Dealer sold a £37k car with one key
Discussion
My girlfriend bought an X5 phev , collected it with two keys , after a few days we realised one of the keys didn't work..contacted dealer he says oh that must be the wrong key when you come back to fix a minor fault we'll give you the right one.
She goes back and he's says actually vehicle only has one key and it never said two in the advert (going to speak to auto trader to pull advert ).
Had vehicle less than 30 days , when challenged by her "surely you wouldnt buy a 30k car with only one key" ( he said it was a private purchase into stock) . His response , "well you did".
Ideas on how to move forward from here other than violence !! Car otherwise good for now but can't stand this attitude and service.
She goes back and he's says actually vehicle only has one key and it never said two in the advert (going to speak to auto trader to pull advert ).
Had vehicle less than 30 days , when challenged by her "surely you wouldnt buy a 30k car with only one key" ( he said it was a private purchase into stock) . His response , "well you did".
Ideas on how to move forward from here other than violence !! Car otherwise good for now but can't stand this attitude and service.
Just accept life sometimes gives you lemonade and buy a new key.
If you can't face that prospect then get key cover on your insurance and scam a key out of them by telling them you lost one.
Not worth getting your knickers in a twist over.
It is so that when you trade the car in it looks like you have two keys when really you have one and a £10 ebay key that "Oh it's not working? Must need a new battery". Old trick, seen it plenty of times.
If you can't face that prospect then get key cover on your insurance and scam a key out of them by telling them you lost one.
Not worth getting your knickers in a twist over.
fflump said:
SpeckledJim said:
New key £300
Any old key from eBay £10
Dealer scamming you. But probably too late now.
What would an eBay key be for?Any old key from eBay £10
Dealer scamming you. But probably too late now.
Edited by GeniusOfLove on Friday 17th April 23:44
SpeckledJim said:
New key £300
Any old key from eBay £10
Dealer scamming you. But probably too late now.
Less than 30 days, fix it or take it back ? Seems Draconian but it is 4 yr old £37k car , not a Cat D £5k shed , it's the manner of it more than anything , we probably wouldn't have bought the car with only one genuine key, we would have done the deal or not for two, somewhere there is a key for that car floating around. Any old key from eBay £10
Dealer scamming you. But probably too late now.
Get £500 back from the dealer if you can. That should cover a new key.
Get a new key for the car.
Get whoever is coding the new key to the car to code out the lost key for the car. Code in your key and the new key.
Its not worth rejecting the car over something that you could potential lose at some poing in the future anyway and have to buy a key anyway.
Get a new key for the car.
Get whoever is coding the new key to the car to code out the lost key for the car. Code in your key and the new key.
Its not worth rejecting the car over something that you could potential lose at some poing in the future anyway and have to buy a key anyway.
Wife bought a car at the end of 2025, came with one key, said the other was on "order". Was on order for a long time by the looks of it, as it only turned up once my wife had emailed multiple times over 3 months later threatening to complain about the salesperson, apparently, it just came in after she emailed the last time, such a coincidence. I wasn't there when the person came to code it so I don't know the details and getting it from the wife is next to useless, but if I had to guess, it was outsourced to a third party mobile technician who probably has a drawer full of different key blanks on hand that he codes to various different cars and could have been organised to have happened the week after buying the car, probably hope we were going to ultimately forget about it so they didn't have to pay. Just have to add it to the "Is the car salespersons lips moving? Then they're lying" list from previous encounters of buying cars.
ian_cab28 said:
He won't do as yet , says it is just a thing and they bought it like that , but at handover 2 keys but one turned out to be mysteriously wrong one
They've f
ked up and need to rectify it. Decide what you want and ask for that. As someone else suggested maybe some kind of refund.Google for your legal steps. It's not just about £3. If it was just £3 I'd let it go. Find out how much it would cost to get a new key. They advertised it as coming with 2 keys.
ian_cab28 said:
My girlfriend bought an X5 phev , collected it with two keys , after a few days we realised one of the keys didn't work..contacted dealer he says oh that must be the wrong key when you come back to fix a minor fault we'll give you the right one.
She goes back and he's says actually vehicle only has one key and it never said two in the advert (going to speak to auto trader to pull advert ).
Had vehicle less than 30 days , when challenged by her "surely you wouldnt buy a 30k car with only one key" ( he said it was a private purchase into stock) . His response , "well you did".
Ideas on how to move forward from here other than violence !! Car otherwise good for now but can't stand this attitude and service.
This is hilarious, but it was probably one of those jokes that he should have kept in his head...She goes back and he's says actually vehicle only has one key and it never said two in the advert (going to speak to auto trader to pull advert ).
Had vehicle less than 30 days , when challenged by her "surely you wouldnt buy a 30k car with only one key" ( he said it was a private purchase into stock) . His response , "well you did".
Ideas on how to move forward from here other than violence !! Car otherwise good for now but can't stand this attitude and service.
If they've sold the car with 2 keys and one doesn't work, then they should replace the key that doesn't work, IMO. Giving you 2 keys is implicitly telling you that the car has two keys. Tell them to pay for a new key, return the car, take them to court or get over it and move on.
I wouldn't buy a £37k car with one key, but then I wouldn't spend £37k on an X5 phev no matter how many keys it had so my opinion probably isn't relevant.
You were given two keys at handover.
They should both work. (thier fault they gave you the wrong key)
Is there finance on the car?
If so, make a quality complaint to the finace company, that will get the sales managers attention for a start.
Then a formal complaint to the company explaining you expect the key to be supplied as two were given at handover. Give them a deadline.
Please don't let the dealer get away with that, give them a hard time.
They should both work. (thier fault they gave you the wrong key)
Is there finance on the car?
If so, make a quality complaint to the finace company, that will get the sales managers attention for a start.
Then a formal complaint to the company explaining you expect the key to be supplied as two were given at handover. Give them a deadline.
Please don't let the dealer get away with that, give them a hard time.
Did the advert say that you would get two keys? Did they say at any point during the sales process that you would get two keys, prior to the deal being ageed?
I don’t think it’s a great experience and I think a top tier dealer might fix the issue just for customer goodwill, but nothing sounds to me like they have broken contract.
Cars get sold with one key all the time.
No harm in trying to get a second key, but not the end of the world of the AT advert or anything else doesn’t show two keys as part of the deal.
For the suggestions that dealers would buy a key on eBay and then throw it into the deal that just doesn’t make sense. Guarantees to get a customer coming back and complaining (as you have done).
I don’t think it’s a great experience and I think a top tier dealer might fix the issue just for customer goodwill, but nothing sounds to me like they have broken contract.
Cars get sold with one key all the time.
No harm in trying to get a second key, but not the end of the world of the AT advert or anything else doesn’t show two keys as part of the deal.
For the suggestions that dealers would buy a key on eBay and then throw it into the deal that just doesn’t make sense. Guarantees to get a customer coming back and complaining (as you have done).
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff