Lost car keys

Qwiksilver

Good evening all,

I would appear to have lost my car key. I have serached high and low (even gone through the bins!!). It suspect it may have fallen out my pocket onto my drive (no other rational explanation to be honest) as i have not been anywhere else since i came home and it is most definately not in the house. Luckily i have a spare.
The questions are
1 .Do I need to let my insurance know?
2. Can I disable the lost key in any way (I fear someone may have found it on my drive and perhaps has nefarious intentions)
3. Do I go through the main dealer or try some of the auto locksmiths that inhabit google search to obtain a replacement ?

Many thanks in advance.

molerat

Make / model / year might illicit some useful responses.

Qwiksilver

molerat wrote: »

Make / model / year might illicit some useful responses.

BMW 5 Series /520D/2013.

Thanks for the heads up.

tacpot12

The dealer should be able to explain what is and isn't possible.

Can you find someone with a metal detector to do a sweep of the drive and your route into the house?

adonis

As a temporary measure get a steering wheel lock as a deterrent.

z1a

Have you looked in the ignition switch? :-)

jimmo

z1a wrote: »

Have you looked in the ignition switch? :-)

This plus how did you get into the house? My car and house keys are all on the same key ring

Qwiksilver

Thanks for the responses all.

Just to answer a few queries raised above.

My drive is almost directly next to my front door and is not that large. Have checked it all over regardless and it is paved so would be obvious.

House keys not on same set.

It is push start so no ignition.

I have parked another car in front of it to block it in for the time being.

Does anyone know if i need to contact insurance?

thanks again

Geoff1963

Car keys have a unique number ; or more recently, a unique place in a VERY long sequence of numbers. Keys are matched to the car, by telling the car that a particular key is on its "trusted" list, so it should be easy enough to take that particular key off the list.

Does the key also have a blade ( maybe hidden ) to go in a door lock ( maybe hidden ) ?. If so, that would allow entry without breaking a window, though it should set off the alarm ; check the handbook.

jimmo

When a friend of mine lost a set of keys his car insurance would cover the car keys, not the house keys and his house insurance would cover the house keys, not the car keys. In both cases the insurance excess was more than the cost of replacing the locks so he took it no further. However, as he asked the question, each insurer recorded it as an incident. It certainly increased his car insurance on renewal. I don't remember whether it affected his house insurance.
Technically its probably wrong not to inform your insurer (and BMW locks could well cost a lot more than Mondeo locks) but I wouldn't bother.

Qwiksilver

Geoff1963 wrote: »

Car keys have a unique number ; or more recently, a unique place in a VERY long sequence of numbers. Keys are matched to the car, by telling the car that a particular key is on its "trusted" list, so it should be easy enough to take that particular key off the list.

Does the key also have a blade ( maybe hidden ) to go in a door lock ( maybe hidden ) ?. If so, that would allow entry without breaking a window, though it should set off the alarm ; check the handbook.

Yes it has a blade and I have a spare.
Just a little worried that the key that I lost can be used till I get it all altered. The fact that I lost it on my drive diectly next to my car leaves little doubt which car it fits therefore anyone who has found it can clearly gain entry to the car.