(T) How do I tell if a red key is genuine?

Hi everybody,

I'm new to this site as I'm halfway through buying a Fiat Marea - have paid deposit, will pick up car tomorrow as long as they've fixed all the problems I've identified, one of which was to provide a red key (only two blue keys when I did test drive).

The car is a 115 ELX Weekend, built in May/June/July 2000.

My first question is will a Marea of this age definitely need a red key - I know Fiat abandoned the system at some point, not sure when, think it was probably after mine was built.

Second question. The dealer (non-Fiat) agreed it needed a red key, knew somebody locally (Bristol) who could do it for a lot less than Fiat, and would provide one. When I phoned this morning they still hadn't got it, and said somebody was coming to do it this afternoon. My worry is that I've heard of cloned blue keys being red, so if I'm given a red key tomorrow, can I check if it's a genuine red key on the dealer's forecourt? Reading between the lines of other posts, something different happens with the dash lights, but I'm not sure what.

Third question: I've seen various references to codeman.org, but haven't found any from people who've actually got a new red key this way. Is this 100% fool proof method of getting a red key. If it is, I may accept the car without a red key after knocking (say) £300 off price. It it isn't, I'll get them to do it and pay the full price when its done.

Fourth question: Does anybody know of anybody more local than codeman who can provide red keys?

Thanks in advance for any advice...

Rob

welcome to the forum

its very rare that you hear of anyone actually needing a red key, there are a lot of scare stories saying if your battery goes flat or gets removed you will need it, thats untrue, look at the keys that come with the car if it has a 2 on the metal part its second generation and there is no red keys with them, if its done over 50.000 miles you should be more woried about the cambelt.