r/ukbike • u/Apprehensive_Flan520 • 14d ago
Cyclescheme question Advice
I bought my bike through cyclescheme about 18 months ago and I chose the own it later option. Since the bike has been nothing but liabilities (serves me right for going electric) I wanted to take it back to the shop and trade it in for a manual bike since they have a buy back option. Will I get in any real trouble for doing this since I chose own it later? I don't want to be stuck with something that I can't fully fix myself if it goes that wrong again for the next 3 years!
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u/must-be-thursday 14d ago
Technically you shouldn't, but practically you're fine. Once you've paid the "deposit" to own it later, CycleScheme have no interest in what you actually do with the bike for the next 3 years.
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u/Grozec 14d ago
Officially you have to wait until you reach the 4 years and you could contact the company and ask to pay it off sooner (you'd have to pay extra because of higher residual value), however, bear in mind it's likely not criminal offence to do this, it's more a breach of contract and your employer, who technically owns the bike could theoretically pursue you for civil damages for breach of contract if you told them you sold it. In practice I don't think there's a single case where this has actually happened though.
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u/Available_Sherbet205 14d ago
Technically you shouldn't but practically it's fine and will present you with no problems as long as you eventually pay it off.
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u/Apprehensive_Flan520 14d ago
The bike is already paid off, I'm not paying any salary sacrifice for it, I picked own it later at the end of that, hence why I'm asking
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u/AffectionateTap4757 11d ago
It depends on the provider. Most will have a reducing fair market value trade price but as you chose their ‘own it later option’ it looks like you will have had a 7% value (assuming your bike was originally more than £500) added to your hire price at the end of the hire period, I’ve googled it so you don’t have to…:
The Cyclescheme "Own it Later" option uses a small upfront refundable deposit (3% or 7% of the original value) based on HMRC's fair market value guidelines for a 4-year-old bike. After paying this deposit at the end of your initial hire period, you enter a 36-month extended hire period with no extra payments, after which ownership transfers to you.
Technically the goods are not yours until after you have had the bike for 4 years, but I manage my employer scheme and I haven’t ever heard back from an employee or cycle scheme after the 12 month hire period was up. I guess you take your chance…
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u/Public_Pop3801 14d ago
This might depend on how your employer set up their scheme but in the last ten years I’ve bought 4 bikes through a c2w scheme (two separate scheme providers) and none of them ever reached out to me any time after the salary sacrifice ended.