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I mislaid my spare, non-remote, car key the other day. Having found it I thought I might get a spare spare! I went into Timpsons who put it in a machine to read the code and told me that it would cost £200. That seems on the high side for a metal blade cut to a pattern with a programmable chip in it, bearing one can get an i pod for less than that and look what it can do! Not open the car I agree but there is lot more technology in an ipod!
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Timpsons are known for over charging.
A replacement key from a Ford dealer was about £80 last time I checked.
Still not cheap.
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Thanks iffy, I did think of asking my local dealer, I just happened to be passing Timpsons! I shall keep walking!
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A key for my Panda is £200 too. They have to first order the blank from FIAT in Italy. Then they have to program the key to match the car, they then have to program the car to match the key.
If it is a modern system like mine, then Timpsons won't be able to do it, as the ECU in the car has to be programmed. However it is thanks to this security the Panda is group 1.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Fri 28 Oct 11 at 15:21
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Timpsons can do it, They have the blank in stock, hanging on the wall. Cut it, copy and paste code from owner's key into the blank using the machine they have in the shop, job jobbed. Can't cost £200 but I guess the code reader they use is pricey but at £200 a go for a key it won't see much use.
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I think Ford keys are programmed by pressing a few of the buttons when the key is near the car or in the ignition.
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I've heard good things about these people: www.carkeyhelp.co.uk/
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Timpson's could not supply one for my Berlingo (non plip) at all. Apparently I need to present myself at the dealer with the car, both current keys and the key card supplied when the car was new. Cost about £80 apparently and means leaving it or waiting for an hour or so. .
Have all the bits but as it's only a spare spare or needed on the odd occasion when three of us get involved in an 'I'll leave it at the station for you' gavotte not sure about the time or money.
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Thanks Tigger, they do not yet list my 2 year old model but a similar key for a Mondeo (blank cut and transpoder chip coded) is £19.00 delivered. That's more like it!
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>> I've heard good things about these people: www.carkeyhelp.co.uk/
>>
Wow! ta very much for the link, Vx wanted a ton for a Zafira key last time I checked, about 20 quid here. :-))
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Great link that, thanks.
Only six quid for my Astra, that's only almost what the cars worth rather than umpteen times as much.
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RTFM!
The last Ford I had, had a very clear description in the handbook of how you could program a third key if you had the other two.
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>> RTFM!
>>
>> The last Ford I had, had a very clear description in the handbook of how
>> you could program a third key if you had the other two.
>>
Who needs to programme a key if you've already got two?
It's when you're down to the last one you worry about that.
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What use is an unprogrammed spare key? It won't work if it isn't so why not do it? Otherwise it is as much use as a flat spare tyre
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>>Who needs to programme a key if you've already got two?
>>
A simple cheap insurance policy with a one off premium.
>>
It's when you're down to the last one you worry about that.
Not if you are insured - see above :-)
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About 4 years ago I bought spare remote keys for my Fabia and i30 for about £120 each. £200 for a non-remote sounds incredible.
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Unaffordable to me! You can get a mobile phone with a lot of REAL electronics in and get change out of £200.
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We bought a secondhand one from Ebay for £20 for the CRV and googled for instructions for re-programming it.
It was dead easy:)
Pat
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If these keys had a component cost of more than £2, I would be astonished.
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>> >> I've heard good things about these people: www.carkeyhelp.co.uk/
>> >>
>>
>> Wow! ta very much for the link, Vx wanted a ton for a Zafira key
>> last time I checked, about 20 quid here. :-))
Treble wow......Indy that we've used for fleet cars quoted me £90 for the Grand Vitara...it only came with one key...this lot do it for £6.00 as well.
I shall investigate further tomorrow !
Ted
>>
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Timpsons are very OTT for costs.
We needed three house keys cut and were appalled to find the charge was £5 each key!
On querying, we were told that the "regular" price was £7 per key!!!!
A big change from our local ferreteria in Spain where a key cut job was about 1.75€.
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Are you beginning to wonder why you came back Roger?
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>> Are you beginning to wonder why you came back Roger?
Nope!
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>> I might get a spare spare! I went into Timpsons who put it in a
>> machine to read the code and told me that it would cost £200.
If you're anywhere near Birmingham try Rock Autos on Alum Rock Road. They'll do it for £25-40 depending on the exact type.
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So has anyone used Carkeyhelp.co.uk since we started this thread? Gonna give them a whirl for an extra Audi key... Watch this space!
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- 16 quid plus 2.10 for shipping by Royal Mail to NZ! Seems too good to be true. Audi main dealer asking 220 quid in NZ...
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Well, they've cut the key and an email tells me it's in the mail today. No transponder included though - so I guess that's where the Audi dealer will fleece me for 220 quid anyway...?!
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I seem to recall a dodgy garage involved in nicking customer's cars a few years ago - they'd take the transponder chip out of the key and stick it to the ECU or wherever it would be detected.
The (now transponderless) key would work fine as the transponder was already at work.
The garage could then have a blank cut and send someone round to the customer's home/work and simply get in and drive away.
Urban myth or true I'm not sure.
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Step son had a car with a transponder in the key. The only key snapped. Getting a spare cut the locksmiths did a normal key as a test.... he was using the broken key to make the new one. And the car would start with it! And did for over a year. Despite there being an immobiliser.
A long time later, car was in a the garage for work on it... and it immobilised. So simple solution was to stick the old key in the steering column out of site. It was only worth £900 or thereabouts.
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In the eighties, two of my neighbours, both ladies, had cars taken from home a couple of weeks after main agent servicing.
One was a Nova sport and the other a Honda... both possibly pre-transponder. Easy enough for employee to nip out at lunchtime and have a key cut. Of course, they had an address and bingo !
A nice car to ring against the rusty one they owned with just a change of colour on the V5 !
The lass with the Nova and I used to play tricks on each other...water fights and that sort of thing. They went on holiday one year, and , with a little muscle and the careful use of my big trolley jack the car was put firmly in the middle of the rear lawn to await their return home.
I was first port of call when it went but sadly it wasn't me that time !
Ted
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Reminiscent of a few of us 'bouncing' a mate's Chevette in the late 80s so that it fitted lengthwise just between the gateposts to his drive.
Imagine his delight when he got up for work the next morning...
Pre-mobile phones so no pics of that one :-)
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>> Reminiscent of a few of us 'bouncing' a mate's Chevette in the late 80s so
>> that it fitted lengthwise just between the gateposts to his drive.
Some oiks did the same with my Pug104ZS at Meerbrook Youth Hostel. Getting it back to fore/aft in the driveway without more bouncing was a challenge!!
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Patrolling the city centre in the mid-60s, about 2am we came across another Police Morris 1000 panda car parked shiftily in a side street next to a popular ( with bobbies ) lock-in pub.
We jacked it up and put the back axle on bricks liberated from a nearby demolition site.
The tyres were just about touching the tarmac.
A bit of slinking away was done but sadly we never knew the outcome !
Ted
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>> Pre-mobile phones so no pics of that one :-)
Not pre-cameras! You missed a good opportunity for a picture.
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>> I seem to recall a dodgy garage involved in nicking customer's cars a few years
>> ago - they'd take the transponder chip out of the key and stick it to
>> the ECU or wherever it would be detected.
>>
>> The (now transponderless) key would work fine as the transponder was already at work.
>>
>> The garage could then have a blank cut and send someone round to the customer's
>> home/work and simply get in and drive away.
>>
>> Urban myth or true I'm not sure.
In theory that should work, you could provide a software fix against it by checking for the transponder leaving the area on door locking.
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Ford - Horrendous cost of a replacement key - Iffy
