New Car? Make sure youve got 3 keys!

Woby_Tide

they were asking about £74(i.e. they said about £110 which was £40 for the key and fob+ re-programming) a couple of years ago when I asked. I had my spare second key so did it in their car park for free whilst I checked it worked

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Woa that's a bit steep. I was expecting just to be paying labour costs maybe slightly more, ie fifty quid

Woby_Tide

I'd ring and check, it varied even between dealerships at opposite ends of the town so it may be cheaper now depending how often they do it

angelatgraceland

Woby_Tide wrote:

The info about recoding the keys for Fords is handily printed in what is know as 'the manual' located more often than not in a recepticle called 'the glovebox'. Not hidden away in some dealership only information away frompublic knowledge.

It is indeed! Thanks for pointing it out. Its not the sort of thing I expected to find in the manual. It was indeed very informative but I wont be doing it myself. Not sure I want to chance b***ering it up!

specialK

When I bought my Ford in November, the salesman gave me two keys, one with buttons and one without. On the one without buttons was a plastic loop with numbers on it. He said if I lost my master they would need this to reprogram a new key without hassle and cost, so to keep it safe.

Depends on customer service I imagine.

jackieb

Ds has recently bought a Ford Focus (53) plate. He got 2 keys too. One with the buttons and one without. I thought this was the norm.

We bought an Audi last year and only got one key. I wasn't happy about this. About 10 months after buying this car, the previous owner handed his other one into the dealership as he'd found it. The 2 keys are exactly the same - both programmed. I hope I never need to replace any as the keys open like a flick knife so goodness knows how much they would cost.

BobToo

specialK wrote:

When I bought my Ford in November, the salesman gave me two keys, one with buttons and one without. On the one without buttons was a plastic loop with numbers on it. He said if I lost my master they would need this to reprogram a new key without hassle and cost, so to keep it safe.

Depends on customer service I imagine.

I think your salesman was wrong. Before 1999ish you needed the red master key and since then you have needed two keys with the little red chip in them. Ford also seem to supply a key with a T bar, this will only open the doors.

foster42

After owning a Fiat Ulysse with one key for 7 years I recently had a bit of a panic and decided I would definitely get a copy even if I had to pay through the nose.
Well, a few hours on the web revealed widespread pain over the cost and dificulty of getting Fiat keys, but also a few encouraging stories of keys and even entire new Key/ECU sets for modest outlays.
After a few difficult conversations with Fiat Dealers, who basically are not interested once they realise you know this can be done cheaply, I dropped into Timpson, Bath Rd, Cheltenham.
The chap there scanned my key which turned out to be a bog standard Peugeot/Citroen immobiliser. He sent me over to the Regents Arcade branch where they had the chip reader/programmer and suitable chipped blanks in stock. 10mins and £25 later I was opening and starting the car with the new key. Timpson use a device called an ETD-1 to scan your key. They then know if they can copy it. If they can't they will arm you with the key copying information you need to take to your dealer so you can show them you know what's what.
PLEASE pass this information on to all your friends and relatives to put an end to this dealer scam.

thetaxwoman

Does anyone know what happens with Peugeot keys? I have two but want to get an extra one for my daughter who's recently become the car's third driver and has a tendancy to swan off with my key in her bag! The local dealership has just quoted me £25 for the key, £40+ for an hour's labour (an hour!!!) and another £25 to get the code from Peugeot if I can't find it in the car's paperwork. It screams of "rip-off" to me and I think there must be cheaper way of doing this.

movilogo

I think it depends on which car you have. When I bought my used Hyundai Accent (X plate) - I was given only one key (with built in chip). One day I locked the car by mistake with the key inside. Had to call RAC to open the door. After that I got a duplicate key from Hyundai for just £50 (incl. programming). They could create the key from registration number. And during programming, only one key is required for testing.

I don't know if any new car comes with more than two keys!