Lost the keys to the lancer yesterday. I was 150 miles away from home. Borrowed a clapped out van, drove home got spare keys, drove back got car and drove home. 450 miles yesterday!
Anyway, went to mitsi dealer today, New key please I says. Certainly sire he says, that will be 247 quid inc programming and VAT. Goodbye i says.
Anyone got any recommendations for a source for new keys?
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Not used them but somewhere to start.
www.carkeyhelp.co.uk/
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Really annoying that ! ( snigger )
No really, it is... We needed to get a new key for "her" car a couple of years ago. A bloke claiming to be a locksmith from the Thompson directory came round with a van and "made" one. Wasn't too expensive I don't seem to remember. Maybe £50 or so.
Pal of mine used to have a BMW 7 series. He'd stayed in a central London hotel overnight and left the car on a meter bay which came into force at 08.30. He got to the car at 08.29, opened the boot only, slung his bag in and shut the boot. Only to find that in slinging the bag in, he'd also let go of the keys which were now in the locked boot, along with his wallet which was in his jacket, yep, in the boot and ( to boot ) it was raining...
Soooo, he had a car now illegally parked, no coat, no money, and a mobile phone with almost no battery ( he had been going to charge it up in the car ) He called the AA or RAC or whatever and they declared that the BMW was indeed a very secure care sir ! He called BMW who came, looked at it and agreed. He begged the traffic warden to turn a blind eye, which to be fair he did, for about half an hour and then started writing...
He eventually managed to call his wife who found the spare key and sent it to him by motorbike courier. It was only about 150 or so miles so didn't take all day and didn't cost too much ( cough )
When the bike arrived, he was cold ( he'd had to stay with the car to fend off clampers ) wet, hungry, peed off, late for a meeting and decidedly worse off financially than he had been that morning etc etc.
Not a good day !
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Fri 5 Jul 13 at 18:19
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I can sympathise Zero.
Back when a newish graduate I had a car for a few days so arranged so I could take advantage and visit family nearby - paying part costs of hire car. At one point I though I didn't need my bag, own keys, etc. so went and put them in the car (the boot).
Later glancing at the table I saw my keys... not the car keys... yep I locked the car keys in the boot. Luckily this was a car with remote boot release (Accord) and it was 1997/98 or thereabouts. A call to the AA sorted it :-) Told to look away when he wedged the door open and used packing tape to grab the boot release.
But the boot release could be locked with the key.. it thankfully wasn't.
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Timpsons can do some car keys and these people may help www.theautolocksmith.co.uk/
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>> Timpsons can do some car keys and these people may help www.theautolocksmith.co.uk/
>>
Got mine through Timpsons for reasonable price.
Managed to change the whole ignition on a friend's Saxo once, but it can get tricky..
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>>Told to look away when he wedged the door open and used packing tape
>> to grab the boot release.
No slimjim? Obviously the manufacturers have wised up to this.
I can still do the gig with packing tape and (mystery ingredient), or a coathanger - even on modern cars.
One would have thought that manufacturers would have consulted tealeafs to learn the tricks of the trade.
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>> One would have thought that manufacturers would have consulted tealeafs to learn the tricks of
>> the trade.
>>
>>
Good jobs they didn't for some people on here!
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Usually if I go more than 60-70 miles away from home, I carry the duplicate key (one with me and one with my family member, if accompanying).
However, sometimes I travel alone and just forget to take duplicate key. I also suffered once when accidentally locked door with key in ignition (in an old car). RAC had to rescued me. They managed to open the door with a balloon type thing.
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Ah well, my mind is cast back to the Springer's appetite for BMW keys. £130.00 from the dealer seems like a bargain now.
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Maybe this could have helped.
youtu.be/fMyYlf6yFcg
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>>Usually if I go more than 60-70 miles away from home,
>> I carry the duplicate key (one with me and one with my family member, if accompanying).
I have a couple of basic keys ( Tibbe but with no logos on them) to keep the weight / bulk down plus most people finding my key would assume it was a Ford key. No remote operation but they open the doors and deal with the immobiliser.
One of the idiotic "features" of the X type Jaguar is no boot key hole.
Options -
Prise the boot lid and apply an earth to a specific wire in the loom.
If you have a USA spec model then smash the nearside rear light, reach in and pull the emergency "boot escape" handle.
Me - I have read the forums and have implemented an emergency system that cost about 10 pence.
If the electricky boot release fails then your are stuffed, unless you have prepared for the possibility as I have.
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Has it been sorted yet?
Where are you (roughly)?
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Just thinking y'know, what with the cost of the key and the 300 extra miles worth of fuel, that must be getting up close to the cost of a new Nissan door mirror. Just saying like...
Phew, bummer really.
:-)
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Nice one H - but get ready for incoming!!!
;-)
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Heh heh ! Can't begin to think what you mean...
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Older model, isn't it ? Maybe this will fit.
tinyurl.com/p25dqy8
Not easy to lose either !
Ted
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>> Has it been sorted yet?
If you mean do you have a key, the answer is yes. Do I have a spare now, the answer is no.
>> Where are you (roughly)?
Surrey, nothing rough about it.
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No chance of lost key recovery?
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you mean is it really lost?
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Yes. Lost as opposed to dropped down a drain, left in someone else's car etc. etc.
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You sound like my wife. If I knew where they were they wouldn't be lost would they.
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>> You sound like my wife.
>>
Bit harsh?
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Joking aside, I guess you've checked under the car seats, down the side of the seat squabs, the door bins, the lining of your jacket etc?
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yes, yes, yes, yes, and ALL the pockets of my craghoppers (there are loads of those - not the first time they would have hidden stuff.
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Miss B lost hers the other week. We knew she'd last had them to enter the house so they had to be indoors somewhere but no amount of searching located them. Citroen keys are not quite as expensive as Mitsi but because of way we've been sharing the cars she had one for each. About £75 each and a trip to dealer with each car and its key card.
Turned out they'd dropped off a table and into The Lad's school bag. Only found when he needed bag on day of his last A level.
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I'll wager I could find em with my trusty Minelab Sovereign ;)
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Funny you should say that Zero. Lost my bike keys in work the other day - I must have searched my Craggies twenty times before I found them. The Bureau's employment solicitor offered to take me the 30 mile round trip home to get the spares. A decent bloke and self confessed tight-wad.
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>> yes, yes, yes, yes, and ALL the pockets of my craghoppers (there are loads of
>> those - not the first time they would have hidden stuff.
>>
Hmm, reminds me of a mate who lost his wallet. He had searched his car thoroughly for it, according to him anyway.
Three months later he gave me a lift somewhere. I opened the passenger door and retrieved his wallet from where it was still sat on the sill. I did ask if a search of a car could be considered thorough, if it didn't include opening all the doors.
Free beer for the entire weekend, on the condition that I never breathed a word to his wife.....
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>> >> yes, yes, yes, yes, and ALL the pockets of my craghoppers (there are loads
>> of
>> >> those - not the first time they would have hidden stuff.
My wife calls them my Douglas Bader trousers, cos the legs come off.
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>>If I knew where they were they wouldn't be lost would they.
I'm sure if you were the other side of this conversation you would now be pointing out to me the difference between lost and location unknown.
One is permanent, the other may not be.
Silly old fool. (Sorry if that I'm sounding like your wife again)
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>>Silly old fool
I blame the weather, it's 27° in London, but a tad chilly in Chile.
:-))
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>> >>If I knew where they were they wouldn't be lost would they.
>>
>> I'm sure if you were the other side of this conversation you would now be
>> pointing out to me the difference between lost and location unknown.
>>
>> One is permanent, the other may not be.
There is no difference. Location unknown is the same as lost, and lost is the same as location unknown.
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Surrey, nothing rough about it.
Some iffy places around the RH postcode area so I'm led to believe.
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>> Do I have a spare now, the answer is no.
>>
My wife produced the best one of those. She rang me at work to say she was stuck outside the car at the kids' school, having dropped the keys down a drain. I said she should scrounge a lift home to get the spare keys.
"Ah yes, the spare keys. I've been meaning to talk to you about those........".
Cue me, a mate, a large maglite and one of those magnets-onna-car-radio-aerial things...
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.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 5 Jul 13 at 22:58
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>> I was 150 miles from home
I was in V Water yesterday afternoon to collect a job coming back to Leics. Lot of use telling you now though.
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V Water Garage were our agents in the area.............not a lot of use either !
Ted
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's exactly who I went to see, Ted.
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You should have called an automotive locksmith who would have opened the car and sorted a new programmed key at the roadside for less than the dealers £25 so it would have negated the need for a van journey.
They're still the people I'd use now the car is back home.
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Bad luck that Z, why did i already know the dealer would be talking in monopoly money...i wonder if Mitsi have ever worked out why their sales are lower in volume than they should be.
The link Navy put on looks promising.
Do you have the Godawful Mitsi plipper thats a stand alone item too?
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>> Bad luck that Z, why did i already know the dealer would be talking in
>> monopoly money...i wonder if Mitsi have ever worked out why their sales are lower in
>> volume than they should be.
>>
>> The link Navy put on looks promising.
>>
>> Do you have the Godawful Mitsi plipper thats a stand alone item too?
No its integrated into the key, but only has two buttons. I would guess that it costs (including licensing the encryption) less than a quid to make.
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I take it you don't keep them on a bunch with all your other keys?
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Depends what you mean by bunch, how many keys do you need to carry around with you? but yes I have lost the front door key as well it was on the same ring.
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Need? Well at as many as I have I suppose, plus some keyrings on the bunch. Never lost 'em yet. A few more might help not having a repeat performance.
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>> Need? Well at as many as I have I suppose, plus some keyrings on the
>> bunch. Never lost 'em yet. A few more might help not having a repeat performance.
>>
I got called out to a Polo many years ago. It started but wouldn't keep going. It started first time every time but as soon as you let go the key.....it stopped.
Narrowed it down to the half pound of keys on the key ring that were affecting the innards of the ignition lockl. Took them all off and the problem was solved
Makes the owner think you're an urban hero when you sort summat like that out while they're watching !
Ted
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Nothing I haven't heard before.
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>> Nothing I haven't heard before.
>>
Need to keep your thoughts in train ?
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Not gonna get steamed up about if for sure.
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Be on your guard; blow your whistle next time...
tinyurl.com/p4hs9r2
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I had this recently.
We lost the MINI key, dealer wanted 100's
Timpson couldn't help.
In the end we went to a local shoe repairer /key cutter who advertised replacement car keys.
He ordered a blank & had a machine that read and copied over the data from our one remaining key onto the new one - cost £30
In fact - this didn't actually work, for some reason his machine couldn't read my key (although he claimed never to have had a problem before) but he wasn't defeated......we did also have a spare emergency plastic key and he simply cut this open, removed the chip and fitted this into the new key and it worked fine.
So - why not phone around a few key cutter type shops, The machine looked relatively
simple and inexpensive so I'm sure lots of shops may have them.
J
Last edited by: Jacks on Mon 8 Jul 13 at 09:49
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Coincidentally I have today renewed my car insurance, and they have added "at no extra charge" cover for lost/stolen keys, including lock/other damage if they get locked in the car, and it covers the house keys as well.
Can't be bad for "free"- or at any rate it's cover they didn't offer last year for the same policy, and the price overall has gone down a smidge.
Also gave me £20 off for belonging to the Toyota Owner's Club, or whatever it's called these days, where you get roadside breakdown cover and onward travel, overnight accommodation if required, in both the UK and Europe, and the home start service, all for an acceptable £66 odd.
It's with Aioi Nissay Dowa - Toyota's own insurance.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 8 Jul 13 at 10:05
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>..they have added "at no extra charge" cover for lost/stolen keys,
Sainsburys insurance includes key cover. It comes with a little tag to put on your keyring that offers a £10 reward if the finder calls a freephone number with the tag serial number.
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Same with 1st Central insurance, Kevin.
Ted
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The keys have surfaced, altho currently 150 miles away and the nature of their loss and resurrection is as yet unknown to me.
I thank you for the suggestions, none of which I have ended up using so I cant recommend anything, tho I did have a nice man offer to come round to my house with a blank, a key cutting machine and a reprogrammer all the for the sum of 165 quid.
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>> I cant recommend anything, tho I did have a nice man offer to come round
>> to my house with a blank, a key cutting machine and a reprogrammer all the
>> for the sum of 165 quid.
My daughter ended up using such a chap when she mislaid her Honda Civic keys, only the one key too, i think she paid nigh on £200 so @ £165 that wasn't bad.
She too found her keys some 12 months later in her own house but car is since gone, though she's keeping them as she now has an identical lower mileage Civic so the plipper may be able to be reprogrammed if needed.
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Not sure how comfortable I'd be handing my car's security details and keys to some bloke out of the Yellow Pages who knows where I live. Some things are better handled at a safe distance from home.
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>>the nature of their loss and resurrection...
Good news then ! Glad they've turned up. Always a worry lost keys. Never quite sure where or with whom they'll end up. Presumably whoever has currently got them can send them to you?
Ironic really though isn't it that they were there all the time? Just think, if you'd have spent just a fraction of those hours you sat in that shonky old van driving up and down the country using fuel etc instead just sort of looking a bit harder for for the keys...Double bummer really. I'd be fairly cheesed by that. If it were me...Never mind eh? All's well in the end.
:-))
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As 5 hours were spent trying to find them, they took 5 days to arise again, I think 5 hours in a van was a good value trade off.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 10 Jul 13 at 15:43
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Are you going to share the circumstances, or is it too embarrassing?
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not sure you could all stomach the dirty sordid details.
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Should have popped into the nearest boozer and offered the local "Scrotes" £50 if they could get into the boot without damaging the car!! - would have only been stuck ten mins then!!
out of practice at posting! this was a reply to Humph's post up thread!!!!
Last edited by: devonite on Wed 10 Jul 13 at 19:31
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lost car keys. - Old Navy
