Reply With QuoteI did a few years ago and got charged a £15 admin fee to buy at the end.
Anyone ever done this? Something I'm looking at. Overall deal is decent, tax relief on getting a bike, then after a year of leasing you get to buy for a nominal figure.
Problem is, I can calculate how much per month I'd pay for a bike and how much I'd save on the RRP, but the one thing that lacks clarity is how much you pay at the end to buy the bike. I think it's 18% of the RRP, but then my mate did it with his company and they only charged him £7! Anyone ever done this and if so what sort of final valuation did you have to pay? Cheers.
I did a few years ago and got charged a £15 admin fee to buy at the end.
I’ve done it twice. In both cases the final payment was £1. Some employers don’t even bother with the final nominal payment as it’s admin hassle.
Yep o my ever paid £1 two times I've done bike to work scheme
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Can’t add much except I’m in it at the moment. Wish I had done it years ago. There’s a small admin fee at the end, I wouldn’t let that put you off. The people I have dealt with have been very pleasant, very enthusiastic, but not exactly that helpful directly when you ask a detailed question. They did however always get back to me after 48 hours or so with an answer.
I got a Brompton, what are you looking at?
Cheers all for the feedback.Originally Posted by catch21
Looking at a Raleigh Strada 3 or a Specialized Crosstrail. Both road/mountain hybrids. I'm not really much of an expert, but my two boys are now getting to an age where family biking will be a thing, so thought I'd take the opportunity to get something half decent with a bit of money off.
I’ve bought a bike on the cycle to work scheme over the last couple of years.
If the bike + accessories is worth £499 or less you pay 3% after one year to to rent the bike for a further 3 years. After which there is full depreciation and the bike is yours with nothing more to pay.
If the bike is £500 to £1000 you pay 7%.
Factor this in to the maths, as often getting a good discount with cash can be better than what you can get with the scheme.
Bromptons are always a good buy given their robust residuals.
For the kind of riding you elude to (road, canal paths, bridle ways) the bike vinny has in sc is a steal, if it fits.
Otherwise I’d consider if you are really thinking mtb bike try to get something with the best fork you can, the forks on the bikes suggested will be heavy and don’t work particularly well off road and aren’t really needed on road/canal paths.
I think the final arrangements depend on the scheme. There are many schemes in use.
Indeed - here is HMRC's table -
Age of equipment Original price <£500 Original price >£500
12 months 18 per cent 25 per cent
18 months 16 per cent 21 per cent
2 years 13 per cent 17 per cent
3 years 8 per cent 12 per cent
4 years 3 per cent 7 per cent
https://assets.publishing.service.go...nce-update.pdf
You save 32% (std rate income tax + NIC) so even at its least efficient rate (over 500, 1 year) you still save 7% but like most tax breaks only really useful if you would have bought the bike anyway.
its an easy way to pay for a bike, directly out of your wages, so it feels free.
The savings are ok, but you can likely save as much buying last years model, as I believe the system only works if you buy a new model.
No. It depends on the scheme but you can use it for sale items. See https://www.cycle2work.info/employees
"Access to sales prices and promotions in-store at Halfords and Cycle Republic and online at Tredz.com"
The store generally just needs your C2W details to provide the quote. The Halfords one seems one of the better ones as I believe you can also go to indie shops that have signed up.
No - 3 and 7% is HMRC residuals and the option 99% of people go for
I think it may depend on you employer - I’m with Royal Mail- I’ve done 3 and always bide my time
This time I got a boardman hybrid pro - was £1k
They reduced them to £750 (as they always do) and offer have a 10% offer on.
Bike was reserved on line for £675- pop down and asked them to put it by until myLOC was through and applied for £675 via the CTW scheme
I think I’ll actually pay nearer to £450 after tax (it’s £36/month before tax)
As above the final payment has always been £1
It’s a no brainier really - ride mine every day, keep in good shape and sell it after the 18month
Pro by biglewie, on Flickr
If you depreciate them over 6 years, even according to HMRC then the residual is negligible.
I get the impression that most HR departments don't really want the hassle of tracking how long a bike has been loaned for, let alone trying to collect and account for the final payment.
And that's the thing about the good folk operating the scheme. Despite phone calls and emails about the end of payment period arrangements, I was never told of this "table" of residuals. Not that I'm bothered.
If you look on gumtree you'll see loads of brand new Bromptons still in box, never ridden, that I will swear have been supplied under the CTW scheme. If the seller gets what they ask I'm sure they'll make no more than £200 per bike and from a colleague I have heard of people doing just that.
If you lucky enough to be a low six figure earner, your marginal tax rate is 60%, and hence you’ll get the same discount through C2W. Makes a Brompton very cheap.
Just to add to this. I've just bought a £1K bike for a little over £500. Got a clearance bike from Evans (nothing wrong with it) and traded in an old bike (crock of shit). On top of this I bought it outright, then had that refunded when my certificate came through.
From what I can gather the refund bit is a standard offer at Evans, but I would check in advance.
I think I will look into this as it will help with me losing weight and getting fitter as well
That's interesting. I tried that approach with my indie bike dealer (I used the Halfords scheme but used an LBS instead of Halfords themselves). They had the bike in stock but even though I offered the full amount in cash, had to wait about 2 months for the LOC to come through before they would release it. Seemed fair enough at the time, the were unhappy with the amount of refund they would have to make (£1000). If I'd known about the Evans refund offer then it might have been a bargaining chip or I might have used Evans. Hmmmmm. Thanks.
I did this a few years ago through a previous employer. Ended up buying through Merlin Cycles who were brilliant to deal with and allowed me to reserve a bike in the sale with a £50 deposit about 3 months before I received my voucher. It's good value.
I have done this a couple of times to but £1000 bikes. After 12 months the value of the bike according to the tax dept determined the bikes were worth £250 (25%). This doesn’t mean you have to pay this amount though. All you are legally required to do is pay the VAT on that value. My final payment in both instances was about £50.
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