Okay, when I bought my 2012 (pre-owned) from a local Subaru dealer, it had only one Smart Key. The salesman was quite apologetic when I picked it up and he told me they have been unable to find the second key. They're still hoping it may show up behind a file cabinet or something, but to make a long story short, he said he would order me a new one and lo and behold it arrived in the mail today. Factory-fresh, brand new, bubble-wrap sealed Toyota part number 89904-52290. Now I just need to get it programmed. Is my best bet to call a bunch of local Toyota dealers and see what they'd charge, or do I just skip that step and start calling local locksmiths? Needless to say, I'm looking for the least expensive way to do this that I can be sure will work. I get the impression it's not rocket science, but I also know it requires special tools and software to do properly. I know a Toyota dealer will be able to do it, but I'm guessing a competent locksmith can do it cheaper. Thoughts? P.S. Is this something where I'll have to bring (and possibly have to leave) the car, or do I just bring in the original Smart Key and the new one? P.P.S. I just checked and the mechanical (pull-out) part of both the original and the new one look identical as far as how they're cut. How can that be?
i would call everyone and their brother for the best price. not sure if they need the car or the other key, but they should be able to do it while you wait. and suburu should reimburse you.
I think they will need your car since they have to program the car computer to the key. I believe it is done through the toyota software, Techstream.
Called a few places today. Dealer prices for programming range from a low of $70 to a high of $110. Locksmith was $60. For the $10 difference, I made an appointment for Monday at the Toyota dealer charging the $70. That way if they screw it up, they can't say "You should have had a dealer do it".
At ACE Hardware store locations which offer programming of so-called "chip" keys, all they need is the "chip" key itself. However, ACE Hardware stores are not necessarily the best place to have the mechanical portion of such a key duplicated. A licensed locksmith or your Toyota dealer are usually your best overall choice, but at a stiff price penalty.
Had the programming done at the Toyota dealer this morning. When I was greeted and confirmed the reason for the appointment, I said "$70, right?". He said, "Well, it's $82.99 but if they quoted you $70, we'll honor that." And they did. Waiting room was busy (free wifi and coffee), and about an hour and a half later, I was out of there with a perfectly working new SmartKey and a freshly washed car to boot. Very nice folks.
I just paid $84 to program two tpms sensors since I broke two of them. And that was the price after a 20% discount.
It's Toyota of Watertown (MA). Remember, I already had a brand new, factory sealed Toyota SmartKey. They just programmed it. Still, I was pleased with the price and treatment.
