tgsnap

So as I write this, I am fully prepared to hear "how could you be so stupid?" and I completely acknowledge that. Hopefully the rest of you are all smart enough not to let what happened to me happen to you, but on the off chance that not everyone knows this, I thought I would share.

Mistake #1 - I accidentally left my car unlocked one night, parked outside my townhouse. (BTW the unfolded mirrors are a dead giveaway your car is open if you have that feature enabled.)
Mistake #2 - I kept my extra advanced key in the glove box. I did have that really small emergency key hidden under the car, but I mistakenly thought that would only get me into the car via the mechanical lock, and that I would need the fob to start the vehicle.

So as you would imagine, some enterprising folks simply opened my car and scooped up an iPod, sunglasses, etc, and most noticeably, my extra smart key.

Now they knew were I parked my car and had a way to get into the car, both mechanically and electronically. I needed to get the car rekeyed. Had they not had the physical, mechanical "hard" key, reprogramming the fobs and replacing them would have still been pretty expensive. But if you need a complete re-key, as I did, prepare yourself for close to a $2000 bill. The rekey kit, containing two complete fobs, an emergency key, and two tumblers (driver's door and glove box) is over $800 dollars, and 10 hours of labor adds another $1000 to the total. And you have to get this done at a dealer.

I went through a bunch of alternate scenarios, including just disabling the mechanical lock, but eventually just got it all done. The dealer felt bad enough about it to knock 10% of the final bill.

So one thing to realize is that small emergency key is a complete, full up key. It will get you in the car, and it will allow you to start the car.

I realize what happened to me was a result of some carelessness and a misunderstanding of how the car's systems worked, but also consider that if you have your keys and wallet in the same place and they are stolen, you would pretty much be in the same boat. The thief now has a set of your keys and knows (from your wallet) where you live and probably work.

And one caveat - insurance (at least my insurance company - USAA) would not cover the rekeying.

Just something to think about, and I hope none of this ever happens to anyone reading this.

Cheers,

PTC

fkaufman

Hey, that's one lousy experience.

Thanks for the warning!

jjsC6

I'm sorry to hear that you had to go through that. It amazes me that car manufactures have made the process so difficult and expensive. I think I would seriously have had to consider whether or not to just buy a new car rather than spend the $2,000.