Lost a car key - still have spare - what should I do?

[raspire]

Hi,

Lost my car key last weekend, 1 out of 2. I still have a single key that I can use to start my car. VW Car.

I am looking for some opinions on what I should do as my next steps, I dont think I need to rush this;

• I was quoted £480 for a new key from AA Key Assist, my current insurance policy around keys is to pay out myself first then claim back later.
• The AA quote includes the cost of accessing the car as if I didnt have any keys at all, I think this is because they will be resetting codes regardless but I did expect it to be cheaper based on the fact I have a working key. The customer service ladies werent that helpful in this department of the AA
• I have some key cover as part of my car insurance policy but the excess is £250 and I think I will probably be better of waiting to see if I lose the second before making a claim there.
• I figure if I lose the second key I will be locked out of my car completely and the cost to gain access again would justify paying the £250 excess and the end outcome would hopefully be 2 new keys, because correct me if wrong, id probably need a new immobiliser?
• I am not really concerned about the theft aspect of losing the key, I lost it far away from my house and it has no identifying features.
• I have taken out a seperate £4 a month keycare policy on my remaining set of keys which includes a bluetooth tracker so the chances of this occuring again are minimized and also because I didnt realize the price of a key before now. The cover will pay out up to £1500 per year which would cover the cost of £480 that AA are quoting to gain access, reset / update immobilizer.
• My current line of thinking is that insuring the second set of keys for £4 a month is better than £480 upfront / £250 after claim refund than buying a new second key

As a further question; does anyone know about standard practice car manufacturers have with keys? I was wondering were my two keys both originals or was one a copy of the other? As previously mentioned these were proximity sensing keys for a VW car.

Absolute rip off keys these days, yes its a proximity sensing key but still £480 for a crappy piece of plastic and metal and thats supposed to be cheap! I haven't even bothered with a quote from the dealership yet.

[Aunty Pasty]

Have you asked VW what the cost of a replacement key is? You just want another key not the complete AA service. You're not trapped anywhere so it's not an emergency callout type scenario. I would expect them to be able to just programme a new key. The key blade is probably never used and can just be affixed to the key fob with a a small grub screw.

Edited by Aunty Pasty on Wednesday 10th May 12:28

[Robertb]

Personally, I'd want a replacement key ASAP because sods law says your remaining key will also get lost, or fail to function. Chances are, if you've lost your key you will not be roadside in a hazardous position, so you will be a long way down the AA's list of folks to assist.

There may be specialists online who can supply the key for less, but of course they need coding at the dealers.

[raspire]

Aunty Pasty said:

Have you asked VW what the cost of a replacement key is? You just want another key not the complete AA service. You're not trapped anywhere so it's not an emergency callout type scenario. I would expect them to be able to just programme a new key. The key blade is probably never used and can just be affixed to the key fob with a a small grub screw.

Edited by Aunty Pasty on Wednesday 10th May 12:28

Good point on the AA service being for a breakdown type scenario

[clockworks]

I've had a couple of keys cut for old cars that only came with one key.

Fiat Panda was simple and cheap, as I just wanted one with an immobiliser chip, no remote locking. About £60.

Mercedes C class was £230 at a local key specialist. Chap there explained that Mercedes were the hardest to do, as the key needs to be registered with the car online to Mercedes head office server. It was the type that plugs into the dash, so has RF remote locking, immobiliser chip, key blade, and a IR sender for opening the windows/sunroof.
Took him about an hour to do it.

I'd expect a VW key to be cheaper than the Mercedes one.

[MBVitoria]

raspire said:

Aunty Pasty said:

Have you asked VW what the cost of a replacement key is? You just want another key not the complete AA service. You're not trapped anywhere so it's not an emergency callout type scenario. I would expect them to be able to just programme a new key. The key blade is probably never used and can just be affixed to the key fob with a a small grub screw.

Edited by Aunty Pasty on Wednesday 10th May 12:28

Good point on the AA service being for a breakdown type scenario

I expect the AA cost includes a fair mark-up because they're essentially holding you to ransom. Your local mobile key guy would no doubt be able to do the same job at a fraction of the cost.

[bqf]

Was in this position 2 years ago with a 2014 VW Touareg. Ended up getting a spare key - £550 programmed from the dealer!

Buy a spare key, then have an auto locksmith programme it to the car.

[raspire]

bqf said:

Was in this position 2 years ago with a 2014 VW Touareg. Ended up getting a spare key - £550 programmed from the dealer!

Buy a spare key, then have an auto locksmith programme it to the car.

Thank you, good to know what your outcome was.

[Tommo87]

Just look for a local independent in Google.

[raspire]

clockworks said:

I'd expect a VW key to be cheaper than the Mercedes one.

£489 was the quote I just received from VW dealership.

[J4CKO]

I used this chap a few years back, might be worth contacting him dependent on where you are ?

https://www.autosolutions-autolocksmiths.co.uk/con...

[raspire]

Does anyone know about standard practice car manufacturers have with keys? I was wondering were my two keys both originals or was one a copy of the other? As previously mentioned these were proximity sensing keys for a VW car.

@J4CK0 - appreciate the number, thanks mate, worth a call

[deckster]

In my experience, the best course of action is to suck it up and order a new key.

This will guarantee that you find the original key tomorrow morning.

[clockworks]

raspire said:

£489 was the quote I just received from VW dealership.

That's why I didn't get my C class key from a main dealer.

The key place supplied an identical-looking key, just without the 3 pointed star logo. Much cheaper.

[simon_harris]

I got two keys cut and programmed along with all current keys removing from the car for my 2011 S4 for £360.

It was a copart special so came with no working keys.

[oldagepensioner]

clockworks said:

raspire said:

£489 was the quote I just received from VW dealership.

That's why I didn't get my C class key from a main dealer.

The key place supplied an identical-looking key, just without the 3 pointed star logo. Much cheaper.

The advantage going to the dealer at least in Mercedes case is that they will wipe the wsp unit of all keys and then program in only the keys you want to work meaning that if anyone does happen to find your missing keys they will be useless.Mitsubishi use on some of their models a master and slave key setup.The idea being that you operate the vehicle on the slave key and keep the master key somewhere safe and only use it to open up the wsp unit to allow programming of extra keys.My understanding of the independents is that they clone your old key so the missing keys can still be used.Also any supplier of replacement keys should ask for proof of ID, proof that the vehicle exists and proof that you have permission to have that key and i believe keep that info for up to 7 years.

[blank]

Remember to get the lost key deactivated on the vehicle side. This will probably happen by default when pairing a new key but worth checking.

[clockworks]

oldagepensioner said:

The advantage going to the dealer at least in Mercedes case is that they will wipe the wsp unit of all keys and then program in only the keys you want to work meaning that if anyone does happen to find your missing keys they will be useless.Mitsubishi use on some of their models a master and slave key setup.The idea being that you operate the vehicle on the slave key and keep the master key somewhere safe and only use it to open up the wsp unit to allow programming of extra keys.My understanding of the independents is that they clone your old key so the missing keys can still be used.Also any supplier of replacement keys should ask for proof of ID, proof that the vehicle exists and proof that you have permission to have that key and i believe keep that info for up to 7 years.

The chap who made my Mercedes key removed the missing key(s), as it's all done via the Mercedes server. The new key wasn't just a clone of the one that I already had.

[The Dictator]

I recently got a new key made for one of my Mercedes and it was £145 all in, it's a Japanese spec car, so slightly different to UK cars. It has the function to open 2 of the 3 sunroofs, either of the electric doors, front windows and the rear pop out windows.

It took him about 40 minutes all in and I got a nice shiny chrome key as opposed to the plain black original.

I needed a replacement as on one of the keys it would not lock the car. I discovered when I stripped it down, that the button bit under the cover had come away from the circuit board.

If you can go to them to do it it will generally cost a decent chunk less than they coming to you. The company I used ( KeyLab in Milton Keynes) would have charged nearer to £200 for them to come to me.

[raspire]

The Dictator said:

I recently got a new key made for one of my Mercedes and it was £145 all in, it's a Japanese spec car, so slightly different to UK cars. It has the function to open 2 of the 3 sunroofs, either of the electric doors, front windows and the rear pop out windows.

It took him about 40 minutes all in and I got a nice shiny chrome key as opposed to the plain black original.

I needed a replacement as on one of the keys it would not lock the car. I discovered when I stripped it down, that the button bit under the cover had come away from the circuit board.

If you can go to them to do it it will generally cost a decent chunk less than they coming to you. The company I used ( KeyLab in Milton Keynes) would have charged nearer to £200 for them to come to me.

Good to know, I rang a local auto keylock technician and was told there was some sort of change to VWs in 2018 which may mean he cant help me but if he can it would be around £200