www.iva.co.uk

This is a long shot, but as there are so many knowledgeable people I'm going to ask anyway!

After a lot of though I have decided to change my car as my 3 door Corsa wasn't practical as our main car - you should see my mum trying to get in the back! I'm picking up my new 5 door Fiesta (obviously not brand new!) tomorrow but it only comes with 1 key. I phoned Ford to find out how much another key would cost and I nearly fell off my chair - £170.75! That's £65 for the key, and the rest for an hour's labour to programme it!

My question is (if you haven't already guessed!) does anyone know how I can get a cheaper key? I phoned a small service centre who cut keys, but they can't do it as it needs to be programmed to the car. If it didn't it would only cost £8!

I don't like the idea of only having 1 key, but even if I could afford it I begrudge paying Ford £170!

Hi skippy yes that is how it is I bet it has a red dot on the key. My mum has a Ka and daughter too they are the same. The local key cutting chap did tell me there was a way to do it for about £70 but sounded too much trouble to me. If I remember I will ask for you.

Ang x

Not much use to you Skippy, but when we had to have another key for the Mondeo, we had to do it through Ford as well. We were told that there was no alternative.

Eye-watering labour costs though, I know of many accountants, solicitors and of course IP's whose hourly rate is dwarfed by the one that you have quoted there.

Regards.

I've decided I'm in the wrong job!

Hey Skippy, I've just been over to my neighbour for you, he works in Ford. You HAVE to get it done at Ford. He lost both his keys a few months ago and even he was charged £98. He said he could have got it done for you but they've changed now, they know what car you've got so staff can't do it. He did say if you can find someone dodgy down the pub, they might be able to program it!!!!! His words, not mine! X

Thanks Viki! I just can't understand how they can justify £105.75 for an hour's labour - it probably only takes a couple of minutes! Needless to say the car WON'T be serviced by Ford when it's due!

Look at this site.

http://www.tradeinpost.com/keycutting.html

says £50

Any help??

Wow, my neighbour stands corrected!!!!

Hi Skippy,
That sounds a ridiculous price. Shouldn't a car come with two keys - or did you get a discount for only having one - I assume the previous owner lost one or it's still out there somewhere. Could you use tactics - as in say you are considering a diferent type/make of which comes with two keys or is it a totally done deal??
Hope you find a cheaper solution,
Hugs,
Chardonnay

Thanks for the links - I feel a lot better now that I know I won't have to pay that much!

Chardonnay, I couldn't really push it too much - I'm getting the maximum part ex for my Corsa even though it's not in immaculate condition, the new car was listed as having 39000 miles and the salesman reduced it by £500 so that it was in my budget, and then he realised that it had only done 25000 miles!

Good for you Skippy,
A reasonable reduction - his/her bonus isn't your problem and I'll bet he made it up on the next sale....tee hee,
Hugs,
Chardonnay

I'm surprised he even spoke to me after the last car I part exchanged with him - the catalytic converter was on the way out, he didn't take it for a test drive and I 'forgot' to mention it...

Tee hee.
I like it....good for you!!![:D]
Hugs,
Chardonnay

Hi skippy I recently got a ford focus with just one key. I got a new fob and uncut key off ebay for £15 then paid £70 at my local motor factors. Timpsons can programme keys too depending on the age of the car.