Bike to work scheme

trekalltheway

Hello all,

first post - looking for everyone's thoughts on a purchase

nice bike i want on one of the auction sites, brand new and cheap, owner tels me it was purchased on a bike to work scheme but is selling it.

Question is: does he actually own the bike or would it be owned byu his company and therefore if i bought it would it be classed as a stolen bike?

Thanks

supersonic

Unless the scheme has finished and the ownership has been transferred to him, no, he doesn't own it.

jonnyc2420

i think the bike belongs to the company until its signed off at the end of the payment period, (mine does anyway) as long as he has docs stating the period has finished you should be ok, if not i would walk away..........

Finbar Saunders

If the lease period is up he owns it outright, but I'm not sure what sort of documentation he would have to show you. When I bought my bike on Halfords B2W but from an LBS I was given a receipt from the LBS showing that I had paid for the bike. Then when the period was up my company just sent me an e-mail to tell me the final payment for the lease purchase (residual value) would be taken from my salary. So if I were selling my B2W bike I would have only the original receipt to show you.

I would suggest asking to see his receipt for when the bike was purchased, or his B2W scheme paperwork. If a year has passed it is a good chance he owns it outright. If he can prove he is the one that originally purchased it I would definitely buy it. According to the rules of B2W he is fully responsible for the bike if stolen and still liable for the monthly payments. As such, he is likely to be the only person who would report it stolen, not the lease company or his employer. He seems to have been honest with you so far (he didn't need to tell you it was a B2W bike) so just ask him what the status is.

Has anyone received any documents proving they own their bike outright at the end of the lease period?

TommyEss

Finbar Saunders wrote:

If the lease period is up he owns it outright, but I'm not sure what sort of documentation he would have to show you. When I bought my bike on Halfords B2W but from an LBS I was given a receipt from the LBS showing that I had paid for the bike. Then when the period was up my company just sent me an e-mail to tell me the final payment for the lease purchase (residual value) would be taken from my salary. So if I were selling my B2W bike I would have only the original receipt to show you.

I would suggest asking to see his receipt for when the bike was purchased, or his B2W scheme paperwork. If a year has passed it is a good chance he owns it outright.

Has anyone received any documents proving they own their bike outright at the end of the lease period?

Not quite right - If the lease period is up and he's paid a fair market value and transferred ownership to himself he owns it outright.

The Rookie

If the lease period has ended it belongs to the company until its sold (OK meant to be sold) on, most company's 'give it away' to the user (which should constiute a taxable benfit!) most sell for a nominal fee. If he hasn't some paperwork to prove its his, walk away.

Simon

Finbar Saunders

TommyEss wrote:

Not quite right - If the lease period is up and he's paid a fair market value and transferred ownership to himself he owns it outright.

So what sort of ownership transfer procedures do you have to go through? There are none at my company so I'm just curious to make sure I'm not missing something.

Oxygen Thief

Why worry? Buy it. They'll chase him not you and he'll no doubt make up some lie about it being stolen.

TommyEss

Finbar Saunders wrote:

TommyEss wrote:

Not quite right - If the lease period is up and he's paid a fair market value and transferred ownership to himself he owns it outright.

So what sort of ownership transfer procedures do you have to go through? There are none at my company so I'm just curious to make sure I'm not missing something.

Well, with my company scheme, I expect to pay them some money (fair market value) and them to give me a bit of paper stating the ownership has been transferred - hasn't happened yet, but that's probably something along the lines of how it should go.

If it's on ebay, ask the seller a question through the ebay channels, asking him if he has proof of transfer of ownership.

If he doesn't know what that is, or doesn't reply with a "Yes - here's a scanned copy from my work/cyclescheme" then I'd walk away.

The risk with buying anyway, is that if he is collared, and he does try and report it stolen or something like that, they'll be able to trace that he sold it on ebay, and to who - then you may be at risk of receiving stolen goods?