How do I register as an employer for the company bike leasing program?
To participate in the company bike leasing program with Lease a Bike, you can register as an employer entirely online. You create an account online, verify your company email address, and enter your company information for the credit check. If the credit check is approved, you sign the registration form digitally and confirm your identity via PostIdent. After that, you set up the Lease a Bike portal and invite your employees. There is no cost to you for the setup.
The most important points at a glance.
Where do I register as an employer? Online using the registration form at lease-a-bike.de.
How long does registration take? The form takes about five minutes to complete. This is followed by a credit check and PostIdent verification.
What checks are involved? A credit check on your company and identity verification via PostIdent.
How much does registration cost? Nothing. Registration is free for employers.
What happens after activation? You set your company policies in the Lease a Bike portal and share a custom registration link with your employees.
How do employees get their bikes? Once you approve their request with a single click, they automatically receive an order code for the authorized retailer.
Can employees sign up on their own? Only after the company has been registered—using the registration link.
And how do self-employed individuals register? They use the same registration form.
What is the step-by-step process for registering as an employer with the company bike leasing program?
Registration is done entirely online using the registration form on the Lease a Bike website. The form itself takes about five minutes to fill out. Here's how it works:
Access the registration form: Go to www.lease-a-bike.de/en/register and click on “I am an employer and would like to implement bike leasing.”
Create an account: Fill out the form, register, and verify your company email address.
Enter company information: Enter your company’s details to initiate the credit check.
Wait for the credit check: Lease a Bike will check your company’s creditworthiness. The reason for this is that your company will later become the lessee and will owe the lease payments to the leasing company.
Confirm your identity: Next, you’ll confirm your identity via PostIdent.
Get access to the portal: After that, you’ll have access to the Lease a Bike portal, which you’ll use to manage your company bike leasing in the future.
Note: Registration is reserved for companies. Employees cannot sign up here. However, you can forward the free Lease a Bike information package to your company.
What information do you need to register?
To get the first step done quickly, it’s best to have the following information ready:
Contact person: First and last name, your position in the company, and your company email address
Company name: The full company name as listed in the commercial register or business registration
Address: Street, house number, ZIP code, and city
Company size: the number of employees
Identification document: To verify your identity via PostIdent, you’ll also need a valid identification document.
By the way: Self-employed individuals also register using this form. In this case, they serve as both the lessee and the user. For them, the tax benefit comes from business expenses rather than salary conversion. Read more in the article: For which types of employment is company bike leasing available?
How do you set up the Lease a Bike portal?
Was the registration completed successfully? Congratulations! You now have access to your company bike leasing portal. With portal access, you can tailor the offer perfectly to your company. In the Lease a Bike portal, you can also set your company policies, for example:
Eligibility: You determine who is allowed to lease a bike—for example, limited to certain employment statuses.
Price cap: What is the maximum purchase price for a bike?
Number of bikes: How many company bikes may one person lease?
You will then receive a personalized registration link to share with your employees. Your employees can use this link to register for the portal themselves—entirely online. Companies can also set up their own Lease a Bike landing page featuring their own company bike leasing calculator.
Good to know: Whether your company is eligible for input tax credits affects the conversion rate. Companies eligible for input tax credits generally convert the net lease rate, while all others convert the rate including sales tax. The portal automatically applies the appropriate option.
How do your employees get their company bikes?
As soon as the first employees have registered, your main task is to approve them. The rest of the process is largely automated:
Approve registration: You review each registration in the portal and approve it with a single click.
Receive order code: Your employees will then automatically receive a unique order code.
Select a bike: Using the code, employees can choose the bike of their choice from a local specialty retailer. They are free to choose any brand and bike type. Our dealer locator shows you suitable retailers.
Sign the loan agreement: You and your employees sign the supplemental agreement to the employment contract digitally in the portal. Alternatively, you can submit it in another format for signature.
Initiate payroll deduction: You enter the payroll data once at the start of the contract. All necessary information is provided via a real-time export from the portal.
Note: To learn how salary conversion works in detail, read the article “How Does Salary Conversion Work for Company Bikes?”
How much does implementation cost, and what will be required of you?
Introducing the company bike leasing program is free of charge for you as an employer. You’ll also receive free support to get started—such as a sample lease agreement and personalized advice on your company policies. To help you promote the program internally, Lease a Bike also offers kick-off events, webinars, and marketing materials like flyers.
Even during day-to-day operations, the effort required remains manageable:
Approvals: You can approve an order with a single click.
Parental leave and long-term illness: You can report such cases in the portal with just a few clicks. Good to know: If continued pay is discontinued, the missed payment protection covers the lease payments for up to twelve months. This requires that the contract has been in effect for at least six months. Details in the article: What happens to the company bike during parental leave or long-term illness?
Damage and theft: Your employees handle the claim themselves with the authorized dealer and Lease a Bike.
End of contract: Lease a Bike coordinates the next steps directly with the users. You’ll only be contacted in exceptional cases—for example, if employees can’t be reached by phone or email despite multiple attempts.
What should you clarify internally before registering?
The registration process itself is quick and easy. However, it’s best to make a few key decisions beforehand so that the portal can be set up quickly:
Eligibility: You determine who is eligible to lease a company bike. The criteria should be objectively justified and applied consistently. For example, part-time jobs are generally not eligible, since the salary conversion requires a corresponding gross salary.
Financing: Traditionally, the company bike is funded through payroll deduction. However, you can reduce the deduction rate with a voluntary subsidy—for example, through the “fair amount,” where you pass on your savings on social security contributions to employees. Alternatively, you can provide the bike as a salary supplement in addition to the employee’s wages (Section 3 No. 37 of the German Income Tax Act [EStG]).
Works Council or Employee Representative Committee: Co-determination rights may be affected by the arrangement. Therefore, involve the committee early on.
Collective Bargaining Agreement: Components of compensation covered by a collective bargaining agreement can generally only be deferred if the agreement permits it.
For more information, read the article: Company Bike Leasing: What legal considerations do employers need to be aware of? It provides further background information but is not a substitute for tax or legal advice.
Checklist: Are you ready to register for the company bike leasing program?
Is the full company name as listed in the commercial register or business registration available?
Do I have access to the company’s email address for verification?
Do I have a valid form of identification ready for PostIdent?
Has it been determined who is eligible to participate, and are the criteria objectively justified and documented?
Have I set a price cap and a maximum number of bikes per person?
Has a decision been made on whether we will provide a subsidy or offer the bike as a salary bonus?
Has the works council or employee representative committee been involved?
Our author
Anna Veldtrup
Anna Veldtrup has been a team leader in the Customer Service and Claims Management department at Lease a Bike since 2024, and she and her team work every day to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction and smooth operations. She loves nothing more than riding her gravel bike in nature.