Is this the worst time of year to buy through cyclescheme?

Phate
Phate Posts: 121
edited September 2010 in Road beginners
Really struggling to find myself a new bike through cyclescheme, at this time of year every LBS seems to have very little stock due to selling out 2010 bikes but not getting 2011 bikes in yet*(even then they seem to be the same bikes with a new paintjob and a hundred bucks chucked onto the price). Also the bikes they do have in stock are reduced by like 50 quid ruling them out of the cyclescheme! AAAAAAAAAarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh
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Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    CAAD10 out soon.

    CAAD10 out soon.

    CAAD10 out soon.

    Shame no one will by my old bike!
  • solsurf
    solsurf Posts: 489
    I would sack off the cycle scheme and get yourself a great bargain this time of the year. the cyclescheme sounds like its all over anyway.
    http://www.pogu.co.uk
  • Zachariah
    Zachariah Posts: 782
    It's still going strong, but a lot of the perceived 'discount' is now no longer there. As a taxpayer, this is no bad thing, as someone who bought into the scheme last year and still paying it off, I lose out personally. C'est la vie.

    It remains an interest-free loan for a potentially very nice bike you can repay over a year or more, and even us lower-rate taxpayers still get some discount...Just not as much as we might have liked.

    Still some Planet-X SL Pros with SRAM Red going!
  • Phate
    Phate Posts: 121
    solsurf wrote:
    I would sack off the cycle scheme and get yourself a great bargain this time of the year. the cyclescheme sounds like its all over anyway.

    I have not got anywhere near the 8-900 quid that I am looking at spending through the cyclescheme, just frustrating trying to find a bike that I like at the mo!
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  • lucan
    lucan Posts: 339
    You need to get around to more LBSs. There's loads of good deals to be had and sales will be dropping off any time soon and a sale's a sale.
    Summer: Kuota Kebel
    Winter: GT Series3
  • kingrollo
    kingrollo Posts: 3,198
    Shops can sell discounted bikes under cyclescheme. I have taken this up with cyclescheme - and they do not insist on RRP purchases - this is just something shops say as they have to pay 10% to cyclescheme on any bike sold under the scheme.

    2011 bikes will be in the shops shortly - wait a few weeks and get what you want.
  • merlinghnd
    merlinghnd Posts: 106
    This may ( or may not) be the worst time to BUY a bike on the C2W scheme. However I am locked into Halfords ( not by choice) and their Letter of Collection is valid for 4 months. So you can order and start paying for the Letter of Collection now, in 4 months all the 2011 bikes will be out, order your bike and find that when you complete the scheme your bike is well less than a year old. You can sell it ( quite legal) order another bike and use the proceeds to upgrade wheels etc etc.

    However new HMCR rules about fair value may be a game changer and ultimately scheme ender.
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Just to clarify, the HMRC 'clarification' hasn't changed the scheme by that much, and there's also been a revised view from the HMRC as to how they agree to it working.

    To expand - we've become used to the idea that we can buy a £1000 bike and pay 5% (£50) for it at the end of the scheme. HMRC revised this to recommend 25% (so £250) as a more realistic final market value at 12 months old. This doesn't mean you have to pay £250, it does mean that the difference between what you do pay and the FMV (£250) is a taxable benefit in kind and therefore subject to tax. For basic rate taxpayers that's 20%, or £40 (£250 - 50 x 20%) added to your tax bill for that year.

    Additionally HMRC have confirmed that the bike doesn't have to be bought from the employer in line with the end of the scheme, and that there's no reason why an employee can't finish paying the monthly payments after 12 months as is the norm now, but delay final purchase for 6 - 12 months or more, when the FMV is closer to 5% or lower.
  • Phate
    Phate Posts: 121
    CiB wrote:
    Just to clarify, the HMRC 'clarification' hasn't changed the scheme by that much, and there's also been a revised view from the HMRC as to how they agree to it working.

    To expand - we've become used to the idea that we can buy a £1000 bike and pay 5% (£50) for it at the end of the scheme. HMRC revised this to recommend 25% (so £250) as a more realistic final market value at 12 months old. This doesn't mean you have to pay £250, it does mean that the difference between what you do pay and the FMV (£250) is a taxable benefit in kind and therefore subject to tax. For basic rate taxpayers that's 20%, or £40 (£250 - 50 x 20%) added to your tax bill for that year.

    Additionally HMRC have confirmed that the bike doesn't have to be bought from the employer in line with the end of the scheme, and that there's no reason why an employee can't finish paying the monthly payments after 12 months as is the norm now, but delay final purchase for 6 - 12 months or more, when the FMV is closer to 5% or lower.

    Cyclesheme have also announced that from 30th Spet any vouchers issued they will at the end of the hire term send out an assessment form which once completed can be used to 'evidence' the MV of the bike, so a few hypothetical broken spokes, ripped seat etc should see the MV vastly reduced!
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