2015 Altima Lost Key Fob...

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JeffKeryk

JeffKeryk

Joined
Jan 9, 2010
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Location
Los Gatos, CA
A friend lost the key for to his 2015 Altima. We got the car a few years back from Hertz car sales.
Got it cheap with high miles; it has been great for Dan. I service it; he drives it.
One big problem is Hertz only supplies 1 key with almost all of their vehicles; well at least we only got one.
They did say they would program one for us for $15 if we brought it in on a given day...

Anyways, last night he called and had lost the key while scarfing down cheap Chinese...
I fired up Craigslist and picked a mobile locksmith service.

The guy came out with the correct key and programmed it to the car.
$670. Ouch...
But all good.

Your thoughts?
 
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Your thoughts?


Always have a backup key/fob. Each of our vehicles has 3-one that my wife uses, one that I use, and one that sits in our safe.
 
$670 seems really high. Maybe that's the going rate but wow. I've paid less than that for cars that ran decently.
 
+1 on having two or three fobs. $15 second key programmed would have been cheap insurance. Our 2011 Subaru needed a third key and our locksmith was able to do it for about $85 in 2011.
 
They program additional fobs a lot more easily if you have one-- or sometimes, both.

I would not be surprised if part of the Hertz fleet buy included single keys that could not be cloned by the end renter/ user.
 
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
A friend lost the key for to his 2015 Altima. We got the car a few years back from Hertz car sales.
Got it cheap with high miles; it has been great for Dan. I service it; he drives it.
One big problem is Hertz only supplies 1 key with almost all of their vehicles; well at least we only got one.
They did say they would program one for us for $15 if we brought it in on a given day...

Anyways, last night he called and had lost the key while scarfing down cheap Chinese...
I fired up Craigslist and picked a mobile locksmith service.

The guy came out with the correct key and programmed it to the car.
$670. Ouch...
But all good.

Your thoughts?


That was some expensive Chinese food.
 
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That is way high, but if that includes them coming to your friend then I guess it isn't so bad. We don't have a mobile service, people have to bring the vehicle to us. Our insurance won't allow us to go out to people and frankly with how weird some people are it is for the better. I do the key cutting for the Mazda keys and Ford keys that aren't a sidemill/laser style. I also build the Ford 8 cut key cylinders when people need them.
 
Alternative would be have the car towed to the dealer ($$$) and have them do the programming ($$$) and be without the car for a day or two. Add all that up and the mobile guy doesn't sound so bad. The programming equipment and annual updates are costly, so it's not just his labor.
 
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
$670. Ouch...
But all good.

Your thoughts?


Sounds like a $655 mistake. Always cheaper to be proactive rather than reactive.
 
Gotta love all those 20-20 hindsight posts...
I was helping a friend in need.

Of course now he sez he is gonna get 2 more...
2 for $70 on Amazon and $15 each to program.
And I will be keeping one.
 
When I purchased our 2016 Nissan Quest that was also an ex-rental, it too only came with one FOB. It's the keyless Nissan style where the vehicle has a push button start. The dealer sent a mobile locksmith outfit that they use to me, to make me another FOB. It took 2 computers plugged together into the OBDII port to program the key. It was no problem for the tech doing it, it just looked unnecessarily expensive.

The FOBs themselves can be bought in eBay or the likes for cheap. It/s the programming part that can't be DIY like some make/models can.
 
National sticks both keys on the key chain, a pain when you rent since they can be really bulky but when they go to sell them both go with the car. I've seen some other rental car agencies hide the spare fob in the spare tire well.
 
You're kidding! $670!?!?!

Hate to say this, but he got ripped off. I bought a 2013 Altima about 6 weeks ago, and it came with just one key. I went on Amazon and bought one of these keys for $40, and had a local locksmith here in Phoenix program it to my car for $45. Took him all of about 5 minutes.

Now, if he had lost the ONLY key he had for that car, that may have thrown a wrench into the works, but as far as I know, a locksmith with the right equipment can program any number of keys to these Altimas without a whole lot of work.

Bottom line, this kind of thing is EXACTLY why I went and bought a 2nd key for the car ASAP, and got it programmed as soon as I had it. I have since tucked my original key away in a secure location, and I'm using the new, aftermarket key fob as my only/main key. If, for some reason, I lose the key I'm using, I'll be buying another immediately and getting it programmed.
 
I bought a new FOB for my Taurus from Amazon.ca. This works on any 2000-2007 Ford Taurus.
1. Have both FOBs in the car
2. Insert one key into the ignition
3. Quickly turn the ignition on and off 8 times.
4. After the eighth time the doors will lock.
5. Hit any button on one FOB.
6. The doors will unlock and lock again.
7. Hit any button on the 2nd FOB.
All done. If you don't have both FOBs in the car, the non-present FOB will no longer work.

You Tube has instructions for all sorts of cars. Replace your FOB if you lose one.
smile.gif
 
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