if you wave the cash at a bike shop.

Did the first round of cycle scheme myself, and although saved a little on the normal tax rate, I lost it by not being able to claim the mileage allowances for business travel. But the missus let me get a new bike.

Yeah I'm getting Excess travel at the moment so when this ends I may replace my hybrid which will be 7 years old.

 

[jarlrmai]

my HR dept (who managed the scheme) got outsourced and they completely lost everything and never charged me the final cost, now I work elsewhere...

 

[TheJDog]

I don't know why they don't just say complete bikes < 1000 are VAT free. Apart from the salary sacrifice aspect, which is handy, that would accomplish the same thing with much less hassle.

There would also be a lot of competition at that £999 mark, which would be good for the consumer.

I am buying a new bike on cyclescheme, but at the end of the day I only expect to save about £100 tops.