Key.... repaired... but how much for a New fob

[BigVtwin996]

Well
My remote locking key had seen bettter days...
basically the blade had snapped and was held in place by glue every few months....
and despite a new battery the buttons did nothing...
I brought a replacement blade and holder and a local keyshop cut the blade for £3 (wow.. he saidwell it only took me 2 minutes so that works out at £300+ per hour .. and smiled...
I looked at the old unit and it looked worse for wear....

Well On my travels I have to call in at a supermarket and they have one of those Timpson uints...
I had used them previously to check some keys for a Porsche Boxster, their comment was don't buy duracell batteries for car key fobs ..they are useless... they fitted some new batteries and both fobs work perfectly..
I mentioned my Berlingo fob..
Bring it in we will have  a look..
Left it yesterday and called in today
He showed me some pictures iof the circuit board furry with corrosion..
"Well itt's all good now, I didn't have much to do early morning, so I cleaned teh board, transferred the battery connectors and board to the ne case, and the chip... had to do a bit of tweaking to get the battery connections right.. and the case to close right but all good...
How much £15.... I thought that was really good, considering he probably spend up to an hour sorting i and put a descent battery in....

So in the past I would not have considered them...

However the shoch was soon to come....
"How much for a new remote fob...
£89, and I need the van here....

Glup is that really the price?

[brodfather11]

That was what I was quoted (£80) for a new key fob by Timpsons a couple of years ago. No mention of needing the motor there.

So I got a new fob off ebay and blade I got cut at a local locksmith/cobbler shop , £20 and the remark that the chinese blades were hard on his machine and the chances of breaking his cutter were high, hence the price. He must have seen me coming !

So yes, thats the price for a new key fob programmed for your motor and you got your blade cut cheap.

[BigVtwin996]

well it seems it is the transponder that causes the problem...
They have to read the pin number from the car....
Obviously the blade is easy enough...
a mate suggested piggy backing a universal remote system on th berlingo if I needed to...
Basically you get a remote central locking kit and attach all the appropiate wires so you get a new (much cheaper) remote central locking

[Gadgetman]

£80 sounds CHEAP!
I wish they had that service here in Norway back when my key went through the Wash'n Dry back then with my old M49.

Note that there's a bit of a difference in cars built before and after 2000. In early models(such as my 1999 model), the central locking receiver/controller is in the sidewall of the car. On lefthand drive cars they're in the wall next to the lefthand rear pasenger seat. (sliding door is at the righthand side)
Later models have it integrated with the BSI and all that nonsense under the dash.
So for older cars it's possible to find a working receiver and keys at a scrapper, and just replace the key blade in the fob housing. Don't think there's any transponder chips in those old ones. (Might be slightly wrong on that, or maybe not)