Good evening all. My missus just had the car key stolen with the handbag by a scumbag while visiting another town about 60 miles from home. The car was parked at home, we were driving my car thankfully so we didn't get stranded there, we got back home safely. We still have the spare normal key to unlock and start the car however what are our options at the moment: replacing the lost key, replace the locks and get new keys reprogrammed into the ECU?
What cost am I looking at for both options? Should I only replace the stolen key? Is it possible to block it in the ECU so that whomever has it can't start the engine?

If you code a new key all old keys need to be present.

If you get an new key and have it coded your spare key will need to be coded at the same time. Any keys not present at the time will be coded out of the system and no longer useable. Yes it will still unlock the doors but it won't start the car anymore.

:yeahthat:

Worth checking what cover you have on your motor insurance for key replacement. Any identifiers in the handbag such as driving license with address on it etc?

Yes, driving license with home address and bank card which was already blocked were in the bag as well.

GeoBog said:

Yes, driving license with home address and bank card which was already blocked were in the bag as well.

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You need to get this sorted ASAP then really. Defo worth checking what cover you've got on your insurance, as remote key replacement is about the £200 mark I believe

I know hence why I opened this thread to see what are my options. Will check her insurance policy about any mentions of key cover. Don't mind paying 150-200 quid for a new key as long as this will sort out the problem. Just read stories about all locks, ECU and both keys replacement needed in cases like these which were more than £600.

GeoBog said:

I know hence why I opened this thread to see what are my options. Will check her insurance policy about any mentions of key cover. Don't mind paying 150-200 quid for a new key as long as this will sort out the problem. Just read stories about all locks, ECU and both keys replacement needed in cases like these which were more than £600.

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No, not with the Fiat Code2 system luckily. As Andy has said they'll still be able to get into the car, just not start it once Fiat main dealer has removed all keys from the immboliser system and coded just the current key you posses and the new replacement.

Key cover may pay for replacement locks however to prevent access, which if they do might be worth doing for further piece of mind. This won't require ECUs to be changed however, it'll just be the drivers door lock, and the ignition lock.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

No, not with the Fiat Code2 system luckily. As Andy has said they'll still be able to get into the car, just not start it once Fiat main dealer has removed all keys from the immboliser system and coded just the current key you posses and the new replacement.

Key cover may pay for replacement locks however to prevent access, which if they do might be worth doing for further piece of mind. This won't require ECUs to be changed however, it'll just be the drivers door lock, and the ignition lock.

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Cheers for that, this gives us a bit of piece of mind. Just a curiosity: you wouldn't know by chance what would cost replacing the lock+ ignition barrel+ a new keyfob?

GeoBog said:

Cheers for that, this gives us a bit of piece of mind. Just a curiosity: you wouldn't know by chance what would cost replacing the lock+ ignition barrel+ a new keyfob?

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Unfortunately not. It's not something I've had to do luckily. Best thing to do would be call a few dealers (some have a tendency of ripping people off when it comes to replacement keys etc), and go with the best price. Even if you have to travel it may cost in (assuming you decide to pay yourself and don't go down the insurance route).

Thanks for that. I've already e-mailed a couple of dealers tonight and tomorrow I'll start ringing, see what scores they give me.

In the meantime, I'm assuming here you have already taken some form of action to prevent theft of the vehicle from your home address, such as removing the battery from the car, pulling the fuel pump fuse or disconnecting the coil packs?

That's the first thing I did.

I'd be surprised if the insurance (assuming Fully Comp) didn't have at least some form of key cover- from the insurer's perspective it is far far cheaper to pay out for a couple of new locks and key recoding than not pay anything, risk the owner winging it and then having to pay out for a stolen and not recovered.

Claiming on your car insurance will probably lose your NCB and you'd have to pay any theft excess. Try your home insurance first.

If you've been a continuous member of the AA for 25 years, you get free key insurance.
.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Key cover may pay for replacement locks however to prevent access, which if they do might be worth doing for further piece of mind. This won't require ECUs to be changed however, it'll just be the drivers door lock, and the ignition lock.

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The 500 also has a locking fuel cap, so unless you want to carry two different keys around, you'll need to replace that, too. Personally speaking, I wouldn't bother changing physical locks unless someone else is paying the bill. Changing physical locks also means you'll need to replace the existing spare key; I'd expect the total bill to be considerably more if you go this route. The Type2 key system is designed so that loss of a key doesn't require all the locks & other keys to be replaced to retain immobiliser functionality; unless there's a particularly high risk from nefarious access, I'd take advantage of that and save several hundred pounds by keeping the existing locks. It'll be expensive enough just to replace the remote and reprogram the body computer.

Reprogramming the system will be necessary anyway if you replace the lost key, and that will prevent the stolen key from starting the car. As others have said, the dealer will need to reprogram the body computer to accept the second key as well (it only takes a minute), but you'll have that with you as you'll need it now to drive the car.

And condolences - scumbags like the one who took your wife's handbag harm us all.

Very lucky,this happened to a friend of mine , the scum got to her house first,robbed it and took the car.

Cheers for all your advices guys, really helped. She's got fully comp. insurrance however she is adamant against claiming this on her insurrance to not affect her NCB plus she is quite fresh driver and affraid of her renewal ramping up next year. We had a few quotes from dealers approx £245.82 to get a new keyfob and recode both the new and the existing spare, or £577.09 a lock set to replace bot keys, driver door lock and ignition barrel + recode.

And needless to say and yes, I know it's after the horse has bolted, but try never ever to keep anything with your physical address in something such as a handbag.

A similar scenario happened to my own M-i-L, handbag stolen from her work place, car key in bag. Thief went round the car park just pressing the remote until he found the car. Rooted through bag and car, found the same address, drove to house, robbed it blind, drove off with gear. Car found burned out in a field.

As a result of that, my own wife never carries anything with our address on it either in her bag or in her car. I too, nothing at all in my car with my name/address on it.

Oh, and for those that have Satnav, don't put your home address in it down to the street number. My own home address is set up on my TomTom so that it goes to the postcode of the next street and then no house number is put in.

frupi said:

Oh, and for those that have Satnav, don't put your home address in it down to the street number. My own home address is set up on my TomTom so that it goes to the postcode of the next street and then no house number is put in.

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set mine to the address of the local cop shop just for a laugh :devil:

frupi said:

And needless to say and yes, I know it's after the horse has bolted, but try never ever to keep anything with your physical address in something such as a handbag.

A similar scenario happened to my own M-i-L, handbag stolen from her work place, car key in bag. Thief went round the car park just pressing the remote until he found the car. Rooted through bag and car, found the same address, drove to house, robbed it blind, drove off with gear. Car found burned out in a field.

As a result of that, my own wife never carries anything with our address on it either in her bag or in her car. I too, nothing at all in my car with my name/address on it.

Oh, and for those that have Satnav, don't put your home address in it down to the street number. My own home address is set up on my TomTom so that it goes to the postcode of the next street and then no house number is put in.

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That is actually a good tip with the home address in the satnav. Thankfully she is not keeping her satnav in the car as she uses it rarely. However keeping the car key in the bag was stupid especially since we drove in my car, her car was at home at the time, don't really know what was in her mind when she took the key with her in the bag. I had a massive argument with her last night after such thing happened as she needs to be more careful with her stuff otherwise she needs to forge £500 quid now to replace locks and keys plus sleep with the stress that somebody might brake into the house now that they got her license with the home address.