Buying your own bike, while remaining independent
You would rather own your bike than depend on a company bike. This simulator puts figures on that choice from your point of view: what you pay out, the local grants your situation may entitle you to, what your employer's mobility allowance really changes, and how long it takes for your bike to pay for itself. Regulatory data checked as at 29 July 2026.
Who publishes this tool, and why. This simulator is published by Wander SAS. Wander carries on a business introduction activity (apport d'affaires) with professionals, backed by the lease financing of bike fleets: Wander therefore has a commercial interest in the professional bike market. This tool is made available for information purposes only. Wander SAS is neither a credit institution, nor a financing company, nor a banking and payment services intermediary, and it is not registered with ORIAS (French register of insurance, banking and finance intermediaries). It does not offer, present or negotiate any credit or rental agreement, does not refer to any financial institution and receives no remuneration in respect of this simulator.
The results displayed are computed in your browser solely from the information you enter. They are neither stored nor transmitted. They constitute neither an offer, nor personalised advice, nor a simulation issued by a financial institution, and they bind no lender and no lessor. This comparison does not constitute a recommendation: the choice depends on your personal situation, which this simulator does not know.
Your bike, your area, your situation
What this costs you, and when the bike pays for itself
Cash outlay on the day of purchase
bike and accessories, advanced in full, grants not deducted
Grants hoped for, subject to confirmation
no grant entered
Allowance actually exempt
per year, after caps
Monthly difference vs current situation
positive = your mobility costs less than today
- Monthly cost of your mobility once the bike is bought (excluding the purchase price)0,00 €
- Your baseline situation, without a bike (share of the season ticket left for you to pay)0,00 €
- Payback time for the bike, not counting grants-
- Time if the grants are actually paid-
- All-in monthly cost over the horizon chosen, including depreciation of the bike-
- Cash advance, which nobody guarantees to reimburse you0,00 €
And in carbon terms? The order of magnitude, ADEME-sourced.
The mobility allowance above its exempt fraction is subject to social contributions, to the CSG and the CRDS (French social levies) and to tax: that fraction is counted as zero in the calculation. The time shown is a payback period on an expense, never a return. A company bike made available by your employer would follow a different logic: no cash outlay for you, but no mobility allowance possible, the allowance requiring a personal cycle. For that scenario, show your employer our company bike or pay rise comparator.
Cash, personal loan or lease-with-purchase-option contract
A loan commits you and must be repaid. Check your repayment capacity before you commit.
The financing method changes one thing that few sellers mention: access to grants. The three Île-de-France programmes require a purchase invoice made out in your name. Under a lease-with-purchase-option contract, the purchase invoice for the bike is made out in the lessor's name: public purchase grants therefore cannot be received during the lease. If you exercise the option at the end of the contract, the purchase concerns a second-hand bike: a grant is conceivable only if the seller is a professional retailer and if the programme's conditions are met at that time; this case is not costed here. With a personal loan or a cash payment, you are the one buying: the invoice is in your name and the grants remain accessible.
Enter the figures of the offer you are being made. This simulator knows no offer, displays no market rate and refers you to no institution. A lease-with-purchase-option contract is legally compared on the total amount payable, the amount and number of the instalments and the term, without an annual percentage rate.
The mobility allowance, if it is paid, benefits all three columns identically: it does not enter into this comparison. This table reports amounts, it recommends no financing method.
What each programme pays, and on what conditions
| Programme | Amount | Main conditions |
|---|---|---|
| State | No grant | The national bike grant (bonus vélo) was abolished on 15 February 2025. No national scheme is open as at 29 July 2026. |
| Île-de-France Mobilités | 50 per cent of the price incl. VAT, capped at €400 (electrically assisted bike, folding bike) or €600 (electrically assisted cargo bike) | Main residence in Île-de-France; receipted invoice in your name less than 24 months old; new bike or bike reconditioned by a professional retailer; one grant per person per five-year period, one grant per bike; resale prohibited for three years from the award of the grant; combination with other subsidies allowed. Scheme open as at 29 July 2026. |
| Ville de Paris | 50 per cent of the price excl. VAT capped at €400 (electrically assisted bike); 33 per cent of the price excl. VAT capped at €600 (electrically assisted cargo bike); helmet and lock: 33 per cent capped at €50 | Paris residents whose reference taxable income per share (revenu fiscal de référence par part) is less than or equal to €10,000; new bike (the processing of reconditioned bikes is suspended); the folding bike is not provided for in the Paris schedule; one grant per person and per type. Payment announced four to six months after the application. Scheme open as at 29 July 2026. |
| Métropole du Grand Paris | Flat sum of €500 (Métropole Roule Propre) | Established for the electrically assisted bike, with destruction of a combustion vehicle, once per beneficiary. For a cargo bike, eligibility is not established: check the metropolitan regulations. |
Schedules recorded on 29 July 2026 on the official pages of the schemes, subject to the funding available and to the processing of each application. These schedules change by resolution and without notice: check them before buying. The tax treatment of these grants in the hands of a private individual is not established by any legislation: this simulator treats them as a simple cash flow, outside any tax calculation.
The actual-expenses option, and the schedule that does not exist
No mileage schedule applies to the bike, including when electrically assisted. The tax schedule, set by the arrêté du 27 mars 2023 (French ministerial order) and applicable to 2025 income declared in 2026, contains only three tables: cars, motorcycles and mopeds. An electrically assisted bike capped at 25 km/h and limited to 250 W is a cycle within the meaning of article R. 311-1 du code de la route (French highway code), neither a moped nor a motorcycle: it falls into none of the three tables, and the 20 per cent increase provided for electric vehicles applies only to vehicles already covered by one of them. That is the table used by this simulator: none, and we prefer to tell you so rather than apply a convenient figure.
The figure of €0.25 per kilometre that one often reads is the former bicycle mileage allowance (indemnité kilométrique vélo), an employer scheme repealed by the décret du 9 mai 2020 (French decree) and replaced by the mobility allowance: it was never an actual-expenses schedule for the employee. The tax authorities have moreover stated, in a ministerial reply, that the expenses of an electrically assisted bike cannot be determined on a flat-rate basis by the mileage schedule.
Under actual expenses (frais réels), bike expenditure is therefore substantiated item by item, supporting documents kept for at least three years: the actual annual depreciation of the bike, measured by the difference in market value between the start and the end of the year (this is not straight-line depreciation), maintenance, repairs, tyres, battery replacement, charging electricity, insurance for the bike, secure parking; all of it prorated by the home-to-work use over the total mileage of the bike. The home-to-work distance is taken into account up to 40 kilometres per one-way trip, on the basis of one return trip per day actually worked on site.
The allowance and actual expenses cannot be combined. Opting for actual expenses requires you to add back to taxable income the exempt expense reimbursements, including the exempt fraction of the mobility allowance and the subsidy for your season ticket, or else to give up deducting your travel costs. The option is worthwhile only if your actual expenses exceed the 10 per cent standard deduction, which lies between €509 and €14,555 for 2025 income taxed in 2026; the amounts applicable to 2026 income have not yet been published. Lastly, the law caps actual travel expenses at the amount that would result from the schedule for the vehicle of maximum power: this cap has no defined term of comparison for a cycle and its application is unsettled; this simulator does not apply it and tells you so. This is not tax advice: if in doubt, contact your centre des finances publiques (local French tax office).
Frequently asked questions
Am I entitled to the mobility allowance?
Not automatically. In the private sector, the allowance is optional: it is set up by a company agreement, an industry-wide agreement or a unilateral decision of the employer. You can ask for it, not demand it. If it is paid, it is exempt up to €600 a year, a limit shared with any fuel subsidy, and the total with the subsidy for your transport season ticket is capped at €900 a year or, if that is higher, at the amount of that subsidy.
Can the allowance reimburse the purchase of my bike?
No. The allowance compensates the use of your own cycle for your journeys between home and work: it is an annual flow, not a purchase subsidy. This simulator treats it as such: it reduces your monthly mobility cost, and it is that reduction which, month after month, can repay your bike.
Are the grants shown guaranteed?
No. They are deferred reimbursements, paid after an application has been processed, subject to the conditions of each scheme and to the funding available. That is why the simulator shows them to you line by line but includes them in the payback time only if you declare that you have checked with the schemes that they can be combined, and that is also why you advance the whole price on the day of purchase.
Why does a lease-with-purchase-option contract close off the grants?
Because the three schemes require a purchase invoice made out in your name, and in a lease-with-purchase-option contract that invoice is in the lessor's name. This is not an exclusion written in black and white in the regulations: it is an impossibility of supporting evidence. When the option is exercised, the purchase relates to a second-hand bike and a grant is conceivable only if the seller is a professional retailer, on the conditions of the scheme at that time.
Can I combine the allowance and my actual expenses?
No. If you opt for actual expenses, you must add back to your taxable income the exempt expense reimbursements, including the allowance, or give up deducting your travel costs. The simulator computes the effect of that add-back from your marginal tax rate, for guidance only.
And what if my employer offered a company bike instead?
That is the other route, and it follows the opposite logic: you pay out nothing, the employer bears the cost, but the bike is not yours and the mobility allowance is closed off, since it requires a personally owned cycle. Our company bike or pay rise comparator costs this scenario from the employer's point of view: show it to your management if this route interests you.
Where these figures come from
Each item of data is tied to its source and to the date on which we checked it. Legislation and schedules change: if you find a discrepancy, write to us and we will correct it.
- Légifrance, article L. 3261-3-1 du code du travail (French labour code) Mobility allowance: optional coverage of the expenses of employees travelling on their own cycle or electrically assisted pedal cycle. www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000042913106 accessed on 29 July 2026
- Légifrance, article 81, 19° ter du code général des impôts (French general tax code) Exemption up to an overall limit of €600 a year, of which a maximum of €300 for fuel costs; where it is combined with the subsidy for the public transport season ticket, a cap equal to the higher of €900 and that subsidy. Version in force since 1 July 2026. www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000042910732 accessed on 29 July 2026
- BOFiP, BOI-RSA-CHAMP-20-30-10-20 of 7 April 2026 Administrative guidance on the mobility allowance: limit assessed per calendar year and per beneficiary, numerical examples of the combined cap, add-back in the event of opting for actual expenses. bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/5601-PGP.html accessed on 29 July 2026
- Légifrance, article L. 136-1-1 du code de la sécurité sociale (French social security code) Exclusion of the allowance from the social security contribution base within the limits of b of 19° ter of article 81 du code général des impôts (French general tax code), by express cross-reference. www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000048683400 accessed on 29 July 2026
- Service-Public, extension of the exemption for the optional subsidy of season tickets up to 75 per cent Article 5 de la loi n° 2026-103 du 19 février 2026 de finances pour 2026 (2026 Finance Act); scheme expiring on 31 December 2026 unless extended. entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr/actualites/A18726 accessed on 29 July 2026
- Service-Public, abolition of the national grants for the purchase of cycles Bike bonus and scrappage bonus abolished since 15 February 2025 (décret n° 2024-1084 du 29 novembre 2024). www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/actualites/A17058 accessed on 29 July 2026
- Île-de-France Mobilités, bike purchase grant 50 per cent of the cost incl. VAT, caps of €400 and €600 depending on the category, new and refurbished bikes, invoice less than 24 months old in the applicant's name, one grant per five-year period, resale prohibited three years. Applications open. www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/le-reseau/services-de-mobilite/velo/prime-achat-velo accessed on 29 July 2026
- Ville de Paris, mobility grants for individuals Electrically assisted bike 50 per cent of the price excl. VAT capped at €400, cargo bike 33 per cent capped at €600, helmet and lock 33 per cent capped at €50, condition of a reference taxable income per household unit (revenu fiscal de référence par part) less than or equal to €10,000, processing of refurbished bikes suspended. Page updated on 29 June 2026. www.paris.fr/pages/lutte-contre-la-pollution-les-aides-a-la-mobilite-5373 accessed on 29 July 2026
- Légifrance, article 83, 3° du code général des impôts (French general tax code) Actual expenses (frais réels): deduction of the actual depreciation, limit of 40 kilometres for the journey between home and place of work save in particular circumstances, add-back of the expense allowances where the option is taken. www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000053545390 accessed on 29 July 2026
- Légifrance, article 6 B de l'annexe IV au code général des impôts (French general tax code), arrêté du 27 mars 2023 Mileage schedule limited to three categories: cars, motorcycles, mopeds. No bike table. www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000043158349 accessed on 29 July 2026
- Légifrance, article R. 311-1 du code de la route (French highway code) The pedal-assisted cycle (250 W, cut-off at 25 km/h) is a cycle, neither a moped nor a motorcycle. www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000033841900 accessed on 29 July 2026
- Légifrance, décret n° 2020-541 du 9 mai 2020 Repeal of the bicycle mileage allowance of €0.25 per kilometre, replaced by the mobility allowance. www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000041858459 accessed on 29 July 2026
- BOFiP, BOI-RSA-BASE-30-50-30-20 Actual travel expenses: one return trip per day, depreciation by difference in market value, pro rata for use, substantiation item by item. bofip.impots.gouv.fr accessed on 29 July 2026
- Avis relatif à l'application des articles L. 314-6 du code de la consommation (notice on the application of the French consumer code), usury rate Thresholds applicable from 1 July to 30 September 2026: 23.53 per cent up to €3,000, 15.67 per cent above €3,000 and up to €6,000, 8.56 per cent above €6,000. JORF of 28 June 2026. www.legifrance.gouv.fr, JORF du 28 juin 2026 accessed on 29 July 2026
- Légifrance, articles L. 312-5 and L. 312-6 du code de la consommation (French consumer code) Statutory warning notice on credit; advertising of the lease-with-purchase-option contract without an annual percentage rate of charge, comparison on the total amount due, the instalments and the term. www.legifrance.gouv.fr accessed on 29 July 2026
- Île-de-France Mobilités, 2026 fares Navigo Annuel €998.80 a year, statutory subsidy of 50 per cent by the employer. recorded on 29 July 2026
- Tern Store France and distributors GSD S10 generation 3: €6,850.00 incl. VAT; GSD R14: €9,429.00 incl. VAT, recommended retail prices. recorded on 29 July 2026
Do you prefer the company bike route?
If your employer is prepared to bear the cost, the company bike follows a different logic, which we cost from their point of view. Forward them our comparison tool, or tell us about your company.
This simulator constitutes neither an offer, nor financing, tax, social security or legal advice, nor a recommendation. Grants and exemptions are a matter for the competent granting bodies and authorities alone. Wander SAS is not a party to your purchase and receives no remuneration in respect of this tool.
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