Not happy with Cyclescheme add ons!
Comments
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orangepip wrote:the thing that amused me at the end of my cyclescheme was the charge for disposal. I think they were going to charge me £89 to pay off the final 5 % and keep the bike or £89 to dispose of it... Not much of a choice there really.
That's dependent on your company as to if and how much they charge, as I said it would cost the company to store and dispose of the bike so they want to put people off doing it.
I would if I was running the scheme for a company.
When I took out the cyclescheme I didn't actually pay the 7% lease charge at the end of the 12 month period, so again its all dependent on your company so I saved even more.0 -
Briggo's right. Cyclescheme and the other non-affiliated scheme do generally tend to work out as a worse deal financially as they do charge the 10% admin fees which often get passed straight to the customer, or sales bikes aren't reduced by as much. The advantage though is that you've got a much wider choice of bike and source than with any of the affiliated schemes. It's also highly dependent on how your employer administers the scheme.
The affiliated schemes however often give you a better deal overall financially but only if they stock a bike that you actually want. For me, my employer uses the Evans scheme where there are no admin fees to pass on, all bike are included at the full sale prices and they don't charge for delivery either (as far as I can tell). This meant that twice now I've ended up with a £1500 bike in the sale for £900 which I've then ended up paying just over £600 for. My employer doesn't charge me for anything at the end of the rental period (or at least hasn't yet and the first bike was bought 5 years ago, the second one 3 years ago).
£600 for a £1500 bike isn't bad and I'd be surprised if the cyclescheme could match that. An LBS is unlikely to reduce their prices by as much in the first place and almost certainly wouldn't allow that full discount to apply for a R2W customer.
Admittedly walking in with cash would have bought the same bike for £900 of course, but there's still a 33% saving from using the R2W scheme.0 -
Grill wrote:Briggo wrote:Grill wrote:Cycle schemes are scams in themselves, especially if you're not in the 40% bracket. It will be cheaper and better for you in the long run to just buy it outright. If you don't have the means to do this then even most of the zero percent financing options are better, or just pop it on a credit card with a low/zero percent introductory rate.
Please explain how its a scam and cheaper to buy it outright.
My girlfriend got a bike on cyclescheme a year ago. She spent £1000 on the bike and accessories and was charged retail. Now that she's a year in her options are to either buy the bike for £250 or extend the cyclescheme for another three years for £80 after which point she will own the bike. The other option is to giv the bike back which is simply ridiculous. Had she just shopped for a good deal she could have saved herself £300 on the bike and accessories and she would actually own the bike. I wouldn't finance a car for 4 years, why on earth would I do so with a bike?
You extend the scheme for another three years but don't pay anymore. This was cyclescheme's work around when HMRC changed the rules regarding the resale value a couple of years ago.
The 'give back' option is only there so the deal is not a 'payment in kind'-type arrangement which would nullify the tax benefits. The same with the all the 'we might' and 'at our discretion' wording in the deal. If it was just a plain "save 40% on a new bike by not paying tax on it" deal, then the HMRC would insist on their pound of flesh.0 -
Just when I thought I understood the C2W scheme I come across this thread.
I found a bike locally but they charge you RRP (though the website says otherwise) even though it was in the sale (£200 off). So with the extra £50-200 on top at the end and potentially £100 up front, it actually makes it significantly more expensive.
Back to fleebay / sales forum I think.0 -
For info, Evans now take cyclescheme as well as their own - and should honour a sales price. Well, that's what they told me.0
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From what you posted nobody has a clue if you will save or not. Tax rate and net bike price vs. cycle scheme price would help.TheBiggles wrote:Just when I thought I understood the C2W scheme I come across this thread.
I found a bike locally but they charge you RRP (though the website says otherwise) even though it was in the sale (£200 off). So with the extra £50-200 on top at the end and potentially £100 up front, it actually makes it significantly more expensive.
Back to fleebay / sales forum I think.0 -
Rolf F wrote:dynamicbrick wrote:I to have a £1000 cash to spend on a bike, I'd first need to earn £1,666 (probably more actually, as there's NI to also pay). So in essence I've saved £666. Given that the BIK value isn't likely to be £3,330, I'd quids in.
As a higher rate taxpayer, I'd hope you are smart enough to work out that your discount is about 40%, not the 60% you've contrived to imagine it to be. You really need to actually read the stuff on the website rather than guessing randomly
I'm in sales - never assume I'm doing anything other than wildly guessing.
If I've got it wrong, please feel free to correct me - however, £1666 less 40% is £1000 (1666 x 0.6), is it not?
Thus, if I want to wander into LBS and put a thousand quid cash on the counter (or indeed card), I first must earn £1666. Hence, to my workings out, I've saved £666 of gross earnings - well, not given £666 to the Treasury to fritter away on rubbish.0 -
dynamicbrick wrote:Rolf F wrote:dynamicbrick wrote:I to have a £1000 cash to spend on a bike, I'd first need to earn £1,666 (probably more actually, as there's NI to also pay). So in essence I've saved £666. Given that the BIK value isn't likely to be £3,330, I'd quids in.
As a higher rate taxpayer, I'd hope you are smart enough to work out that your discount is about 40%, not the 60% you've contrived to imagine it to be. You really need to actually read the stuff on the website rather than guessing randomly
I'm in sales - never assume I'm doing anything other than wildly guessing.
If I've got it wrong, please feel free to correct me - however, £1666 less 40% is £1000 (1666 x 0.6), is it not?
Thus, if I want to wander into LBS and put a thousand quid cash on the counter (or indeed card), I first must earn £1666. Hence, to my workings out, I've saved £666 of gross earnings - well, not given £666 to the Treasury to fritter away on rubbish.
I can see where you are coming from but you need to approach from the bottom up!
You are paying £1000 out of your gross earnings for the bike. Because you are paying it from gross, rather than net earnings, that's £1000 you aren't paying tax on. Therefore, in real terms, you've only paid £600 for the bike. Obviously, this is a gross simplification of the numbers but your saving is £400 rather than £666. You aren't paying £1000 for a £1666 bike but £600 for a £1000 bike. The percentages are the same but the values aren't.
I think the value of the scheme depends on what you are buying. If it is a mainstream bike that is likely to be available somewhere, sometime with a hefty discount, then you might be better just negotiating the discount. If no discounts apply, then clearly the scheme is rather good. I bought Orange, Look and Ribble bikes off the scheme and none are commonly discounted.Faster than a tent.......0 -
Choice is either LBS building up a Surly Cross Check to my spec, or another LBS with a Cube Cross Race. Neither, I suspect, would be heavily discounted anyway; the Surly due to it's semi-bespoke nature, and the Cube because they seem to build a couple of dozen of the things in February then take the rest of the year off, leaving huge demand with no supply.0
