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Key fob insurance?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by bankshot, Jul 8, 2007.

  1. bankshot

    bankshot New Member

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    I bought my Prius Monday (2007 Silver Pine Mica Touring package #5). Thankfully my local dealership was of the "low pressure school" but he was obligated to at least try to sell the after the sale add-ons. Along with the $2-3K prepaid maintenance packages and the $600 Auto Armor package the dealer was pushing a $200 "Key fob insurance" policy. He also said they would be making the fob insurance mandatory in mid-July. As part of the sales pitch he claimed that a replacement key would be roughly $450 and if I wound up losing/damaging one I'd need to replace both in the pair.

    I declined as I'd never lost the remotes on my prior cars but I would like to ask:

    Per the Easter Egg post you can add additional key fobs to be recognized up to a total of 4. This leads me to believe that there is no issue with breaking up "key pairs." But this post was made in 2005 - has anyone confirmed that this works on a 2007 model?
    If so, would I then be able to buy a 2007 fob off of ebay and program it without having to worry about a matched set?
    Other than a oddly small head the emergency door key looks fairly standard - could it be copied at a local hardware store given a blank?

    As an aside - after driving 452 miles, my first fill up was 10.4 gallons. And considering that about 100 miles of that was at 70 mph on US 64, I'm feeling quite happy with my initial mileage.
     
    #1 bankshot, Jul 8, 2007
  2. chuck_k

    chuck_k New Member

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    I call bullfeathers.

    He was lying to you the entire time. You DO know how the car sales process works, don't you? You and the salesman agree on a price, then they stick you with some other guy in a high pressure environment to try to get you to hand over EVEN MORE money for things that have virtually no value--like third party "extended warranties", paint treatments, and now "fob insurance--it'll be mandatory next week, so you might as well cave in and do it now, everybody'll do it, you don't want to skip on something EVERYBODY ELSE is doing, do you?!?!??!??!!???"

    Prepaid maintenance packages are a fairly new thing, and they're not worth the paper they're written on.

    Offer to pay the amount at the bottom of the sales agreement, then shut up. Walk out. Whatever.

    Yes, with modern cars it's a pain in the butt to deal with weird cut keys, security chips, and keys with built in remote transmitters. It's turned into just another profit center for the dealer.

    If you can't afford to deal with the issue when it comes up, you can't afford the car.
     
    #2 chuck_k, Jul 8, 2007
  3. rigormortis

    rigormortis Active Member

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    2007 requires a scantool to set the fobs older ones you were able to copy it without one

    also when buying a fob off of ebay make sure you get the right one. older fobs wont work in a 2007
    from what i read
     
    #3 rigormortis, Jul 8, 2007
  4. bankshot

    bankshot New Member

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    Thanks, good to know that my first instinct (to refuse all add-ons) was the right one. And since a scantool is $150 and an ebayed key is roughly $50 it looks like I could replace a key myself for $200 if it comes to that.
     
    #4 bankshot, Jul 9, 2007
  5. rigormortis

    rigormortis Active Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bankshot @ Jul 9 2007, 04:05 PM) [snapback]475741[/snapback]</div>
    the toyota scantool is a lot more then $150
     
    #5 rigormortis, Jul 9, 2007
  6. moredes15

    moredes15 Junior Member

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    We have 3 fobs. As I recall it cost $235 for the extra key and programming. They had to have all three keys at once to program them. (they'll need the car too, obviously, to check each coded fob and confirm they're done correctly. 2007 Prius w/keyless entry
     
    #6 moredes15, Jul 10, 2007
  7. moredes15

    moredes15 Junior Member

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    We have 3 fobs. As I recall it cost $235 for the extra key and programming. They had to have all three keys at once to program them. (they'll need the car too, obviously, to check each coded fob and confirm they're done correctly. 2007 Prius w/keyless entry
     
    #7 moredes15, Jul 10, 2007
  8. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    sheesh.

    you can lose one key, and they just need the car and the one key you do have to reprogram a new one for you. yes, a new ONE. you don't have to buy pairs.

    you can even lose all your keys and they can reprogram the computer in your car to accept new ones.

    that's a real racket they've got going there.
     
    #8 galaxee, Jul 10, 2007
  9. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jul 10 2007, 09:25 AM) [snapback]476060[/snapback]</div>
    Thankyou galaxee for sheesh'ing so others won't have to :p
    Another sheesh, the 07 fobs are the same as the 06 ... 05 ... & 04.

    We were up in our MT house last week, & rented a nisan altima (only 150 miles on it). It had a smart fob. That was my 1st non-Prius smart key experience. The altima fob was ok, but it had no door sensors ... so you have to push the door button to both lock & unlock the doors. No trunk entry.
     
    #9 hill, Jul 10, 2007
  10. AlphaTeam

    AlphaTeam Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hill @ Jul 10 2007, 10:22 AM) [snapback]476085[/snapback]</div>

    The keys are NOT the same for the 04/05 and 06 (Don't know about the 07). The 2006 key fobs will work in the 04/05, but the 04/05 won't work with the 06. Somewhere in the 05 run they switched.
     
    #10 AlphaTeam, Jul 10, 2007
  11. rigormortis

    rigormortis Active Member

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    yeah i hope someday toyota will realize this and do away with the scantool and let us owners change
    some of the settings with a usb cable, mfd, or somethin
     
    #11 rigormortis, Jul 10, 2007
  12. bankshot

    bankshot New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rigormortis @ Jul 9 2007, 09:30 PM) [snapback]475874[/snapback]</div>
    Oops - I'd seen http://priuschat.com/shop/product_info.php/products_id/74 at the priuschat shop and thought that was the equivalent. The real scantool is from http://toyota.spx.com/ which as you point out would be quite a bit more.

    Still per mordes15's post it sounds like I wouldn't be out much more than $200 if I do manage to lose a key. But if that does happen I'll need to be quick about getting a replacement as losing both fobs makes things a lot more complicated
     
    #12 bankshot, Jul 10, 2007
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