"The key for that vehicle runs $48.82 plus $50.00 to program all existing keys and new key. Also if you are looking to get an extra key fob, the key fob is $131.39. Let me know."
This is outrageous. A local lock shop says they can duplicate my current key for $65. Why so much cheaper? Is it safe to duplicate a programmed ("chipped") key - any possibility they can damage it so I end up with no key?
Ahh, progress!
Any suggestions?
TIA
My wife bought a used Volvo with only one key and remote; the cost for duplicates was about what you mentioned. Think of it as insurance to lessen the chance of getting your car stolen; protection money.
Paul
look in the owners manual to see if there are instructions for programming a new key yourself. With my old Ford, I got a couple keys at the dealer (not sure of cost, but not what you are quoting) and programmed them myself. Something like "put programmed key in, turn key on three times, put new key in, turn key on and leave it, scratch your left ball three times . . ."
It is a common mis-conception that the keys are programmed. Actually it is the car's computer that is told (programmed) to accept the PIN/Serial # that is embedded in the new key.
That's why, on some makes, only a dealer with the right computer software can program the car to accept a new key.
However some locksmiths have gone to the expense of obtaining this software, and are capable of doing the programming.
Also, some makes of cars allow the owner to program the car computer thru a series of steps involving have a existing, working key, and a lot of button pushing in the right order, to add a new key. That's probably what your local shop would be doing.
Read your owner's manual and see if it gives D-I-Y instructions.
I spent $12 for a chip key from Amazon and Homedepot cut it for free (ace hardware refused to cut it for any price). I was able to program the key in the ignition of our Taurus in about 30 seconds by following instructions in the owners manual.
Speaking of Home Depot, I recently had a padlock key cut by their Laser Cutting machine.
The operator put the original key in one compartment and pressed a button. A few seconds later the key blank number appeared on the screen. He grabbed the corresponding key blank from his stash of blanks and put it in a different compartment. He pressed another button and a short time later, my new key was done.
There was a can on the counter near the machine with a label that read "Mid-Cut Keys" I asked him how many faulty keys he ends up with. He pointed to the laser machine and said "With this machine, none. The can is because of _that_ machine...", pointing to the traditional key cutting machine.
That's why it's called the stealership.
Jon
The dealer is always expensive.
Yes, No.
You can buy spare keys online and get someone local to cut it, but generally I think they would charge enough extra to cut it that you almost might as well buy the key from the locksmith. I know of one case where he charged no more, but that was a I believe a close-knit communtiy where people do favors for each other.
You can buy a fob online too. The instructions for my 2000 Toyota are not the owners manual, but they are in the shop manual. Of course the shop manual costs over 100 dollars. However there are webpages that tell you how to program just about any car. The one I rmember is very boring, almost entirely black, with a little box to enter Make, then Year, etc. The instructions it gives for my car are the same that are in the shop manual. I guess I'd find the instruction before I bought the fob.
Unfortunately I can't get my car into programming mode, because the fob receiver has failed. Bought a used one for 45, also bad. A new one is about 450 dollars!
Never buyin' a foreign car again. Certainly not a Toyota (for other reasons too.)
Is it a basic transponder key or a key with an attached fob?
I bought an extra fob and key for my wife's Saturn for around $50 at Ikeyless.com. THOUGH, I do have to have it cut and programmed as well. The bad part is her fob cannot be programmed by me via the cars computer and must be taken in to have done, but I won't have a dealer do it. There are locksmiths who specialize with autos and they can do it cheaper. As was suggested, check your manual first. If it can't be done by you, choose a locksmith.
Here are the keys and fob for your car.....
BTW, in addition to getting more chip keys, you should get one or more non-chip keys cut to fit your car. So if you don't have a chip key, at least you can open the doors and the trunk. You won't be able to start the car, (unless maybe you hide a chip key in the trunk somewhere.)
A codger at HD refused to cut the key saying it wouldn't work, but I insisted and he sold me the blank and cut it, at the regular price.
You might also want to look into valet keys. On the LeBaron, the valet key was a copy of the non-valet key, but on a blank that wouldn't fit in the trunk or glove compartment. If you had to leave your car to be repaired, and he didnt' ahve to get in the trunk, you could leave that key. He could still run to the locksmith and make a complete key, but most people won't do that.
On other cars the key is cut differently at the tip. If you don't have one already, maybe you could borrow someone else's just to do the tip, but I'd probably just forget it.
Because a) you may not be able to find them for some reason, b) because maybe yours is a car that can't be done by the owner.
KenK posted for all of us...
And I know how to SNIP
Short answer, because the can...
The local ACE will read the chip on your existing key and duplicate it on the new keys chip. $75 IIRC
It's a heck of a lot easier to program a third key than a second. The simple way requires 2 working keys to add a third, forth, or fifth key.
Cutting the key is not an issue - anyone who can cut a non-chipped key can cut a chipped key.
Keys for my last two Sonata cost 85 cents. No programming needed.
Not sure about the 2013 model though, as it is the push button start.
I will assume you mean "miss-cut" and with ANY key machine most mistakes are in the correct positioning of each key whether master or blank!
Yes, that was a typo...mis-cut.
I'm guessing the laser machine has a bit of tolerance and/or a holder in each compartment that positions the key and blank exactly where it needs to be.
My 2002 chevy venture uses chipped keys. About 90 bucks from the dealer, must prove ownership, identity, title to vehicle, a whole list of security stuff for a old vehicle
Wallmart sells the chipped key for 35 bucks. depending on the store.
you tube has a video of how to bypass the system. Basically get a sensor, attach a chipped key permantely to the sensor. Add a relay so when you turn the key, a non chipped regular key trips the relay, activates the chipped key and sensor....
On 14 May 2014, "Pico Rico" wrote in alt.home.repair:
I tried that. I bought an unprogrammed key off eBay which came with specific instructions for my car (a Mercury Grand Marquis.) I never could get it to work.
Isn't there already a sensor under the dash? Near the keyhole.
Yes. You can even use a broken key, as long as the head has the chip in it **
If you use the sensor under the dash, it's already connected to a relay. And that relay is already connected to the starter motor as it should be.
If you want to learn more about this, read the instructions for installing a remote-start system, which is often part of a burglar alarm. I wondered how they bypassed the need for a smart key, and they don't. They have you take one and attach it to the chip-key sensor, which is under the dash and near the keyhole.
For that matter, you can use a non-chip key to start the car, if a chip key is on the same key ring. That second key will be almost as close to the original sensor as the key in the keyslot will be, and that's always or usually close enough to the sensor to work.
**But there is a procedure for matching the key to the sensor, just like any new key. On my car, when I start to match keys, it unmatches all previous keys and both new keys and old ones have to then be matched. It goes very quickly once you've tried 2 or 3 times.
Older remote starters used to require that you use that method. I recall giving the installer a key, after which he went in the back and ground the teeth off so it couldn't be used to start the car. He then attached the key to a sensor and mounted it under the dash.
That's what I've read too, more than once, but the instructions for the
2000 Toyota didn't seem to care how many keys one already had, as long as there was one to turn the ignition on and off. I guess that one had to be working-chip-connected key.And my friend with the Nissan Versa only had one key. I don't think he had a particulary hard time getting the second one to work. I can ask him.
Yes.
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