 | Home > Off Topic > Halfrauds Cycle to Work Scheme |
 
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| appaloosadude Member Since: 17 Oct 2012 Location: Buckinghamshire Posts: 630   
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My work do it, I saw that clause and thought '
 ', shove your scheme. Or to coin a phrase "On yer bike!" |
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26th Aug 2013 9:43pm |
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| leeds Member Since: 28 Dec 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 8582
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A quick google on how the cycle scheme works shows that you have hired the bike for 12 months. For the bike to become yours you need to pay the fair market value after the 12 month hire agreement.
Brendan |
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26th Aug 2013 9:46pm |
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| appaloosadude Member Since: 17 Oct 2012 Location: Buckinghamshire Posts: 630
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Make sure its dirty and wrecked, and argue it is only worth scrap value.
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26th Aug 2013 9:47pm |
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| DRW58 Member Since: 23 Feb 2013 Location: Perthshire Posts: 167  
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Perhaps this would be a better title.
I Have only done about 50 miles on it ....did think about handing back my £90 Tescos mountain bike instead having painted Boardman on the frame but suspect they might notice. Halfrauds paperwork doesn't make this clause clear enough when you take on the hire agreement. It should read You pay £x amount before tax taken at source followed by and end of term one off payment of £y making a total cost to you of £x plus y. SWIMBO has just taken on the same deal last weekend!!!!! Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing. Same old same old...if a deal looks too good to be true then it probably is. 
Was still a good deal ...could have been sweeter, Am I going to use my nice newish bike to go to work....am I I'm going to have fun on it. 
Dave I built a garage for my Mini With a place for everything and everthing in its place. Ten years down the line there's a Mini in there somewhere, and all's where it should be!!!! Ho hum |
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26th Aug 2013 10:03pm |
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| cobs Member Since: 12 Jun 2008 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 336 
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Might be worth a word with your local Trading Standards officer - they can be quite helpful.
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27th Aug 2013 9:14am |
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| jimbob7 Member Since: 06 Jul 2013 Location: uk Posts: 2055 |
As I understand it,your employer buys the bike and claims a certain amount of the VAT back (the amount of tax that can be claimed was dropped last year) you "rent" the bike off them from your pre-tax/NI wage,at the end of the year you are allowed to buy the bike off them for market value.
If you have an issue, it's with your company who will say, "shuda read the T/C".As it's written in there about a final one off fee. Fwiw,you only save a bit of money if your lucky, Halfords often have a 25% discount sale,discounted bikes are exempt from the C.T.W.S. And it's not a Halfords C.T.W.S most bike dealers can take part. |
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27th Aug 2013 10:04am |
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| Clemmo Member Since: 03 Aug 2012 Location: Mile Oak Posts: 1264 
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three years ago I bought a bike valued at £1000.
When the end of term letter came they asked me for £20 in admin costs or return the bike?? maybe its changed now? Clemmo |
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27th Aug 2013 11:40am |
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| udderlyoffroad Member Since: 18 Jul 2011 Location: Bristol Posts: 124
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This. It's a push-bike for criss sakes. Pay the £125 and get SWMBO to give hers back before it costs her too much money. As you say, look at is an interest-free loan with a final one-off sting in the tail (like most car loans). Between HMRC, my company's HR and (insert cycle shop), it really isn't worth the hassle. Especially as most retailers won't include bikes which are discounted. Real trucks don't have spark plugs |
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27th Aug 2013 12:51pm |
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| Inigo Member Since: 13 Nov 2011 Location: Kent Posts: 627 
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I think the cycle to work scheme was working too well and the incentive allowed lots of people to buy bikes at a discount. So HMRC decided to make it less attractive and changed the rules - I don't think this is Halfords fault.
When I looked at it last year, it was simpler to just buy a bike with my own money. |
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27th Aug 2013 3:09pm |
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| Eduardo Member Since: 28 Aug 2008 Location: Región Metropolitana Posts: 2110  
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FRW58
I dont know what kind of paperwork you sign it when you buy the bike, but here in Chile this scheme is quite common to buy cars. Some sellers call it "smart buying". You make a contract to "rent" the car for certain monthly amount (that generally is not so big) and at the end of the contract (2-3 years) you can choose between (a) paid a final value (In general is around 20-30% of the value) and keep the car or (b) give back the car . Given the final value to be paid to keep it, most of the people decide to give back the car and make a new "smart buying contract" for a new car. This scheme should be clear in the contract, otherwise, legal help will be helpful. Cheers Eduardo MY 2007 110 SW PUMA 2.4: Big Fog of 64' MY 1994 Jayco 1207 Folding camper: "El Tremendo"  Click image to enlarge |
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27th Aug 2013 5:03pm |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10384
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I've never known anybody pay a fee at the end of the 12 months..... And I've sold hundreds on b2w.
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28th Aug 2013 11:09pm |
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| DRW58 Member Since: 23 Feb 2013 Location: Perthshire Posts: 167
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Thanks for all the helpful pieces of advice, I have accepted the inevitable and will pay the £175. Had a good couple of days driving a defenders at a grouse shoot in the highlands lots of off road mountain tracks and cash too how happy can one guy be
DRW I built a garage for my Mini With a place for everything and everthing in its place. Ten years down the line there's a Mini in there somewhere, and all's where it should be!!!! Ho hum |
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30th Aug 2013 9:51pm |
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| alfajock Member Since: 12 Jan 2011 Location: Bedfordshire Posts: 227 
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Just saw this.
The employer buys the bike and hires it to the employee, who then has the option to buy it at the end of contract for fair market value. The 25% is an HMRC driven change last year after they saw end of contract bikes from earlier iterations of the scheme being sold to the borrower for around 5% of the new price, and said this did not meet their test for fair market value. The objective of the scheme was to make it easy for people to get a bike for health and eco reasons, without having to find cash in a lump sum or enter a credit agreement. It was not intended to just be a taxpayer funded discount scheme. In reality, it can do both, but whether it works for individuals financially depends on individual circumstances. If you are a 23% tax payer you save that, but the 25% wipes it out again and your benefit is just the convenience and credit risk. If you are 40% tax payer, you are still ahead financially as well. Some other scheme providers give the option at the end to enter a further hire period for eg three years, for a one off payment of eg £50, and after the end of that ownership transfers. In that case the £50 is probably close to the market value for a 4 year old bike rather than a 1 year old one, so HMRC is happy, and overall you have made the saving you anticipated. It has been extremely popular and lots more people are cycling as a result, but it doesn't work for everyone. I think those suggesting it is a rip off is a bit unfair (depends how much you think you are entitled to a free lunch at tax payer expense I suppose), but you do need to read the contract you are signing and do your sums, like anything else in life. Fully Restored 89 110 CSW V8 CLS 350 CDI for the sensible stuff |
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31st Aug 2013 7:49am |
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