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Looking at a car that only has one key.
Ford want £300 to cut and programme and new one.
Is there anyone else that can do it?
The AA will come out and do it for you. Your local Timpson might be able to do it too depending on complexity
Had this recently with a Ducato key.
Because the van is so new the coding software wasn't up-to-date enough to read the code on the one key we had.
Fiat wanted 550€ for a new key.
If you have the key code card it might be doable or if the vehicle is a few years older.
Our local indie-key-cutter shop has invested in the kit required to do this. Reckons he's way cheaper than main dealer, etc (which isn't hard tbf!) So find one like that maybe?
Have a Google for automotive locksmith in your area.
Loads of cars/motorbikes only come with one key now -- I spoke to a pal who does car accident repairs, he had a contact in the trade and they were able to supply/code a key for way less than the manufacturer wanted to charge me. It's a rip off....
Our Seat (bought used) only came with one key. Dealer wanted £280 for a new one, but a local independent came out and did it for £150.
I think I spent about £250 getting a spare key coded and cut for a VW that I bought from Car Giant with only 1 key. I’ve been there before and didn’t want to risk not having a spare
Two weeks later they uncovered the spare and sent it to me, so now I have 3 😂
Had a bad experience with Timpson for this leaving me stranded. To be fair they reimbursed me the cost to put it right (in cash out of the till which was quaint). I'd go with a specialist next time.
Ford want £300
Sounds about right, especially if it's a keyless ignition car. I had one done on an Audi recently.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">The garage I bought it from supplied the key but I had to take it to the main dealer to get coded. They also removed the lost key details from the car memory. </span>
Looking at a car that only has one key.
Ford want £300 to cut and programme and new one.
Definitely feeling like a £300 discount there.
That aside, we had a local indy do one for use recently at just over £100.*
* not keyless, not Ford... 2010 VW...
These "keys" that folk are having cut, what about the remote bit of the key as I've never used either of my 'keys' but I use the remotes every time I use the car.
Definitely try Timpsons. VW quoted us something like £250, from memory Timpsons did it for less than £50.
£190 for my Nissan apparently.
£160 plus an hours for programming for a Vauxhall van at the main dealer. Looks like best part of £300 once vodka and tonic is added.
I asked for a second key to be cut/programmed when I bought a 2nd hand car. The dealer did it without issue.
I used a local locksmith to did a Skoda key last week, £72. They also did my previous van for cheaper than a dealer too .
@zippykona are you Epsom based, they are in Wandsworth.
Check Timpsons or a local auto locksmith. Eg last one I check was OEM £300, aftermarket remote £209, non remote £99.
Some are unfortunately dealer only.
My local locksmith did mine, 2014 ford focus. Stop start. Came with a fob for remote locking and hidden key inside. I cannot tell the difference between the new key and original. I went to him rather than call out and it was £100. Took less than an hour.
Just be careful why they only have one key. It could mean an insurance write off. When you crash you only have one key on you when they recover the car and take it away.
There are a few websites where you can check if a vehicle was an insurance write off.
Key insurance is often pretty cheap, if that's the concern. I think I pay a tenner a year
Many keys carry information like services, etc, and apart from ex-Motability cars which sometimes don’t have the second key, because the former owner has mislaid it, or the person who handed the car over didn’t have access to it, whenever cars came onto the site I worked at arrivals checks always had keys and other items like service books and locking wheelnut keys photographed so they could be accounted for throughout the time the vehicle spent on site.
During the nearly seven years I was working in the car industry, I never came across a car with only one key, apart from those where keys had been mislaid. Those of us working logistics had to account for keys right through the time the vehicles were on site, and higher spec cars all had their keys locked away.
The new motoring school cars that came in, Peugeot, Seat, Vauxhall and Ford all had two keys, one would be labelled and stored away, one stayed with the car, until it was decommissioned then the second key went back with the car, and there were strict procedures in place to ensure keys weren’t lost, because of the cost of replacing them.
The only exception were Skodas, which nearly always have three keys. Often the second key on lower spec vehicles would be just a basic ‘dumb’ key, my Ford has two remote locking keys, but usually there’s a mechanical key hidden inside the body of the key, in case a battery dies.
And £250-350 isn’t an unusual price for a modern vehicle key. Which we were regularly reminded of!
Local auto lock smith did my '58 Golf remote key for £100 - he works entirely from a van, I met him in a supermarket car park and it took him around 20mins of key cutting and lap top work.
If you're looking at using Timpsons a thing to consider is their location. In a lot of cases you need the key and the car to be present to set / programme a new one - the car and the transponder in the new key need to be paired - the key needs to be programmed but the car also needs to recognise the key - even with a relatively 'dumb' key rather than a remote fob.
A lot of branches of Timpsons tend to be on pedestrianised high streets or inside shopping centres which makes accessing the car as part of the set up impossible. To get a replacement key for my Peugeot I had to find a locksmith that I could park outside the door of.
My son had his 2002 Polo spare key with immobilizer supplied by Timpsons, different stores have different spec kit. He had to travel a little further to an Asda superstore where the guy had all the latest kit to cut and programme it. I think it was £150 - the local auto lock smith would have been at least £50 cheaper.