Mechanic has lost my car keys

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suzq62, Jun 17, 3:53pm
And now wants me to pick my car up and take it to get new keys for it, at my cost.This will set me back over $500, and that's not counting getting it towed to the place.Mechanic has offered to call it quits with whatever repairs he has done on my vehicle, but at the end of the day.I didn't lose the keys.Anybody got any idea where I stand on this matter, as he has given me a little runabout to use "until my car is fixed" but now wants it back and wants to see the back of my car.

3962, Jun 17, 6:21pm
If he's a member of M.T.A might pay to get hold of them.Save a lot of mucking about.

carstauranga001, Jun 17, 7:30pm
What's the cost of he repairs he's prepared to forgo! If key costs more he is responsable as he lost it. Small claims would award in your favour, no question. As above if he is an MTA member phone and ask for legal rep. This is free and they will sort it for you. I'm am MTA member so know how it works.

shaun16, Jun 17, 7:47pm
so you dont have a spare key for the car at all! dont get me wrong its his fault if he lost them, but surely you have a spare to get into it and then get another key sorted!

kelly188, Jun 17, 7:55pm
exactly!

mopar63, Jun 17, 8:03pm
maybe he's calling it quits because the new keys will cost far more than the repairs, tough sh*t for him really

jason18, Jun 17, 8:24pm
Name and shame him if he doesnt come to the party so we can all avoid and tell friends/family to avoid

spead, Jun 17, 8:28pm
do not name and shame. You could be up for a law suit if you do.

ct9a, Jun 17, 8:52pm
great customer service there

mapman, Jun 17, 9:14pm
suzq62, firstly, I know my mechanic would never do anything like this and if he did the word would get around. Whakatane is not that big and I??

intrade, Jun 17, 9:23pm
what car probably has a rfid chip in the key! otherwise it be like 20 bux for a new key made from drivers door lock.

crzyhrse, Jun 17, 10:03pm
Total rubbish.

crzyhrse, Jun 17, 10:24pm
Highly likely.

crzyhrse, Jun 17, 11:34pm
Old skool.

crzyhrse, Jun 18, 12:19am
But clearly suzq62 doesn't want to share those details.

If the cost of the repairs wasn't less than the estimated cost of sorting out the keys do you really think this would have been offered as a solution by this guy!

crzyhrse, Jun 18, 12:42am
He's not just offered it as a possible solution - he's now seeking to force it upon the OP by requiring the loaner back.

At the end of the day it's entirely up to him to sort out, both morally and legally.

pandai, Jun 18, 1:06am
How about claiming the lost keys from insurance!The excess is often not that large and perhaps the insurance company might go after the mechanic and save you the time and hassle.It'd be far quicker.

jason18, Jun 18, 1:11am
hahah yeah ok.

fruitbat, Jun 18, 1:12am
Pays to have a SPARE set of keys.for ya house, etc, as well.

crzyhrse, Jun 18, 1:17am
And if you're going to buy a car which has transponder keys FFS ensure you get two or more or you could be up for an expensive spare, which should you choose not to invest in could possibly even cost a replacement ECU should you lose the only key you have.

lookoutas, Jun 18, 5:26am
First thing I do after buying a vehicle is make sure there's spare keys.

My vote is that the mechanic/workshop must rectify the problem.

I guy dropped his wagon off one day - gave the boss his keys and we've never seen them since. Lucky he had spare keys.
I had jumped in the Boss's Ute to go'n get some lunch and noticed in the mirror that the tonneau cover had a loose flap, which flattened out as I got up to speed. On inspection, there was no loose flap, so what had my peripheral vision seen in the mirror!
We walked the roadside, but never found a thing.

suzq62, Jun 18, 7:01am
Have just got back from sorting this out with the mechanic.The car is a Ford Mondeo 2001.It was in for a WOF.All it needed was two back tyres, service and tune.He also took it to an auto electrician to check a fault, that they didn't find.That took two days.Dropped the car off on the 7th and got it back today minus keys (which also had my house keys on it).Had a civil conference with him and as I said he has wavered the work he's done on the car, which is service, tune and auto electrician fees. I asked for an itemised account which was not forthcoming.As well as this, the tyres and warrant still have not been done because he didn't have any keys!

spottie, Jun 18, 7:29am
Where do you guys get the prices for getting new keys cut. I lost my keys down at Wanaka cost $320 to cut 2 new ones. This was a Saturday night but took him an hour which involved taking the door apart to get the code off the lock then downloading the key shape from that code and cutting 2 keys. That was for a basic key apparently the real fancy keys you get now are worth a small fortune to replicate from scratch.

intrade, Jun 18, 9:22pm
if you take the door lock of a toyota corolla in to a propper locksmith. Driver side one then it be 20 bux to make a new key from the lock that also fits the ignition unless somone of course changed any of the locks or if the key is with RFID then it will just unlock the steering and wont start the car.
your price was so high because the guy had to be called out on a saturday probably 120$ per h labour or more for night and saturday. key cost 20 bux each to be made from codes of lock. the rfid keys are a different story but you now can buy blank keys from ebay and code them your selffor volkswagen and there likes still will costyou quite a bit more then a standard key cut like yours.

mecanix, Jun 18, 11:07pm
its the mechanics problem to sort out. he should have ordered a replacement key or had one cut and programmed to suit at his cost, he should also have paid for any replacement keys.
i always remove the car key and alarm remotes from my customers key rings, it is incredible the number of people that give their house keys to at times a complete stranger.