Do dealers sell off one of the keyless fobs?

Page 1 / 2
billyfieldman, Aug 26, 11:03am
The keyless fobs cost about $245 even from places like Trademe. I've come across cars at yards that only have one key. I wonder if the dealers sold off the other key for a couple of hundred dollars.
kazbanz, Aug 26, 11:08am
Pretty silly thing to post. makes ZERO sense to do that.
franc123, Aug 26, 12:23pm
For what reason? Not all key fobs can necessarily be reprogrammed to work on another car, once they've been trained to one car, that's it. Apparently its common practice for used imports to be supplied with one key from the auction houses or export agents they come from, in other cases its just slack kiwi car owners or lease operators who can't be fagged supplying the second key when the car is disposed of. It's all good business for the service dept :)
joanie04, Aug 26, 4:21pm
I am the first NZ owner of my Jap Import. I have a fob, with a key inside the fob, plus a plain old fashioned ordinary key. All came with the car that was purchased through a dealer.
franc123, Aug 26, 5:09pm
Which means you still have a key fob missing lol. No brand new vehicle is supplied with only one programmed fob.
marte, Aug 26, 8:19pm
Somebody told me that if the cars Under finance, " they might keep a key for repossession purposes".
It might be common in America but I don't know if it's standard practise in NZ.

My last 5 cars only came with one key & only one of them was the remote control one. Cost $340 to replace the standard key.
kazbanz, Aug 27, 1:22am
That's a big ol load of BS in NZ. Other than the new car industry who source their finance offshore most finance in NZ is supplied by a third party finance company. Yes there are exceptions but the rule is that finance isn't onsite.
billyfieldman, Aug 27, 4:00am
I've seen adverts selling used key fobs which the seller will re-program for the car if you leave the car with them for an hour. That sort of got me wondering if dealers keep one of the keys. That would be an extra $250 profit.

Not all buyers realize it could cost more than $500 to get another keyless remote especially one who is used to making a spare key for $10 at Placemakers.
billyfieldman, Aug 27, 4:02am
If not wrong, the programming is for the car to recognize that key. Not sure if the key needs to recognize the car though.
supernova2, Aug 27, 4:25am
Might be able to reprogramme some fobs but these days most remotes are part of the physical key so you would have a remote that would unlock but no key to fit the ignition. Not a very viable option.
Then even more modern you have the stuff where you don't need a key at all. Doubt that would be a mix and match exercise with used items.

I suppose if one was a devious dealer you could get a car with 2 sets of keys and sell it with one and offer to get another set for say $500. Instant $500 profit.
intrade, Aug 27, 4:40am
ok lets shine some light on it.
The problem with 1 key started to surface as NEW car dealer who do get 2 keys from the manufacturer. Did try and keep one key and upsell it as optional. That is where i think The origins of this emerged .
Now i was told by the secoundhand dealer that the last owner lost the secound key hence i only got one key .
Now i have the factory level scantool and i went in there and there was only 1 key programmed . So either it never had 2 key or they unprogrammed one key at some point.
I sortof doubt they would do that but then again i cant rule this out.
every key has 2 systems one to open doors and one to enable the engine to start. that is for every car the same. Just the difficulty of how to programm a key is different eaven from within 1 car make.
like the vw with keyfob push in to the dash is one of the most difficult one with only a conection to the factory for programming to add keys .
or expensive hacking equipment decoding the chip from the immobilizer
600odd doller for another key i got quoted the tools to hack are 14 grand nz.
kazbanz, Aug 27, 5:40am
+
Ahh look I can't comment for other dealers. Just those I do know but if a car arrives with both keys the customer gets both keys.
the guys selling used keys are grabbing them from the wreckers in Japan and buying piles of the "key" part
bigfatmat1, Aug 27, 7:22am
actually quite a few vehicles come with only one fob. 3 of the 4 vehicle brands we sell only have one fob from new
franc123, Aug 27, 7:37am
Name them.
supernova2, Aug 27, 8:43am
Are customers happy to accept that state of affairs or do they ask for a 2nd? Don't think I'd be 2 happy with a brand new car with only one automatic opener.
bigfatmat1, Aug 27, 10:16am
obviously they are because it's not often I have to add new keys. I dont deal with sales so do not know if the customers ask the questions
lusty9, Aug 27, 10:18am
There are a lot of s/h cars with one fob. Whose to say the dealer sold it off? The previous owners could have lost one, just like we have done with both our vehicles we bought new. One fob went in the washer and never worked again and the other got lost. We just traded them in as is.
bigfatmat1, Aug 27, 1:43pm
No because it is negative advertising for brands i represent. Also would give away my place of work. I prefer to be anon
tlng, Aug 27, 3:47pm
Have had 3 NZ new Suzuki cars. All came with one remote entry key and one ordinary key with immobiliser chip, that still operated the car.
Have bought two new Subaru's and got two remote keys each for both of them.
gazzat22, Aug 28, 7:12am
My nephew lived in Japan teaching for over a year and has lots of Japanese friends.One who worked for a new car dealership told him that all cars sold new in Japan have two keys/fobs.The dealer retains one so if the owners one is lost the dealer supplies the "spare".When the car is sold unless it is traded in to the dealer the spare key is dumped.The new car market in Japan is so different to NZ with salesmen giving presents on customers birthdays etc and when the car is getting close to 5 years old.
geoff_m, Aug 29, 2:47am
I lost 1 key for my Peugeot 206. I ended up buying a Lexia scantool cline from aliexpress with the Peugeot Planet software, an old windows XP laptop, some key blanks including a remote key and a Zedbull key scanner copier clone frame aliexpress. I learnt a lesson on immobiliser chips (id45 vs id46) as mine was the changeover year and was the earlier id45, so had to get some blank chips at $5 each. The total cost was around $400 with the physical key cutting and I now have some new skills and 5 keys.
azza20, Aug 29, 5:12pm
I bought a car recently and it came with two fobs
rovercitroen, Aug 29, 6:05pm
My recently acquired NZ new 2007 Smart ForFour came with two factory key remotes AND THEY BOTH WORK and the central locking still works on all doors, hatch and fuel flap. Amazing!
pauldw, Aug 30, 1:49am
What model Suzuki? Our SX4 came with 2 keyless remotes.
saxman99, Aug 30, 1:58am
My 2004 car bought last year came with 2 factory signature keys; the car knows which key you are using and sets climate, seats, mirrors etc to where they were last time that key was used. Nice feature for 'his and hers' type situation.