I am new to the forum as I just took ownership of a used 2008 Prius today with 8,000 miles on it. The gentleman who I bought the car from however only had ONE key, the smartkey. Apparently he lost the other. I want to have two keys in case I should misplace or lose the only key but when I called the local Toyota dealership they told me it would cost $320! Are there any third party or any other solutions to this. I don't want to pay that kind of money for a key, no matter how smart!
You can buy SKS fobs from eBay, but you will still have to pay the dealer to program the car to recognize the new fob. I suggest that you buy the fob and programming from the dealer. Shop around and see if you can get a better deal from another dealer.
Yeesh... he lost the other one? Hmm.... better hope it was in another city. $320 sounds about right. I was quoted Cdn$400 total from the dealer. You can grab one off ebay or something (just make sure it has a silver Toyota logo, not a black one) and have the dealer reprogram it (so you only pay for the reprogramming)
There's no guarantee that a used Smart Key fob can be successfully programmed to work with your car, so keep that in mind. If you think $320 is bad, ask what it will cost if you lose your remaining fob and have to have your dealer tech start from scratch, reprogramming the immobilizer ECU. The tech should be able to erase the lost fob from the system, so that will no longer be a weak link in your car's security.
You guys are great! Thanks for the terrific advice. I in fact did start calling around and found that I could get it done for $260. Still a hit financially but a lot better than $320. As for the gentleman who sold me the car, well you wanna know the truth, this guy is a real gentleman. I won't go into detail why, but I would trust him even if he did live right around me. I think Toyota is going to reprogram both keys actually. Thanks for the heads up.
1) Don't buy a used fob if you have the SKS system (black square buttons of the front door handles is the big tip off). It won't work. 2) Buy your new fob from www.parts.com they are $130 there. 3) Call around for programming. The programming price around me ranges from $99 to $35.
