WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425 
|
Post by WDB on May 29, 2020 13:42:15 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. ... For most people I think keep on riding is the answer but the value might be an issue if you leave early on. I think the arseache has been much simplified since 2009. This HMRC table shows the worst case transfer cost of 25% (x42% x original price of bike-plus-accessories) after 12 months - so my £900 contract might cost me £94.50 - and the tail-off to zero that Bromp describes. Anecdotal evidence is that in practice few employers bother to track what happens to the bike once the employee has satisfied the initial obligation of 12 repayments.  |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2020 10:31:35 GMT
OK, looking at my employer's new C2W scheme. And here's the first confusing bit of ballache: the first step is "decide your budget". Well. As we know, no retailers have got any stock, so the decision to order something might come down to what there is available, rather than the ideal thing I decide upon. So, at the point of order, I might suddenly need to decide to order something above or below that budget I have decided upon at stage one. So now I have a voucher of either insufficient or too great a value.
What happens next?
Honestly, I'm quite, quite sick of this aspect of modern life. A complex process is laid out with so many holes, questions, catches, and what ifs, with absolutely no way to resolve them. Its infuriating. Why does it have to be this way? I just want an effing bike, I don't want an initiative test of MI6 proportions to jump through.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jun 9, 2020 10:40:36 GMT
Then buy an effing bike — with your own money. Or play the game a bit and get a much nicer bike for the same amount of your own money and a chunk of ours.
Talk to some retailers first to see if there’s any suitable stock available. That gives you your budget. Then add £100 for a simple set of strap-on LED lights and a helmet to replace the one you’ve probably had for ten years. Then press Play.
AW Cycles can probably show you a Whyte R7 (Whitechapel / Portobello family) frame in some size or other. If you fancy a play on mine, I can bring it to the empty car park of your choice — with stabilisers if necessary. 😜
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2020 10:43:48 GMT
By the time I go through the 7 step approval process to get the voucher sent to me, I expect any stock will have disappeared given current circumstances. Hence my frustration at the process.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jun 9, 2020 11:00:24 GMT
It did take a little while. I enrolled on 15 December and got my letter on 7 January. There’s probably a chunk of HR process there, which will be similar for you, and one of Christmas holidays, which won’t. AW ordered the bike on the 9th and had it by the 14th.
Of course, that was before The Event. Whyte’s site offers Portobellos and Shoreditches ‘in store from mid-June’ and Whitechapels ‘from mid-July’. If you talk to AW, I expect they can put your name on one while you sort out the paperwork. No time lost.
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,778
|
Post by Rob on Jun 9, 2020 11:33:46 GMT
Al can only get a bike from Halfords though.
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jun 9, 2020 11:38:29 GMT
Do you know anyone with a decent hardtail mountain bike your sort of size, who would loan it to you to try? If we lived nearer each other I'd happily let you ride one of mine for a day or two to see if it appealed. I do, sort of, get the hybrid thing if you think that's all you'll ever need, but they do kind of make me think of SUVs with 2WD.
Neither fish nor fowl, sort of thing.
😉
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jun 9, 2020 11:44:46 GMT
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,778
|
Post by Rob on Jun 9, 2020 11:47:19 GMT
Actually I might be wrong on it being Halfords only. But I can't see this working well for ordering a new bike when you don't know what stock there will be when you try to order. As Al says, you need to know what value voucher to ask for before you order.
I wonder if I'd qualify... I tend to work from home so presumably I can't cycle to work :-)
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jun 9, 2020 11:57:29 GMT
Al can only get a bike from Halfords though. That’s surprising and disappointing. Sounds like your employer has taken the Cycle2Work rules and imposed a whole lot of its own rules to make it less useful. Cycle2Work is managed by Halfords but is very clear that it’s not tied to Halfords merchandise. Rob, I’m entirely remote — so every time I come home on my Portobello, I’m riding to work. Yes, you are eligible! |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2020 12:42:35 GMT
It's OK, the scheme can be used at retailers other than Halfords.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jun 9, 2020 13:34:58 GMT
OK, if you fancy a Whyte, give AW a call (or a Facebook message, which will be read when an email may not.) Ask what R7 bikes they can get in size M. Talk through where you ride and what you like — they’re bike geeks and like a chat. Importantly, think which way you might like to stretch your riding; a better bike will make you more ambitious. Mine has got me doing more, longer and faster road rides than I expected; you might see yourself mountaineering with Humph.
I actually think the Shoreditch might be your Whyte. The same 10-speed cassette as the Portobello, but a carbon fork (lighter). Bigger 700c wheels that would be great with 42mm tyres. Certainly faster on- or off-road than a Whitechapel and almost as good off as a Portobello. Not brown, though. Green, in fact, on the 2021 model you’d get. Nice.
Once you know what they can get — and what’s most likely to suit you — you have the information you need to place the order.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2020 14:09:38 GMT
Thanks Dubya. Very helpful.
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jun 9, 2020 15:20:07 GMT
I'm quite excited now. Feels like we're nearly there. New bikes !
Shiny, oi loikes shiny !
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jun 9, 2020 15:49:17 GMT
So does oi. But it won’t stay shiny for long if you use it right. My Portobello looks like it’s crossed the Sahara.
|
|
