Using the bike to work scheme

smcj · 23-05-2010 1:29am #1

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has any advice on using the bike to work scheme?

I went to a bike shop today to get a quote and the assistant filled in the quote form seemingly with the goal of reaching the allowed maximum of 1000 euro. In addition to entering in a quote for the bike, she entered in also a list of accessories and the total for all was 1000. I mentioned that I just wanted a bike and a couple of accessories and she said that the quote at this point was just an estimate and I could come in once the quote is submitted to pick out the exact items I want.

Now, I wonder how it works if all the items I want won't reach a cost of 1000, I will be forced to purchase extra items until I reach this value? Should I have haggled more? I feel like I have been a bit of an idiot and approached this in the wrong way and now I'll end up paying quite a lot for my new bike and accessories and therefore won't really save much on the scheme. (I had intended on getting a road bike for around 600 plus a couple of accessories).

Does any one have any tips to using this bike to work scheme so that you can make savings and actually see the benefits....?

Thanks in advance....:)

CarlosK · 23-05-2010 2:47am

Hi smcj,

I used the bike to work scheme myself and I found it an excellent way to get myself a good entry level road bike aswell as all the required accessories. Basically the way it works is that you go into the shop you are gonna purchase your bike in, pick out the bike and any accessories that you think you require. The shop will fill in an invoice stating all the pieces you've picked out and they'll fill in the total price of what you've picked. You give the invoice to your employer and as soon as the invoice is approved by them, they give you a voucher for the sum agreed on the invoice. You then bring the voucher back to the shop and you pick up all your goods. Depending on the way your employer works it, you may only have to pay something like 12euro a week for the year. If your in the higher tax bracket you'll pretty much get the bike + accessories for half price. Remember too that you can only avail of the scheme once every 5 years. You'd be surprised how much accessories can add to the overall cost. Stuff like helmets, pump, hi-viz gear, tubes, lights etc. can all add a fair amount.

About the invoice, I think its common enough for a place to only specify the particular bike + accessories, in my case the invoice stated Trek+safety accessories. My invoice didn't list the accessories completely. Other places will list everything you've picked out if you ask them to. I'm not sure about this, but I think that if the shop puts a total of €1000 on your invoice, you must spend this amount. Somebody might be able to clear this up. I know that in my place, once I submitted my invoice, they approved it, paid the shop the total and issued me with the voucher. So the shop had already been paid when I arrived in to pick up my stuff. Places do it differently so you could enquire about that.

My advice would be to do plenty of research on what you're looking for and shop around for the best offer you can get yourself. Its a great scheme and once that's hard to pass up. Its easy to get carried away with the whole thing so just know exactly what you want and ask as many questions as you need to in here or around your workplace.

Keep us all updated and good luck with it all.

serendip · 23-05-2010 7:04am

smcj wrote: »

I feel like I have been a bit of an idiot and approached this in the wrong way and now I'll end up paying quite a lot for my new bike and accessories and therefore won't really save much on the scheme. (I had intended on getting a road bike for around 600 plus a couple of accessories).

If that's what you want to do, then that's what you should do. The B2W scheme is an opportunity to get all that extra stuff tax free, but only take it if you want to. You can also just buy the bike and be done with it.

Lumen · 23-05-2010 8:51am

If you post the items and prices from the invoice, we can unleash the dogs of Google and work out whether you're getting value for money on the items you don't want.

Beasty · 23-05-2010 9:28am

There is absolutely no requirement to spend the full €1,000. If you want a €600 bike, that's all you need to spend (and that's what you would then get the tax relief on)

In terms of accessories, if they are fitted to the bike then fine (eg a wheel or pedal upgrade). In addition, specified safety equipment (eg helmets) are permitted. However the scheme would not extend to other items (such as clothes/shoes etc)

More information here

Bluefoam · 23-05-2010 10:47am

TBH it sounds like the bike shop in question were being manipulative, tryintg to put you in a situation where you would end up with a €1000 voucher you had to spend there.

Not a shop I'd like to deal with. Name & shame!

olmo · 23-05-2010 12:11pm

What happens if your total comes over the €1000,do you pay for that seperately through another transaction?

CarlosK · 23-05-2010 12:56pm

olmo wrote: »

What happens if your total comes over the €1000,do you pay for that seperately through another transaction?

If you are planning on getting a voucher for the the full 1000 euro, you get that much tax free, anything thats over the 1000 mark then you pay the balance on the day (tax included). In other words you can spend 2000 if you want but only the first 1000 is tax exempt.

BostonB · 23-05-2010 1:02pm

Someone in my office just spent 300. Just wanted a bike nothing else.

Ash.J.Williams · 23-05-2010 1:17pm

I guess the staff are well used to people coming in and trying to spend the full €1000, All it takes is the punter to say STOP and it stops, you are not at gunpoint!!
Personally I bought a €55 euro lock, front and back lights, a pump, and they threw in 2 tubes. My one extravagance was a wireless trip computer €50 ish. That was about €120 uro of accessories. All fitted in shop too.
I got quoted for the bike and a €100 voucher. It's my first proper road bike, and if i could turn back the clock i would have also bought the best reinforced ass shorts money could buy!!!!

corblimey · 23-05-2010 1:20pm

Since everything you get basically costs you around 60% what it should, I got everything I needed when I got my bike, plus some things that may prove useful but may never get used (hi-viz, mudguards, a lock) just because it's cheaper to get them now than later. I had a list of what I needed, and padded it up to the full amount that I could claim on. Total came in at a litte over a grand, and I paid the excess myself.

McCruiskeen · 23-05-2010 1:36pm

corblimey wrote: »

Since everything you get basically costs you around 60% what it should, I got everything I needed when I got my bike, plus some things that may prove useful but may never get used (hi-viz, mudguards, a lock) just because it's cheaper to get them now than later. I had a list of what I needed, and padded it up to the full amount that I could claim on. Total came in at a litte over a grand, and I paid the excess myself.

If you pay tax at the marginal rate, you only pay 49% of the cost.

Tonyandthewhale · 23-05-2010 1:59pm

I wouldn't want to be libelous and imply that there's any bike to work scheme price inflation going on but if I was going into a shop to buy a bike today I'd make sure to find out what everything costs normally before there's any mention of the cycle to work scheme.

rebel.ranter · 23-05-2010 2:20pm

There is no need to spend the €1,000 if you don't want to. The shop assistant was either:
(a) Trying to help you maximise the tax break advantage.
(b) Beefing up the sale under the pretence that you need to spend €1,000

To be fair the bike is only a fraction of the cost to cycling. The extras that go with it can mount up too, between clothing, safety gear, locks, saddle bags, repair kits, track pumps, spare tubes, wet gear, etc. it all begins to mount up. Even putting all the fancy stuff that some posting on here it gets expensive.
The sales assistant is probably so used to putting together a "getting started" list for the recent influx of CTW applications that they just did this for you out of habit (trying to give the benefit of the doubt here). You are perfectly entitled to reject the list but just have a think about it before you do.

If you can afford it buy eveything you need using the tax break, it will be 5 years before you can avail of it again (if the tax break survives that long). A colleague of mine was sorry he did not spend the full allowance towards the bike, he got some gear with a cheaper bike & all together it didn't come to the full €1,000. Of course the story could have been different if he found that cycling was not for him.

karltimber · 23-05-2010 7:48pm

it really comes down to what you will be using the bike for.

I got a road bike - for the full 1k - as I have most of the gear and will buy all other stuff - saddle bag, tubes etc off crc. (chainreactioncycles.com)

I saw a garda in the bike shop getting a bike for himself and his miss' for the 1keuro, so most bike shops will work with you - they would just like you to spend the 1k or more.

If a bike for 400e is fine plus 150e worth of acc - then that should be all you need to spend.

like above - a lot of shops prob ahve folks spending the full 1k

k

Bikerbhoy · 23-05-2010 9:21pm

smcj wrote: »

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has any advice on using the bike to work scheme?

I went to a bike shop today to get a quote and the assistant filled in the quote form seemingly with the goal of reaching the allowed maximum of 1000 euro. In addition to entering in a quote for the bike, she entered in also a list of accessories and the total for all was 1000. I mentioned that I just wanted a bike and a couple of accessories and she said that the quote at this point was just an estimate and I could come in once the quote is submitted to pick out the exact items I want.

The above is WRONG... they are making you spend the full entitlement as they will be paid the full amount by your employer after submitting the invoice. In theory you could by a bike for 100 quid if you want you are under no obligation to spend full 1000 euro, therefore that shop is not operating the scheme properly, provided you were clear about your requirement

Beasty · 23-05-2010 9:42pm

Bikerbhoy wrote: »

therefore that shop is not operating the scheme properly

To be clear, the shop does not operate the scheme, your employer does. The shop simply facilitates your, and your employer's, participation in the scheme. It's the employer's scheme rules (if there are any) that determine what you can or cannot do within the legal framework.

In this example the shops simply seems to be interested in maximising what they sell. On the face of it, this is what shops do, although they are clearly being underhand/deceitful if they are misrepresenting the underlying legislation to encourage the OP's employer (and ultimately the OP) to spend more than is needed

Bikerbhoy · 23-05-2010 10:13pm

Beasty wrote: »

although they are clearly being underhand/deceitful if they are misrepresenting the underlying legislation to encourage the OP's employer (and ultimately the OP) to spend more than is needed

I am fully aware how this scheme works........My point ...... SEE ABOVE....

smcj · 24-05-2010 2:22am

Thanks everyone for all the advice and tips. Had to submit my quote to my workplace and will be returning to the shop this week. Will keep ye posted how i get on

.

SerialComplaint · 24-05-2010 8:57pm

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

I wouldn't want to be libelous and imply that there's any bike to work scheme price inflation going on but if I was going into a shop to buy a bike today I'd make sure to find out what everything costs normally before there's any mention of the cycle to work scheme.

I think the inflation has happened, regardless of whether you mention the scheme or not.

smcj wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all the advice and tips. Had to submit my quote to my workplace and will be returning to the shop this week. Will keep ye posted how i get on .

Make CERTAIN that your employer knows that you are not buying all those extras. You might find that your employer is in the process of issuing a cheque, and you'll be left with extras or at best 'store credit' that you've already paid for, but you don't really want.

grrrrrrrrrr · 14-07-2010 10:32am

McCruiskeen wrote: »

If you pay tax at the marginal rate, you only pay 49% of the cost.

So how much will a bike actually cost me??

I'm earning less than 15K a year, how much would I have to pay if I bought a 1k bike??

ednwireland · 14-07-2010 10:40am

grrrrrrrrrr wrote: »

So how much will a bike actually cost me??

I'm earning less than 15K a year, how much would I have to pay if I bought a 1k bike??

Calculator here

http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/bike2work.asp

positron · 14-07-2010 1:29pm

I didn't know the scheme could only be used once every 5 years!! Road bikes won't last 5 years if you some bad roads on your commute route, do they? Three would have been more apt.

On a related note, if I spend 500 now to get a bike, can I spend rest of the 500 at a later date, or does this schema can only be availed once in 5 years (not up to 1000 in 5 years).

Also just curious if the bike prices gone up since the BTW scheme came out?

BostonB · 14-07-2010 2:09pm

I don't think the condition of the road will be an issue. More how well you clean and maintain it especially after rain, and How much mileage you do it.

I think its once in 5 yrs.

Beasty · 14-07-2010 2:51pm

positron wrote: »

On a related note, if I spend 500 now to get a bike, can I spend rest of the 500 at a later date, or does this schema can only be availed once in 5 years (not up to 1000 in 5 years).

It can only use it once in the 5 years - if you spend €500 now, that's it for another 5 years.

LeahK · 07-01-2011 1:13pm

Sorry to drag this thread up again but Im having some confusion with trying to get a bike... I was under the illusion that www.bike2work.ie was the official company that was used for this scheme. I went to Halfords who I assumed was a partner with this company and got my quote. Bike2work.ie have now told me they dont deal with Halfords! I was under the impression that you could buy your bike anywhere!

My question is can I just get a quote from the bikeshop, bring it to my employer, they write a cheque and I go in and purchase it?

Raam · 07-01-2011 1:19pm

There is no official company for it, however, your own company can say that you must deal with a certain company/shop.

In my place, I can buy from where ever I want.

BostonB · 07-01-2011 1:22pm

They are not. They just registered the same name.

darconio · 07-01-2011 1:30pm

LeahK wrote: »

My question is can I just get a quote from the bikeshop, bring it to my employer, they write a cheque and I go in and purchase it?

No your company must join the bike2work scheme.

As stated in the website:

http://www.biketowork.ie/employee-information/
To obtain your voucher you need to:

Your company signs up for the scheme.
Visit your local participating bicycle shop to choose your equipment and obtain a written quote.
Return the quotation to your HR scheme administrator to forward to Bike to Work to request a voucher.
Once the voucher is requested Bike to work will invoice your employer for the bike package.
Complete and sign the Purchase Agreement (which is sent to you by your company) and return it to your HR person, at your participating company.
Once payment is made for the bike package by the company you collect your voucher from Human Resources.
Redeem your voucher at the bike shop and collect your goods (you must provide your Company photo ID card or current Drivers license or Passport to do this).

LeahK · 07-01-2011 1:36pm

No your company must join the bike2work scheme.

As stated in the website:

http://www.biketowork.ie/employee-information/
To obtain your voucher you need to:
Your company signs up for the scheme

Yeah thats what i thought but it seems like they are a company (Bike2work Ltd) and there is no official site. Has anyone not used the website to purchase one?

-K2- · 07-01-2011 1:36pm

darconio wrote: »

No your company must join the bike2work scheme.

No employer or employee needs to join anything. It's up to the company to administer it, or outsource if they wish: http://www.bikescheme.ie/get-info-pack

"bike2work" is a company which could administer the scheme should your employer wish to outsource it.

In my own case, my employer self-administered the scheme (i.e. I was the administrator). I obtained a quote from my local bike shop, presented it to our accounts department, received a cheque from accounts and paid the bike shop. No middle-man required.

Of course, it's up to your employer to decide how to implement the scheme.

Using the bike to work scheme

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