Halfords bike to work scheme.

[Hemipode]

My employer runs a bike to work scheme through Halfords. They informed me that I do not have to buy a Halfords bike as Halfords will supply any make of bike.
'Great' I thought & started dreaming of a new Thorn.
I contacted Halfords who soon put a stop on the Thorn - 'sorry, we will not supply from this company' ... My reply 'O.k. How about Dawes ?' Their reply 'Sorry, we will not supply from this manufacturer'
So I e-mailed them & requested a list of manufacturers they will supply. To their credit I got a reply within hours & for all those with access to this scheme here is your choice :-

Here is a list of bikes that we can supply;


Giant
Orange
Specialized
Trek (collection only)
Felt
Marin (collection only)
Orbea
Mongoose
Gary Fisher (collection only)
GT
Claud Butler
Ridgeback
Genesis
Charge
Mezzo
Ridley
Pearson
Cannondale (home delivery)
Pashley Cycles
Norco (collection only)
WeThePeople
24/7
Scott
Condor
Bianchi
Powacycle
Dolan
Kona
Commencal
Bromptons
All in store bikes.

If you have any other questions drop us an email

Regards

Jodie Chilcott

Cycle 2 Work Team

Tel: 08450 77 88 50


Are there any schemes that give a better choice of steel framed tourers ?

[rogerzilla]

Yes. Cyclescheme deal with most suppliers, but they charge them 10% which is often passed on to the punter.

[grw]

I got a Ribble bike through Halfords via the cycle to work scheme. That was in November 2007, so maybe its changed or the list you were provided with wasn't comprehensive?
Gareth

[frank9755]

I got a Ridgeback Voyage through Halfords last year. Would recommend, but note that the price has gone up quite a bit!

[liffy99]

I've just tried to get going with this cyclescheme buisiness too - my NHS employer uses it but I've ben given two different messages from employer and bike shop. First my employer told me I'd just need to get the 'quotation' from the bike shop, take it back to them for approval and then go back to the bike shop, order and carry on from there.
When I went to the bike shop they told me they couldn't do anything until they had a piece of paper from my employer. So no progress made.

In addition the cycle shop wanted to load the purchase price 5% for buying under the scheme. Is this allowed ? Doesn't it just start to water down the whole point of the scheme. If a bike shop has opted into the scheme is it ethical that they should afterwards start trying to increase their profit margin via the punter ? For example on a notional £1000 bike a basic rate taxpayer might expect to save about £300 (NHS employers can't reclaim VAT). By the time you have made a final payment for the bike (another 5%) you've wiped out a third of any savings.

Now if I were buying a bike anyway it would still be a nice £200 saving overall. But the shrinking savings start to make people that perhaps were not thinking of taking the plunge into cycling think twice - its not quite the bargain originally intended.

Anyway more investigation to do. Now trying to find an audax bike that's available this side of autumn ! Thorn (too expensive), Condor (long lead time), any other recommendations for an overweight, unfit, hasn't cycled for 10 years rider that really wants to make this an ambition ?

[Nigel]

I've just tried to get going with this cyclescheme buisiness too - my NHS employer uses it but I've ben given two different messages from employer and bike shop. .....

In addition the cycle shop wanted to load the purchase price 5% for buying under the scheme. Is this allowed ? Doesn't it just start to water down the whole point of the scheme. If a bike shop has opted into the scheme is it ethical that they should afterwards start trying to increase their profit margin via the punter ? For example on a notional £1000 bike a basic rate taxpayer might expect to save about £300 (NHS employers can't reclaim VAT). By the time you have made a final payment for the bike (another 5%) you've wiped out a third of any savings.

The employer has money from the employee, plus a tax-rebate from the government (income tax, NI and VAT). That money dribbles in over three years (or length of deal).
The company who run the scheme (Cyclescheme, Halfords, etc..) take this money and manage it, they take a cut.
This management company also have to borrow some money to fund the bike purchase (pending arrival of the payments several years later), that costs interest from the bank.
At the end of the chain is the local bike shop who gets the order for a bike; quite a lot of the money has vanished on-route; there were admin charges, interest payments, profits for middle-men, etc.. So, the question is how much of the bike's "sticker price" is actually seen by the local bike shop; I would be quite surprised if they saw 95%.


Separate question; why can't NHS Employers reclaim VAT ?

[liffy99]

The NHS are not registered for VAT as far as I know.

[mike]

The company I work for has started a bike to work scheme (don't have to use Halfords). What I found with a quick trawl through the internet, I could save more money buying on the internet and get the bike I really want than by using the bike to work scheme. So I am going to buy on-line.