Ouch!! - 1998 Spare Key Cost

[280E]

Originally Posted by CNGBiFuel

If you've one key, a cable-tie to the lock-ring works. Then Timpsons for the rest. Not perfect, but it works. Volvo's security is known for being awkward.

This might cause problems with an insurance theft claim - assuming they 'rumbled it'

I think I'll do it on my lowly coupe, but would think twice on a more expensive car.

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by ASt85

INCORRECT - as a previous post points out some branches of Timpsons do have the correct code reading equipment and software to code Volvo keys.

Unfortunately block caps and red won't overcome the rolling code security system in a later car, but by all means take a trip to Timpsons and have a chat with them and when they've made you a rolling code key let us all know which branch had the kit to make the key and could access the cars security software to program it.
I've no gripe with Timpsons who went the extra mile to source a key blank for me, and no desire to see people, including myself, pay extra to Volvo, and for my wife's more expensive car I was prepared to pay up for a dealer made key. Unfortunately we are caught with 20+ year old cars with a security system designed to protect them when they were new and a few hundred for a key was a small price compared to the cost of the car. Alternatively, in my experience these cars will run for many years with relatively inexpensive maintenance, so perhaps just pay the dealer for the key and spread the cost over the years you'll own the car, it will still be cheaper than the depreciation on a newer horrid hatchback.

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

Unfortunately block caps and red won't overcome the rolling code security system in a later car, but by all means take a trip to Timpsons and have a chat with them and when they've made you a rolling code key let us all know which branch had the kit to make the key and could access the cars security software to program it.
I've no gripe with Timpsons who went the extra mile to source a key blank for me, and no desire to see people, including myself, pay extra to Volvo, and for my wife's more expensive car I was prepared to pay up for a dealer made key. Unfortunately we are caught with 20+ year old cars with a security system designed to protect them when they were new and a few hundred for a key was a small price compared to the cost of the car. Alternatively, in my experience these cars will run for many years with relatively inexpensive maintenance, so perhaps just pay the dealer for the key and spread the cost over the years you'll own the car, it will still be cheaper than the depreciation on a newer horrid hatchback.

Precisely, David. When we bought our '00(V) V70 we paid £550 for it. I looked into the cost of two spare keys (we had only the one) and fobs and it was over £400 - only £100 or so less than what we paid for the car!

But it is not just Volvo. Linda's Saab cost someone's company £29K when it was new in '95. It had a then top of the range closure/alarm/immobiliser system from the factory to protect it. We paid a little over £1000 for it in '11 and lived with the system's increasing idiosyncrasies for over a decade until very recently when they became a major embarrassment. When we eventually found someone who could resolve the issue it cost the thick end of what we originally paid for the car. The necessary ECU had to be sourced from Sweden at a cost of £500 alone!

The above, along with others' similar problems, are fully documented over on UKSaabs. Small comfort, I know; as you say, part of the price we pay for running the cars that we do. Spares for once expensive old cars come at new car prices.

Regards, John.

[amazondean]

I couldn't even get Volvo to make me a key that started the car, never mind Timpsons or anyone else. I still only have one key! I think i am going to have to use the tywrap method before i lose my one and only key!!

[400-ascona]

I know it's not a perfect answer, but I only have one key and fob. I've put a Tile on the key ring so that I can always locate it. Think they retail a little over £20. I have them on all my keys, and indeed things I keep misplacing..... Apparently it's an old age thing according the the wife and kids!
The only occasionally annoying side effect is I sometime accidentally press the button in my pocket, which causes my phone to start singing (you can use the tile to find your phone, or your phone to find your tile)! The slight bonus is that the family seem to find this more embarrassing!

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by 400-ascona

... I have them on all my keys, and indeed things I keep misplacing..... Apparently it's an old age thing according the the wife and kids!
...

Car and house keys are always in my pocket, truck keys at work go on a dog clip on my belt, but my glasses!!! spent half an hour yesterday searching for them, turned out I'd left them on the table in the garden, trouble is with the special lenses and flexi-metal frames my glasses make a Volvo key look cheap.

[400-ascona]

Originally Posted by 400-ascona

I know it's not a perfect answer, but I only have one key and fob. I've put a Tile on the key ring so that I can always locate it. Think they retail a little over £20. I have them on all my keys, and indeed things I keep misplacing..... Apparently it's an old age thing according the the wife and kids!
The only occasionally annoying side effect is I sometime accidentally press the button in my pocket, which causes my phone to start singing (you can use the tile to find your phone, or your phone to find your tile)! The slight bonus is that the family seem to find this more embarrassing!

Interestingly someone else raised tracking for cars in a WhatsApp group I'm in. Whilst the Tile I use are good, if lost or stolen, you need to have someone with the Tile app active passing nearby to track. However, with the Apple equivalent, you only need someone with an Apple product with the 'Find My' app active. Got to be a good chance of that happening (especially if some light fingered... has lifted your keys/car/whatever the tag is attached to, as the thief is likely to have his own Apple product quietly reporting the location of your product as he makes off with it)!