Any - Key replacement costs.

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Sat 6 Jun 2020 13:48
Any - Key replacement costs. - _

Car brands with the highest replacement key costs on average

1. Jaguar: £542.47

2. Hyundai: £540.38

3. Land Rover: £481.91

4. Porsche: £368.52

5. Mitsubishi: £239.30

6. Kia: £327.22

7. Audi: £320.85

8. Alfa Romeo: £312.12

9. Volvo: £305.35

10. Skoda: £304.31

Source: Keycare

Saw this, interesting?

So, Why is Hyundai £210 more than a Kia...

Jaguar close to Landrover

Skoda and Audi not far apart.

Edited by ORBoy on 06/06/2020 at 14:26

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 6 Jun 2020 15:39
Any - Key replacement costs. - Manatee

I lost one key for my Mitsubishi in a house fire. The replacement, from a dealer, was £380 last month (keyless entry system so the physical key is incidental).

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 6 Jun 2020 15:50
Any - Key replacement costs. - thunderbird

Work colleague was quoted about £200 for his Kia. A split pin had cracked the blade and whilst the blade was OK and the holder was OK they did not fit together. Not warranty, wear and tear. Timpsons supplied a key for about £70 which worked perfectly.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 6 Jun 2020 17:50
Any - Key replacement costs. - Steveieb

Apparently Jaguar keys have a built in tracker so maybe this explains the high cost.

Paid £65 for a non blip per type spade key for my Audi and so glad I got the basic key as I’ve now sold the car !

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 6 Jun 2020 18:39
Any - Key replacement costs. - Trilogy.

Audi badge carries a premium over a Skoda one. ;-)

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 6 Jun 2020 18:57
Any - Key replacement costs. - Falkirk Bairn

Not a lost key but a non-functioning ones..

A son had problems with 2 cars - Rav4 and a Lexus.

Ebays sold key bodies - covers, buttons but no electronics

2 bodies about £5 / £6 - switched electronics & blade + new battery 100% result.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 6 Jun 2020 20:08
Any - Key replacement costs. - Engineer Andy

Audi badge carries a premium over a Skoda one. ;-)

Maybe it's got a chrome-plated trim and soft-touch plastic... :-)

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 6 Jun 2020 20:10
Any - Key replacement costs. - Engineer Andy

I'm just glad I've got the old 'blipper' type without all the fancy pants stuff that recent cars come with, but which are no more secure (sometimes less).

My 2005 Mazda3 is still using the original fob batteries as well (touch wood).

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 6 Jun 2020 22:22
Any - Key replacement costs. - alan1302

Makes you wonder how authentic the prices are seeing as the company that put out the figures offers car key insurance.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 7 Jun 2020 15:24
Any - Key replacement costs. - Manatee

They are probably a good guide to dealer prices for a complete replacement. See my post above.

Some Timpsons branches do them. Depends on the person running them. They can be quite a bit cheaper I think, but I'm not sure how they go on with the re-programming. I would have looked into it further but I am hoping my house insurer will pay for it as part of the contents claim.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 7 Jun 2020 15:38
Any - Key replacement costs. - Chris79
I got a new key for our 2017 Zafira from Timpsons. Think we paid 175 for a proper blipper
Type key which looks absolutely identical to the original. Granted it would have been cheaper not to lose the original but Timpsons were much cheaper than the dealer and it was all sorted with minimal fuss.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 7 Jun 2020 16:39
Any - Key replacement costs. - Zippy123

Went for a fried breakfast at Morrisons a while back (sparing no expense) and he got his Vauxhall Agila (Suzuki Splash or similar) key fixed by Timpsons.

They had a cabin in the car park. It was an awful day and they let him go and test it with out paying.

It unlocked the car but wouldn't start the car!

A little more tinkering by the guy at Timpsons and it worked fine and for about £25 - this was in January 2020.

BTW and admiral I think, Timpsons make a point of employing ex-prisoners, giving them a second chance.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 10 Jun 2020 03:59
Any - Key replacement costs. - Penumbra

BTW and admiral I think, Timpsons make a point of employing ex-prisoners, giving them a second chance.

Hopefully not ex-car thieves though :)

Edited by Penumbra on 10/06/2020 at 03:59

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 10 Jun 2020 11:56
Any - Key replacement costs. - Engineer Andy

BTW and admiral I think, Timpsons make a point of employing ex-prisoners, giving them a second chance.

Hopefully not ex-car thieves though :)

I wonder if they would 'accidentally on purpose' keep any 'spares' of replacement keys produced, nicely tagged with the owner's name, address and reg number...

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 10 Jun 2020 14:38
Any - Key replacement costs. - alan1302

BTW and admiral I think, Timpsons make a point of employing ex-prisoners, giving them a second chance.

Hopefully not ex-car thieves though :)

I wonder if they would 'accidentally on purpose' keep any 'spares' of replacement keys produced, nicely tagged with the owner's name, address and reg number...

Probably less likely at Timpson than anywhere else.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 10 Jun 2020 15:02
Any - Key replacement costs. - _

BTW and admiral I think, Timpsons make a point of employing ex-prisoners, giving them a second chance.

Hopefully not ex-car thieves though :)

I wonder if they would 'accidentally on purpose' keep any 'spares' of replacement keys produced, nicely tagged with the owner's name, address and reg number...

I remember when working in a dealership in Switzerland in the early 80s .. One of the mechanics was caught after coming to the parts counter and getting spare keys made, then stealing from customers cars at night. He was actually caught by a Police patrol, (remember them) and we learned his fate at work the next day when he was sacked.

Bit harder now though when so many keys need to be coded to the trnsponder in the car.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 10 Jun 2020 10:24
Any - Key replacement costs. - Brit_in_Germany

I believe the major expense with the JLR cars is the need to change a module in the car, not just the re-programming of the keys. The problem arose because thieves were using the OBD2 port to access the car's control system to program a new key and drive off. As a security measure, this was blocked but a result was that keys could not be coded to an existing module.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 10 Jun 2020 10:44
Any - Key replacement costs. - SLO76
All credit to Toyota then who recently quoted me £109 for a new key after I stupidly misplaced it.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 10 Jun 2020 12:00
Any - Key replacement costs. - Engineer Andy
All credit to Toyota then who recently quoted me £109 for a new key after I stupidly misplaced it.

Probably because they understand that good customer care means much less needed to be spent on PR and marketing to keep and get new customers. Good word-of-mouth is free, after all.

I mean, can anyone remember when the Pruis was last advertised on TV? Probably at most a couple of days of a few ads just to say a new model was coming out, unlike the Euroboxes where it's wall-to-wall adverts for weeks (currently the SEAT Leon).

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 10 Jun 2020 18:08
Any - Key replacement costs. - John Boy

Nearly 20 years ago we spent the weekend with a friend 70 miles away. In the course of the visit we went to a large car boot sale in a field where I lost my car keys. I thought "I'll call the breakdown service and get them to take us and the car to our local garage". Not so - the handbrake was on so the car couldn't be towed or even winched on to a lorry. It would have to be lifted on and off, so a specialist vehicle would be needed. I opted to pay for a locksmith to come, open the car and programme a new remote key. A complication was that I didn't have a vital number ( I can't remember if it was for the key or the car), but a neighbour, who had a key to our house, found it for me. Once home, the spare key had to be reprogrammed to match the new one. In total, it cost £140, which sounds cheap now.

Edited by John Boy on 10/06/2020 at 18:10

Reply | Report as offensive | Link