New car dealer has lost keys

[wevster]

My Sister in Law ordered a new car from Peugeot which she was due to pick up last Friday. She got a call last Friday informing her that they had lost the keys and therefore she could not pick it up. She has been told that they have ordered some new keys on special delivery but they are unsure when they will arrive.

Despite numerous calls to the dealership they keep fobbing her off.

Does this seem a bit suspect?

Can she reject the car and get her money back as she is so pissed off with the situation?

[nottyash]

Fobbing her off

[F355GTS]

I'd certainly go and insist on seeing the car to ensure it's not been damaged plus there's always the (admittedly minimal) ongoing security risk that a set of keys are out there somewhere

[K12beano]

wevster said:

... keys ... fobbing ...

ISWYDT


Don't know about "suspect", but sounds the sort of level of incompetence that life is just too short to put up with. They'll probably "lose" them again at the first service!

[P I Staker]

nottyash said:

Fobbing her off

Losing keys is easy done when you're getting in and out of different cars all day.

I think you have to let them try and rectify the issue before you can reject the car.

[okie592]

Think you can reject a car at PDi

[T1pper]

I would just drop in to check out for myself and see what is happening as it sounds a bit supect??

Surely the security risk must also be addressed I would not be happy about not knowing where the keys to my new car are?

[E30M3SE]

'You' can reject a car after it's been collected if you have a good enough reason, not sure if dealer losing the key would be one of them though.

[nickfrog]

You can't reject a car without having given the dealer a chance to fix the problem.

It's a motor industry normal standard, ie incompetence. They only recruit within their small gene pool of morons so that's never going to change.

[loose cannon]

The old keys would be de programmed from the car so not an issue
Personally I would get down there and ask to see the car to make sure it's not down the body shop having a new rear quarter

[FourWheelDrift]

"er......tell them we lost the keys"






Sorry that probably doesn't help

[Jimbo.]

The car's not "hers" until handed over and signed for, so right now it's not her problem barring the delay in picking it up. In the mean time, some new keys are ordered, coded, and the old keys are rendered useless novelty desk trinkets. There's no security issue (at least not to her).

What next? Considering rejecting the car because the guy who drove it off the boat at Sheerness happened to fart in it?

[s p a c e m a n]

Did they say that the car is at the dealers? As far as I know the keys are rarely with the car, they may have been lost at the port or at one of the change over points, sometimes they even get sent ahead of the lorry delivering them. Lots of opportunities for keys to go on the missing list.

[Pcot]

You can be pretty sure the car is in the body shop, and the garage are buying time.

[iva cosworth]

Jimbo. said:

What next? Considering rejecting the car because the guy who drove it off the boat at Sheerness happened to fart in it?

I would if he followed through

[Jimbo.]

s p a c e m a n said:

Did they say that the car is at the dealers? As far as I know the keys are rarely with the car, they may have been lost at the port or at one of the change over points, sometimes they even get sent ahead of the lorry delivering them. Lots of opportunities for keys to go on the missing list.

The opposite: the keys are in the vehicle from the moment they leave the factory. Removing keys leaves too much potential for them to go missing, which'll slow down the vehicle movements horribly. Imagine the chaos lost keys would cause in the middle decks of a PCC would cause.

Not sure what happens when they're on the transporters, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're still with them.

Edited by Jimbo. on Wednesday 6th March 20:17

[Fun Bus]

Jimbo. said:

Not sure what happens when they're on the transporters, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're still with them.

In the cab with the driver is the best practice, and one that I always ensured with drivers when in the car transport game.

[ryanjohnstott]

Surely if they don't change the door locks then there is a security issue? Albeit a much lesser one as the car couldn't be driven with the old keys.

[FourWheelDrift]

They will have needed the keys to drive of off the transporter so they will be around the dealership somewhere, in a drawer or tucked in with some paperwork. Or with the car in the respray booth

[xrv]

Did the sales man steal the deal from another? At a dealership I worked at when they sent someone up to fix the leaking roof he found about 10 sets of keys up there. Turned out when one of the sales men was pissed of at another he would throw sets of keys for their deals on the roof.