2nd copy of car keys and fob?

How many of you carry a 2nd copy of your car keys and fob, when you're in town?

When you go out of town?

Before I had a fob, I carried a second car key for 10 or 20 years, but I stopped a while ago. I have a spare housekey and carkey buried in my yard somewhere, but I've never trusted magnetic keyholders for cars. I thought either it would fall off or someone would find it, since there are so few good places to put it. So I carried the dupe in my pocket.

Reply to
micky
Loading thread data ...

Never carry a dupe. If travelling with my wife, she has a second key. Trusted neighboer has key to the house to get spare key if required.

Don't need a fob - but the car has keyless entry so IF we lock the keys in, the code opens the door. The truck is a different story. No electric locks. The only time I've locked the keys in the truck other than on my driveway at home (second key redilly available) I luckily left the cab back widow unlatched and was able to get in by unbolting the cap from the box and reaching in through that back window. Luckily I had tools in the back of the truck. Midnight, miles from nowhere - sell phone as a flashlight

Reply to
clare

I don't carry a spare key around town but when my wife and I travel, we both have a key. If you are just worried about a lockout, get a key cut on a regular blank (no chip). It will open the doors but it won't start the car. Hide that.

Reply to
gfretwell

Hide a spare key in the vehicle. Have a third key made without the transponder. It can still be done for many vehicles, but you might have to ask around. Make the hole in the key a little bigger, remove a license plate and hang the key from the screw before you reattach the plate. On which side of the plate you place the key should be fairly obvious.

Now, if you lose your keys, or lock them inside, all you need is a screwdriver or anything that can be used as a screwdriver. Since the third key has no transponder, it can't be used to start the car, just to open it. Now retrieve your spare key and you are good to go.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

On Sat 22 Jul 2017 06:50:53p, told us...

Good point about making a regular blank. We just bought a new car and we've always carried our own keys when we're driving together, but a regular blank would be a great idea in case of a lockout.

Reply to
Wayne Boatwright

I think it is impossiable to lock the keys in the car I have. To lock it (you have to have the FOB near the car) just touch a spot on the door handle. To open, just grab the handle. Trunk the same way to unlock it,just press a button o the trunk. The fob has a key in it,but it is sort of an electronic key so difficult to duplicate even if I wanted to.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Spare key and fob are in my purse.

Spare key and fob are with me always.

Yes, the magnetic key holder will fall off. Spare set of house keys are buried in my yard, too, in one of those fake sprinkler heads.

Reply to
ItsJoanNotJoann

Well, I've got a 2004 Chrysler car and even for my previous 2000, it was expensive to make dupes. The price has gone down a lot and finding them has gotten much easier.. It was $16 for 2 keys, and $6 apiece to cut them. I asked about programming then and he said "It's expensive. $30 apiece" but with the directions it was free.

The fobs were $11 a piece, also free to program.

Only took me about 3 tries with each. If they want to test old codgers for mental ability (before selling them long term care insurance) making them program their key or their fob would be a great test.

The time to do this was now, because you have to have 2 keys and one good fob to make these copies yourself and that's exactly what the car came with**. If I lost anything, I'd have to use the locksmith. **Plus one key w/o a chip.

I haven't lost my keys much, but anything is too much if I'm not prepared. Once when I was changing clothes to go tubing, I left them in my pants and locked them in the trunk. At the end of the day, I had to get a ride home and back, 30 or 40 miles total.

Another time when I was 100 miles from home, I dropped a set in my trunk and couldn't find them. I had spare car keys but had to call a friend to leave my house key at my house (because I'd failed to replace the one that is supposed to be buried) I don't get it but I never did find the set I dropped in the trunk!

Reply to
micky

Does not work exactly like that with many newer cars though. Good or bad depending on the car.

First, I cannot lock my keys in the car. Many of the keyless ignitions will not let you lock the door when you exit if the fob is inside. That is a good thing. I also have a key that will work. I don't know how easily made it is. It has no chip but is an odd shape not like most keys and it stores in the fob. It is laser cut. The purpose of it is to use if the fob battery dies but if you lose the fob you lose the key with it.

If I did get one made I imagine I could find a way to mount it behind the license plate. Not enough meat to drill out large enough.

Types of keys

formatting link

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

My car has a keyed door lock and no ignition rfid or resistor so I had a key made for $1 and wired it up under the car. Yah, I have gotten dirty crawling under the car to find and unwire the key but it is in a safe place.

Reply to
Paul in Houston TX

Always a spare key in my wallet. Don't need a spare fob.

The wallet is almost always in my pocket. I mainly use my purse as a table computer case.

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
Cindy Hamilton
[snip]

I carry a door-only key like that. I have needed it once when the regular keys were locked inside (I could see them on the seat).

BTW, I was just a mile from home and could walk but I had just bought frozen food and needed to get it home quickly. Also, there's the highway (heavy traffic) that's not easy to cross on foot.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd
[snip]

I would hide the key in some place no one else knows about, so a place mentioned in public is NOT suitable.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

Someone suggested you hide the spare key with the transponder in the driving compartment and can get keys made without the transponder that will then work.

When I bought a new Subaru last year, I told the sales lady that I always carry a spare key in my wallet. The Subaru spare key is called something like a chauffeurs key as it will not open glove compartment and is not a remote. The key fob was bulbous and I told her I might cut it off but she told me it would not work because of the built in device.

Reply to
Frank

A.K.A. Valet Key

Reply to
RonNNN

You need to define "work" more specifically. True, it will not work to start the vehicle, but it should work to unlock the door. Once the door is unlocked, you can retrieve the spare transponder key that you have hidden in the vehicle. The key you are speaking of is typically called a "valet key". You don't want it to open the glove compartment or the trunk, but it has to open the door and start the car so the valet can drive it. If you cut the transponder off, it should still unlock the door.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Right, because car thieves always take the time to remove the license plates to look for a key that will only open the door but not start it. ;-)

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Yes that is a better definition. Key probably does not work in glove compartment but once in car you can unlock trunk without a key.

I just put the clunky key in my wallet. It is not that bad but if I could not tolerate extra bulge would get a key without it.

I locked myself out of the car when I was 17 and had to walk a mile home to get another. Have carried a spare since.

Reply to
Frank

Regarding spare house keys...

I have 3 electronic keypad locks, 1 for each entry door and the garage door opener. Plus, my cars have built-in garage door openers. The odds of all three sets of keypad batteries being dead and the power being out at the same time are ridiculously slim, especially since both entry door locks warn me when the batteries are getting weak, but long before they die.

I haven't carried a house key in many, many years. I guess SWMBO could disable everything, but luckily she still likes me. I do my best to keep it that way. ;-)

Reply to
DerbyDad03

We bought a new house about 10 years ago. My wife locked herself out several times, but I came home about a half hour later and let her in. The garage door has a keypad to enter numbers in, so I hid a spare key in the garage. So if locked out, enter the number and most of the time the door to the house is not locked,but if it is, find the spare key. The childern which are grown now and out of the house know how to get in if they need to when we are not here.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.