Somehow - and I have no idea how - I have permanently lost, not just mislaid, my blue three button remote central locking key for my 2006 Panda.

I have called two dealerships and been quoted £300 and £400 for a replacement which I simply cannot afford.

I've discovered that obtaining an aftermarket replacement is not easy and aside from a Chinese eBay seller with not great reviews, I seem to be stuffed.

Local key specialists have told me they can't obtain the blank key and that they too would have to obtain it from Fiat at close to dealer prices.

I don't know what to do but I'm hoping that if somebody can tell me what sort of unused key I need for the 2006 Panda, I might have a slim chance of tracking something down.

Aside from being more careful with keys (first time in my life I have lost one) I think the real lesson is the obscene price dealers are charging.

One other option is to get a complete lock set,keys,locking petrol cap,Engine ecu,body computer and dash instrument panel from a similar car to yours from a breakers or Ebay, and swap them over. But don't know where the remote gets its signal from,so you would need to check that out,unless some one knows different!

Retty said:

Aside from being more careful with keys (first time in my life I have lost one) I think the real lesson is the obscene price dealers are charging.

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I'd agree the price for obtaining a remote key is little short of outrageous. I recently replaced the remote keys for my gates (the technology is similar); price for a new pair of OEM remotes was just £31 and that included same day delivery in person and programming to the gate controller.

That said, other marques will set you back similar prices for replacement keys.

There are third party solutions, some of which even work, but none are what I'd call cheap.

Overhere loosing or ruining a key is covered by some insurance companies. Worth making a call.

gr J

A3jeroen said:

Overhere loosing or ruining a key is covered by some insurance companies. Worth making a call.

gr J

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I pay £15 a year for £1500 worth of lost key insurance. A bit late now but seems a cheap option to me.