CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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Due to our work scheme making you go through hoops unless you use Halfords I don't bother as the saving is neglgible and doesn't compensate for the hashy build that Halfords tend to do.
I just usually wait until Edinburgh bike shop have a sale and then get a bike that I know has been built properly.
There are several different schemes out there with some better than others.
I bought mine through my old employer who used Halfords as the supplier which seems to have worked slightly differently to the cyclescheme option.
1) Between me choosing the bike and buying (4 months) the bike was put in the sale. There was no problem with me buying it at the reduced price but I did find myself having to spend several hundred pounds on accessories in bikehut which wasn't a simple process.
2) At the end of the scheme my employer gave me the bike which meant I was liable to pay tax on the value of the bike. Sadly it was a one year scheme so I was paying tax on £250.
The maths worked out as
Headline cost £1000 (Halfords also added 10% extra in accessories)
Cost after tax and NI deductions (what I paid) £680
Tax pad at end of scheme £50
So I paid £730 for £1100 worth of bike and accessories. which seems like good value.
A couple of other notes on the cyclescheme one:
1) I think the full price limitation is only enforced at shop level so it may be possible to persuade a shop to sell you a 40% discounted bike for a 25% discount and still use the voucher for double savings.
2) According to the cyclescheme website you can use a voucher to buy accessories or safety equipment so if you're not in the market for a £1000 bike you could buy a £1000 frame or wheelset instead. Or alternatively buy whatever part you expect to wear out within the next year and then post them back with no further costs at the end of the year.
My final comment wont be relevant to most people but the £1000 limit is a credit licence restriction so if you're lucky enough to work for an employer with a credit licence there is theoretically no limit to how much you can spend.
I don't think it's worth it anymore unless your a higher rate tax payer.
Personally I'd buy a previous year's model in a sale on an interest free credit card. You're likely to get more bike for your money and can easily find a 12 month (or more) interest free period.
As I understand it Cycleschee does not allow the sale of bicycle parts. So a fraome and forks are not allowed. Perhaps there is some literature I have missed? Buying parts would be good as I could change the worn out drive trains annually instead of having to buy it post income tax.
Personally I'd buy a previous year's model in a sale on an interest free credit card. You're likely to get more bike for your money and can easily find a 12 month (or more) interest free period.
Seconded. This is what I did. So long as you're disciplined about the payments it's a good way to get the bike you want at a good price. And it's your bike, not some scheme's.
DaveC
I noticed it on their Q&A page here;
https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/employers/employer-faqs#/employers/employer-faqs/i-already-own-a-bike,-can-i-obtain-just-safety-
Curiously the URL is entitled employers but the link is from the customer's getting a bike page.
Does anyone have any experience of the EBC Bike to Work offering? or other LBS(ish) options where cyclescheme wouldn't be taking a cut? My current employer doesn't have a scheme so provided I can talk the boss into letting me set one up I could theoretically choose anywhere.
On twitter just now:
@paullewismoney: Anyone kept out of Cycle to Work scheme by low pay - please email moneybox@bbc.co.uk
Several years ago, I got a bike to work bike. Paid for it over a year, then had 2 years extended loan period before eventually I was "given" the bike by my employer as a benefit in kind,p. I then had to pay tax on this benefit of course, but because it was a 3 year old bike the fair market value was down to 17% of the original cost (I think), and so I had to pay tax on 25% of that which was negligible. And even then I "paid" by them adjusting my tax code for a yea, so it worked out very painless.
I wouldn't do it again though: too much seems to be uncertain now.
@acsimpson I'm in the same boat, my manager wants to implement a cycle scheme, but I'm the only one likely to use it in the near future and will have to do the admin, so I am in a position to influence. I was thinking of going for the EBC bike to work as you can get sale price bikes and it looks pretty easy to set up. However, I'm not sure that I will actually want to take it up as it looks like minimal savings for someone who doesn't earn the higher rate of tax and doesn't want a £1k bike.
I got my most recent bike from EBC on their Bike to Work Scheme. I worked out that by the time I've repaid my employer (with tax advantage) and then made the final 'market value' payment to own the bike I won't have saved very much.
But ... I will have made some saving, albeit a small one, and I won't have had to fork out a one-off payment to buy the bike.
As someone else has mentioned there's probably little financial benefit over buying on interest free credit. For me, I prefer the idea of paying back my employer, rather than a credit company.
It also gives me an option to buy or not to buy at the end of the hire period.
The admin of setting it up isn't very onerous so there's not really too much to lose - even if there appears less now to gain.
So Cyclescheme is my firm's Bike to Work scheme provider. Got spammed today with their latest wheeze - Phonescheme
"Phonescheme enables you to enjoy the latest mobiles, tax-free. Your employer pays for the phone and then recovers the cost from your gross salary over a 12 month period. Paying via salary sacrifice enables you to save up to 42% on Income Tax and National Insurance, making a wide range of phones even more affordable. Your employer will also save up to 13.8% in National Insurance Contributions."
https://www.phonescheme.co.uk/how-it-works
Not sure how this is possible when Bike to Work only allows bikes and safety equipment to be bought - luxuries like GPS are ruled out (I've checked)
Hope they don't end up nerfing the whole Bike to Work scheme...
Let me know if they get on to HouseScheme...
I think cigarette scheme is the next one planned…
The saving on cycle to work scheme look good. I bought my 2015 revelution country explorer used, if had used cyle to work scheme would have cost about the same new, but there was none in stock in my size, and also was looking for used bike as was trying to spend less. My first bike was new in the first year had it, had new deralour front and back, 2 new rear cog sets , new front brake calber, many chains, main brake blocks so could not see much benefit in a new bike.
I tried to buy several used Galaxies but they were already sold or could not be sold so eventually paid a little more for a used Explorer. If wanting a new bike then the cycle scheme seems good. Working in large public sector organization would have some reservation about HR taking the correct amounts from wages as sometimes overtime or other parts of pays not quite right but other than this if wanted new would be good. However can’t really think of many benefits of a new bike would be a nuisance having to worry about scrapes which if was new would be hard not to.
Cycle to work scheme sounds great but the application isn't as good as it could be. I never ended up using the C2W scheme for the following reasons:
- Ours is the Halfords one, who didn't have any bikes I wanted. Using the LBS network meant I'd have to pay list price, negating any savings from the scheme.
- Retention of title to the bike lasts 3 years and I couldn't guarantee I'd still be in the same place 3 years later (being on a training contract). It also grates paying the full price of the bike over a year but not owning it until 3years.
- The saving wasn't that great once you factor in having to buy it for a "fair market value" at the end of the 3 years. Looks to be more worthwhile if you're a higher rate taxpayer though.
No idea how you arrive at a fair value of a bike though... I know HMRC issued guidance but not convinced by the rationale at all.
In the end I ended up getting mine in the EBC summer sale at 15% off, so maybe paying £20 more than under the scheme - meant I got the bike I wanted and didn't have any faff with waiting for vouchers or working out how much I'd need to take.
Saying that, if I was to go for an n+1 down the line then I may consider it depending on circumstances.
My employer requires the bike to be paid off over 3 years but it's 6 years until you can re-enter our scheme, I think.
However most bikes if genuinely used year-round for commuting are going to be in a very 'used' state by that point.
My take on it was that if you have the cash, and want a wider choice, you are better off looking for a bike in a sale. If you prefer to make a small monthly payment that you won't really notice, albeit with slightly restricted choice, and don't mind the tie-in, then CTW can be good too.
Our scheme is with Halfords but they will source nearly any bike for you, so not restricted to their own brands.
Paid up over one year and ownership transfers over at that time. No final payment to buy the bike, so counts as a benefit-in-kind you get taxed on.
It's probably marginally worth it if you want this year's model of a bike, but sale savings can be just as much.
Interesting to read different experiences of the scheme here. I'm a massive fan and now on my second bike with it. My employer uses Cyclescheme. First time I went for a £450 voucher to buy a hardtail mtb for bombing around on with the kids. That finished last year and my employer is 'gifting' me the bike based on residual value (which is determined by HMRC) although I'll pay a benefit in kind tax on the 'gift' value. It's only working out at £6 tax for the whole year! Got my second bike last year as my commuter needed replaced so went for the top voucher at £1000. I bought a bike from Decathlon which had full Shimano Ultegra groupset (alone cost £900 when first released) so already a good deal but with the tax saving it's just ridiculously decent value.
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