Cycle to Work Scheme
fasterbyelan
Posts: 73
The company I work for have just taken up the Cycle to Work which is great news. However I was surprised to find that certain cycle shops are making a charge for purchasing cycles under the scheme, typically 10%. One well know frame maker was quoted as saying -
'We charge 10% for handmade cycles purchased under the Cycle to Work Scheme but you are still making a huge saving'.
That may be the case but the shop is, in my mind, clearly exploiting the system to make an equally huge profit. The fact that I'm making a big saving is no concern to them apart from the fact that I'm more likely to buy more bikes. There may be some expense to the shop in running the scheme that I am unaware of but as many shops do not make a charge, the costs, if any, cannot be large.
I'm I missing something here or are shops being exploitative?
'We charge 10% for handmade cycles purchased under the Cycle to Work Scheme but you are still making a huge saving'.
That may be the case but the shop is, in my mind, clearly exploiting the system to make an equally huge profit. The fact that I'm making a big saving is no concern to them apart from the fact that I'm more likely to buy more bikes. There may be some expense to the shop in running the scheme that I am unaware of but as many shops do not make a charge, the costs, if any, cannot be large.
I'm I missing something here or are shops being exploitative?
Karl [8D]
0
Comments
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Setting up a bike to work scheme fried my brains so much (we tried to be flexible & wound up with people buying at Halfords and Edinburgh Bike under their own schemes, and cyclescheme.co.uk at more than one LBS) that my memory is woolly and the following info may not be correct, but this is how I remember it:
Cycle to Work is effectively just a tax scheme agreed between the employer and the employee: you can in fact go direct to your LBS if you want. However there is a bit of admin involved, so a lot of companies use a commercially organised scheme - either by big bike retailers like Halfords, or independent companies like cyclescheme.co.uk who arrange things with LBSs.
Cyclescheme.co.uk then charges 10% commission to the LBS.
Does that answer your question?0 -
Thanks for your reply and yes it does answer my question.
The charge made by Cyclescheme.co.uk should in my mind be a fixed one, the paperwork for a £300 bike is no greater than for one costing £3000 (and £300 is a lot of money!).
KarlKarl [8D]0 -
fasterbyelan wrote:the paperwork for a £300 bike is no greater than for one costing £3000 (and £300 is a lot of money!).
Most expensive bike you can get with the scheme is £1000.
(or at least it was last time I checked).90 per cent is mental. The other half is physical.0 -
gets a bit more complicated above £1000, but can be done.
Company needs consumer credit license. Most can't be bothered.Commute: Langster -Singlecross - Brompton S2-LX
Road: 95 Trek 5500 -Look 695 Aerolight eTap - Boardman TTe eTap
Offroad: Pace RC200 - Dawes Kickback 2 tandem - Tricross - Boardman CXR9.8 - Ridley x-fire0 -
fasterbyelan wrote:Thanks for your reply and yes it does answer my question.
The charge made by Cyclescheme.co.uk should in my mind be a fixed one, the paperwork for a £300 bike is no greater than for one costing £3000 (and £300 is a lot of money!).
Karl
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