Cycle to work scheme.

St50vec

Hi have been discussing with work about doing this has anyone done it? Is it worth it and how does the final payment work. Andy

lakesluddite

If you want a sub £1000 bike then yes it is well worth it, as long as you can get what you want.

From memory I paid a final payment which was equivalent to one monthly payment, so you'd have to factor this in to the total (eg if you saved £250 using CtW scheme, there would be a further payment to offset against that).

I think the Cycle to Work schemes are responsible for getting thousands of people out on bikes over the past few years, so all in all a great thing! Get it while you still can!

slowbike

It's great - so long as you want what the C2W scheme offer at the price they offer - and will be in the job long enough to complete the scheme.

I understood that C2W schemes often only allow purchase of new bike at RRP - so last years discounted model isn't available. Fine if you want the new bike and not last years model. It's also fine if you don't have the cash upfront - so even last years model may not currently fundable out of cash - in which case C2W scheme can make it more affordable. But if that's the only issue, there are other finance schemes available.

bompington

The idea is that you pay it off the total over 12 (usually, but it can be up to 18) months. That saves you tax, but you also have to pay the final market value - you used to be able to get away with a nominal payment but now HMRC are shirty about that so it has to be around 25%, which pretty much cancels out the benefit of the scheme. Most schemes get around this simply by deferring the last payment until the bike is close to technically worthless.
Watch out for middlemen like cyclescheme.co.uk - they take a cut, usually 10%, and a lot of retailers simply add that to your bill. If you work for a small business you may be able to organise the scheme yourself, in which case no such fears apply, but then the employer has to stump up the cash up front, so they may take some persuading.

Holdey

Yes if you make the final payment at end of the 12 or 18 months you get stung but if you state you are carrying on with the scheme and pay a 5% administration fee then you keep the bike until it effectively becomes worthless and pay no more . Then you make approx 32% saving overall

redvee

My C2W bike ran from July to June over 13 four weekly wageslips but still showed on the deductions as 0.00 until this month cause of the end of financial year. I've only paid £1k before tax, nothing more.

handful

I've bought 4 bikes on C2W in the last 6 years. There are lots of variations in how companies run their schemes and what they allow/how they handle the final payment so my advice is speak to your employer.

Also shops do it differently as well, some shops (e.g. Halfords on their scheme) will not allow >£1k. Many others do and some others add 10% to the price (like Planet X) others don't. Some allow the benefit on certain discounted bikes and others don't.

My last purchase, about 18 months ago was for a £1600 bike which was a discounted price. No problem for my employer or the shop, I just paid the £600 extra in cash. Our scheme defers the final payment for 3 years as stated by others. HTH