stolen keys

Anonymous · October 23, 2008, 18:19

I got my MR2 2 months ago and love it (my first sports car) .However some scumball broke into my house and stole my keys . Thankfully the car was locked away in my garage. Getting new keys proved a problem . Toyota quoted me at least £1300 to replace the engine management chip /system and provide me new keys,I couldnt believe it.
A friend of mine gave me the name of a web site which proved very useful http://www.bow-locks.co.uk they specialise in lost Toyota keys a guy came to the house and reprogrammed car to two new keys, on a Sunday and half the price Toyota quoted.
Now enjoying my MR2 again

David

onion86 · October 23, 2008, 18:59

Glad you got some more keys.

Please say not £650?! Did you get the locks changed for that price?

We have a guy in our affiliates section called CheapToyotaParts. Didn't have any master keys for my car and he can get you a new one for £80 (for future reference). Programming is easy yourself, I added the key in 2 minutes.

Welcome to the club.

GSB · October 23, 2008, 20:26

Wasn't it covered by your insurance? Mine is...

Also, did you confirm that the original keys were deleted from the ECU?

Anonymous · October 25, 2008, 18:23

Thanks for your replies .Didnt claim on insurance because of excess and want to get my no claims down. Also as I had no keys for the car I think this was biggest problem also if ecu wasnt reprogrammed then the thieves could have got the car . Does this make sense??
I have another problem with the battery so will post a queiry on maintenance section

Many thanks

David

SteveJ · October 25, 2008, 18:38

But you didnt answer the questions -

1) Were the old keys deleted from the ECU? If not then the car is still vulnerable

2) Were the lock barrels replaced? If not then they can come back and either drive the car away (assuming #1 hasnt been actioned) or unlock the car and roll it onto a trailer to deal with the immobiliser later.

PS. You would be claiming on the house insurance not the car.

Anonymous · October 25, 2008, 19:42

*Mods* Delete if inappropriate

Please forgive the link to my other forum but if it can help members here save money, all the better CLICKY

Anonymous · October 25, 2008, 20:11

as far as I am aware ecu completely reprogrammed to new keys old keys will not start the car
locks not changed but car always kept in garage
apparently it is common for stolen keys to appear on ebay although I dont completely understand this

Thanks

david

SteveJ · October 25, 2008, 20:14

Quote from: "davidclark"locks not changed but car always kept in garage
apparently it is common for stolen keys to appear on ebay although I dont completely understand this

They know where the keys came from (info which will most likely be sold with the keys). All they need to do then is follow you until you park the car in a public place.

Given the way the keys were taken, CHANGE THE BARRELS!

You should also notify your insurance company that there is a set of keys 'in the wild' as you may find yourself with no cover if the car does go walkies.

uktotty · October 25, 2008, 22:33

Just bear in mind that if they stole your keys from your HOUSE then surely your house keys contain you garage keys, so anyone wishing to steal the car from the garage wont have too much difficulty?

currymonster · July 3, 2009, 09:52

Sorry for dragging up an old post (but i suppose thats what happens when you search).

On wednesday we were burgled, they have taken all my wifes jewellery, watches, digital camera and our spare keys to both cars (all hidden away in the bedroom). Now i don't think they have intended to take the keys, as i don't think that is what they were targeting, however they still have them. My house insurance tell me that the keys are not covered as they are 'car accessories' - how rediculous, so i am going to have to claim off my car insurance. I have notified them already, and will have a £300 excess to pay, but just wondering if there is another (cheaper) way of having the locks and ignition changed and a new codes to protect the imobilizer. Toyota have told me they can re-program my original key for £50, but this as mentioned before does not stop them getting in the car and trying to rip it apart to try to hot wire it. Toyota have also quoted £1400 (approx) for parts only to have all the locks changed.

Should i now just leave it to the insurance to sort or can i have the work done for alot cheaper and have it done out of my insurance?

Any advice would be great.

Thanks.

aaronjb · July 3, 2009, 09:55

I think your only other option is likely to be to try and find a secondhand lockset (with two sets of keys, if you're really really lucky) and an ECU in a breakers, from the same year car.. Swapping everything over would work perfectly (as the new keys would be coded to the new ECU you put in).

But labour is still going to be pretty expensive - stripping down two doors, stripping down the steering column, new retaining bolts (since they are usually single-use bolts to prevent tampering)..

wbarrwebster · July 3, 2009, 13:31

Just a thought..

My car had no alarm.I suspect it was an European import.....anyway no alarm......so I spent £250 on a META Alarm upgrade. Basically the alarm is operated by the existing remote, the only diference is that I have the winking light low down on the centre bottom of my windscreen. Anyone jumps in and all hell breaks loose ( I couldn't afford the circular sword accesssory)

What about buying getting your original keys for the car from mr T but fitting an additional alarm? Ok, it means your gonna have another remote but any moron who thinks he can deactivate the stadard alarm and get off with the car is gonna get a surprise.... Why not ask a professional alarm company if this is possible..got to be the best option under the circumstances IMHO.

B

roger · July 3, 2009, 13:34

Quote from: "currymonster"My house insurance tell me that the keys are not covered as they are 'car accessories' - how rediculous, so i am going to have to claim off my car insurance.

If it was just a case of getting some new keys I would certainly argue this one.

If it is a case of new & different keys which require alteration to the vehicle then I reckon they are probably correct - but still worth a trawl through the small print (or ask them to point you at the appropraite disclaimer).

You might want to have a word with Affiliate Chris at CTP who is offering keys / reprogramming etc. He may well be able to come up with a solution that doesn't require major surgery.

currymonster · July 3, 2009, 15:20

Thanks for the replys guys. I think i want new keys as i don't really want anyone getting in the car at all even if they can't drive it away. I suppose really if i have the central locking bleeper changed then in theory if it doesn't unlock then they would just walk away.
At the end of the day £300 excess isn't too bad if it keeps my pride and joy safe. My insurance company should be looking at this as a preventative action, but i guess the honest people never get rewarded.

markiii · July 3, 2009, 15:22

your still missing teh point on teh barrells

you don't need central locking if you have teh keys

Anonymous · July 3, 2009, 15:29

Quote from: "currymonster"At the end of the day £300 excess isn't too bad

Yes, and a claim, so your renewal will soar.

currymonster · July 3, 2009, 15:39

I don't know if that was aimed at me or not, but as I said I think insurance is the right way to go to ensure everything is replaced and secured. I mainly just wanted to check that there wasn't another way it could be done, ie a diy job.

Just a quick update (which has just happened half way though this post), just had a message to say that one of my bags that was stolen has just been found with my E111 card in is and several other items, so fingers crossed my keys are with these 'other items'.

Thanks again for the support, i don't post much myself, but am a big reader.

currymonster · July 5, 2009, 13:12

Well the keys were not recovered in the bag, just a couple of watches and a load of empty jewellery boxes. However yesterday we decided to have a drive up to where the bag was found, only to see a load of other cr*p of ours (boxes etc) and the gloves they had used. I then saw both sets of spare keys just hanging on a branch in a tree!! What a relief! I may still have the keys re programmed just for piece of mind, but so glad that we have them back. I phoned the police to say that we were in the park and that we have found other items including the car keys and they just told me to bag everything up and take it to the station. As you can imagine i have not handed the keys back over. They have now gone in a very recently purchased safe!

wbarrwebster · July 5, 2009, 14:08

Under the circustances, not TOO bad!!

Hope the morons die a horrible death!!

B

stolen keys

uktotty