WDB
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Posts: 7,352 
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Post by WDB on May 29, 2020 9:10:06 GMT
So which is your top recommendation, WDB? The £650 Whyte? I can get Cycle2Work. But it sounds like an arseache. Worth a separate thread on this. Arseache? The only one in ours (which uses Cycle2Work, backed by Halfords and Cycle Republic) is that there's only a two-week window in December when we can sign up to it. But that's to do with my employer, not the scheme itself. Otherwise, it could hardly be easier. Decide what you want to spend (up to a ceiling recently raised to £2,000) on bike and accessories (lights, helmet, whatever) and apply for a 'Letter of Collection', which is effectively a voucher to that value. You can take that straight to Halfords or CR or, as I did, call the helpline and get it validated for another retailer of your choice, such as AW Cycles. The retailer orders the bike, prepares it and you collect it on an agreed date. The payments are deducted from your pre-tax and pre-NI salary in 12 equal amounts, so you avoid 40% income tax and 2% employee's NI on the full amount. And after 12 months and a little more paperwork (I admit there's the possibility of some arseache here, but I'm committed now) title to the bike is transferred to you. There are no checks on how the bike is used, but obviously it's not yours to sell in the first 12 months and you have to insure it - but you'd be doing that anyway. So you have not only the significant cash saving on the total price of the bike, but an easy, interest-free payment plan for the rest. I really can find no downside. |
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Post by Alanović on May 29, 2020 9:24:38 GMT
I'm not sure I'd be insuring a £350-ish bike. Seems excessive. That would negate some/all of the savings, wouldn't it? Proper D-Lock would be the only insurance necessary, and with my usage pattern I'll rarely be leaving it unattended. It would live in a secure garage.
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Post by Humph on May 29, 2020 9:27:56 GMT
You might find that home insurance or the terms of your bank account give you bike insurance. Both apply in my case.
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WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,352
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Post by WDB on May 29, 2020 9:29:05 GMT
That's all I meant. Home insurance bike cover is all you need.
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Post by Alanović on May 29, 2020 9:33:02 GMT
Oh right. I'll check if mine covers it. Expect you have to declare the bike and its value to be covered?
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WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,352
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Post by WDB on May 29, 2020 9:44:52 GMT
To the insurer? Not usually if you have the Bike Cover option in your policy already. If you don't, adding it will cost less than any specialist bike policy.
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Post by Alanović on May 29, 2020 9:59:16 GMT
Have rummaged my company intranet, and can only find deets of last year's Cycle2Work scheme window, which was June and July. I'll ask if they're going to do it again this year. Last time it was tied to Halfords.
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Post by Humph on May 29, 2020 10:01:30 GMT
Should be able to get something from the Carrera, Voodoo or Boardman ranges that would be dandy.
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Post by Alanović on May 29, 2020 10:07:07 GMT
Availability and stock seems to be the big issue currently. Big demand, but supply problems. I've signed up with Halfords to notify me when the Carrera Subway 2 is in stock. I think that bike seems to be the best combination of the capability I want and value or money. Still open to other options of course (and none), and it doesn't have to be on C2W for the right thing.
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Post by Humph on May 29, 2020 10:10:31 GMT
All leg pulling etc aside, from what you've said about your current and likely usage, that would a fine choice at a sensible price. And, if ever we're allowed, it'd be great as a holiday bike too.
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Post by Alanović on May 29, 2020 10:14:15 GMT
The Ford Focus of bicycles?
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Post by Humph on May 29, 2020 10:14:58 GMT
Halfords did a thing last year where you could trade your old bike in against a new one for a 20% discount.
Whether they'll feel the need to do that this year may be a function of market forces.
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Post by Humph on May 29, 2020 10:15:40 GMT
The Ford Focus of bicycles? Pretty much. |
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Post by bromptonaut on May 29, 2020 12:50:05 GMT
The payments are deducted from your pre-tax and pre-NI salary in 12 equal amounts, so you avoid 40% income tax and 2% employee's NI on the full amount. And after 12 months and a little more paperwork (I admit there's the possibility of some arseache here, but I'm committed now) title to the bike is transferred to you. There is, or was when I last did this in 2009, considerable potential for arseache around acquiring the bike. In order to comply with various rules the bike is leased to you by the employer. After 12 months if you want to own it you have to buy it from them at Market Value. For a while the C2W companies took a 13th payment as market value and Bingo, the bike was yours. Some Inspectors of Taxes, including the one with oversight of my then employer were unhappy with that; the market value of (say) a 12 month old Brompton was lot more than £75. If sold at an undervalue the bike was a benefit in kind and taxable. We were therefore told that we had to get a valuation and pay that amount to the Ministry. Or alternatively you just carried on riding it while still owned by the Ministry. Subsequently some HMRC working party addressed the issue and came up with a matrix whereby Market Value was a percentage of the purchase price which declined to zero in year four or five. I took the carry on riding option including riding away with it when the Ministry made me redundant. They never mentioned it under the exit process and I 'forgot' to hand it in along with my laptop and other Ministry property in my care on the day I left. At that point the B was four and a half years old and, per the matrix, approaching nugatory value. There is another alternative where they gift you the bike in month 13 of the lease and declare the value on form P11D with you paying tax on it. OK at basic rate but a beggar if your marginal rate is more. Fr most people I think keep on riding is the answer but the value might be an issue if you leave early on. |
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Post by Alanović on May 29, 2020 13:00:21 GMT
I am the kind of person who, when he spots any amount of administrative or taxman related arseache on the horizon, is happy to take whatever financial hit to avoid going through it. I am the guy who used to contract through an umbrella company rather than use a limited company, to his financial cost, rather than face taxman arseache. I started out as a limited company, the VAT man lost a piece of paperwork from me and sent in the bailiffs without warning. I switched to umbrella immediately. I am now on PAYE only after having requested the Revenue switch me off self-assessment when I stopped contracting and went permie. The mere thought of self-assessment breaks me out on a sweat.
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