The wife has lost the keys to the car so just looking in to the cost of getting a replacement set made. Is it best/most expensive to go direct to dealer or is there a decent alternative. Quote from dealer is £150.

I was quoted £80 ish for a replacement key for my van from local locksmith, no fob and not 100% they can do it yet as I need to pop back with spare key.

£150 doesnt sound too bad tbh if that’s the whole thing – blade, remote bits and immobiliser chip

We lost a key for our car and got just a replacement key, not the remote. That took the price down from ~£160 to ~£80.

“the wife”

I was quoted £130 for a replacement key/central locking fob for my 08 Focus from an independent specialist. I haven’t bothered checking with Ford…

Depends very much on the car. I know with mine it needs security modules in the car replacing as new keys can’t be paired to it, so it’s a serious chunky of money. 150 quid from a dealer sounds like a bargain as you know it’ll work and be guaranteed.

If you go down the independent route ideally it needs to be somewhere you can park outside of- sometimes its a case of being able to scan and copy an existing key and only the key/fob needs to be present but often theres a step of pairing the new key to the car and if Bob in the Precinct can’t leave his heal bar unattended he can’t do that second bit.

My son’s car replacement key and fob is £180+VAT from a dealer, Timpsons offer the same for £150

Try a company called Auto Solutions, guy called Craig Nettleton.
He’s mobile and covers the UK.
Had one for my T5 a few years ago.
Charged £100, think it’s cheaper if you live local to him.

He’s on Facebook, I can try and get a number for him if you don’t do facebook.

What car is it for?

If it’s a Ford, I believe you need two keys to programme a new one, as a protection against people copying keys that are temporarily in their possession. Otherwise you need to go to the dealer with proof of ownership. The last car I bought I had two non-remote keys made by an auto locksmith (Chris Ashton, Stockport, recommended), it took him about an hour with a laptop to extract the codes and program the new keys, think it was £120 for the first and £100 for the second. I wanted non-remotes as they are not affected by getting wet, good for biking and canoeing.

Another vote for craig nettleton, he’s great. Based huddersfield way but does get around. PM if you’d like his number.

Yes, you generally need at least 2 keys for ford security systems.
For old ones, there was a red master key used to program new keys in, on newer ones, you might just be able to cycle the ignition with 2 existing keys (if you have them), the with the 3rd new one. If you haven’t got 2 existing keys, it’ll need hooked up to a computer for programming. (This is just the for the key, not the remote. Depending on vehicle, you might be able to program it manually)

Because all modern security systems use rolling codes, you can’t just clone a key, it actually need to be programmed into a slot in the security ecu.

Just remember, even if you haven’t got a remote, there is still electronics in the key for the immobiliser chip, so they still don’t like getting wet.

*I’ve been out of the industry for a few years, so some details are hazy & I’m not totally up to date.