Urgent mse car keys!!!

eira

MY BMW key fob just got worn as it was the original for the 12/13 year old car-held on my key ring by a rubber band. Dealership quoted me £250 for a new fob and re-programming, local garage quoted £230 .Someone suggested I tried an auto electrician which is where the garages go anyway. I had tried Timpson's etc but they couldn't do the key

A new fob cost £35 (same make as the original), they re programmed the alarm, and did it so the original fob acted as a back up, and immobilsed the immobiliser which had turned into a bit of a plague. Total cost about £48.
Auto electricans are way cheaper than garages and they are used by the garages because they can't usually do the electrics. It seems to be just a case of finding a good one and taking the car down there yourself

pinkneonmartini

eira wrote: »

MY BMW key fob just got worn as it was the original for the 12/13 year old car-held on my key ring by a rubber band. Dealership quoted me £250 for a new fob and re-programming, local garage quoted £230 .Someone suggested I tried an auto electrician which is where the garages go anyway. I had tried Timpson's etc but they couldn't do the key

A new fob cost £35 (same make as the original), they re programmed the alarm, and did it so the original fob acted as a back up, and immobilsed the immobiliser which had turned into a bit of a plague. Total cost about £48.
Auto electricans are way cheaper than garages and they are used by the garages because they can't usually do the electrics. It seems to be just a case of finding a good one and taking the car down there yourself

fantasic news!!!! great that it's becoming more common, well done

GabbaGabbaHey

pinkneonmartini wrote: »

as having too many keyrings/bottle openers/daft things dangling from my semi plastic keys and therefore turning them in the lock with all the weight

With that little lot hanging from your ignition, you'll soon need a new ignition lock. And you won't be able to replace that on eBay easily or cheaply!

learn2cope

eira wrote: »

MY BMW key fob just got worn as it was the original for the 12/13 year old car-held on my key ring by a rubber band. Dealership quoted me £250 for a new fob and re-programming, local garage quoted £230 .Someone suggested I tried an auto electrician which is where the garages go anyway. I had tried Timpson's etc but they couldn't do the key

A new fob cost £35 (same make as the original), they re programmed the alarm, and did it so the original fob acted as a back up, and immobilsed the immobiliser which had turned into a bit of a plague. Total cost about £48.
Auto electricans are way cheaper than garages and they are used by the garages because they can't usually do the electrics. It seems to be just a case of finding a good one and taking the car down there yourself

My battery ran out on my BMW keyfob so I went to Timpson to ask if they could replace it for me. I was told that as soon as they take the back off, the memory is automatically wiped on the fob and I would need it to be re programmed :mad:

Has anybody else heard of this happening?

dipsy

I had the same thing with my volvo V40 fob

bought a new one off ebay and then took circuit board out of old damaged one and put in new fob

saved over £80

pinkneonmartini

learn2cope wrote: »

My battery ran out on my BMW keyfob so I went to Timpson to ask if they could replace it for me. I was told that as soon as they take the back off, the memory is automatically wiped on the fob and I would need it to be re programmed :mad:

Has anybody else heard of this happening?

As far as I'm aware some dealerships & independent folks just outright lie to scare you into payin a hefty price for a relatively simple job.

I was told by my Toyota dealership that a new key would be £180 and that the transponder had to be "copied" from the original master key, or I would have to have my entire engine CPU replaced at a cost of £1500 + Labour + VAT!!!!

......... and it was absolute TWODDLE!!!!!!

I very much doubt that your BMW key will be "wiped" just by opening it, otherwise you'd get charged for a reprogramming every time you needed a new battery! If my timpsons bloke can do a Mercedes Key i'd imagine that BMW keys would be very similar (atleast cost wise)

learn2cope

pinkneonmartini wrote: »

As far as I'm aware some dealerships & independent folks just outright lie to scare you into payin a hefty price for a relatively simple job.

I was told by my Toyota dealership that a new key would be £180 and that the transponder had to be "copied" from the original master key, or I would have to have my entire engine CPU replaced at a cost of £1500 + Labour + VAT!!!!

......... and it was absolute TWODDLE!!!!!!

I very much doubt that your BMW key will be "wiped" just by opening it, otherwise you'd get charged for a reprogramming every time you needed a new battery! If my timpsons bloke can do a Mercedes Key i'd imagine that BMW keys would be very similar (atleast cost wise)

I have now been told that the key fob doesn't even have a battery in it and that the whole fob must have broken and will need to be replaced by BMW If it doesn't have a battery how would it have worked for the first 2 years I had it?

Locknut

dependin on what car and what key it may charge up from the car the same way that your rechargable toothbrush does.
and people wonder why car keys are now so expencive.