A question about car keys & theft

Factual Questions
1

Let’s just say someone has stolen my car key and my car remote thingy. Further let us suppose that it was done to cause me trouble, not necessarily to steal my car. I have spare keys so the car is being driven.

What will it cost to rekey the car? It’s a Nissan product.
Would my car insurance cover this? I have full coverage.
Would my homeowner’s insurance cover this?
The car insurance and homeowner’s are different companies.

Thanks!

2

You could probably file a claim under either policy. But I’d think the cost of rekeying the car would be less than your deductible on either one, so you’d end up paying it yourself anyway. (I sure hope it’s less! Otherwise you may need to find a different locksmith. Or are you stuck going to the dealer for this?)

3
  1. cost depends on where you live. Rates vary from city to city from locksmith shop to locksmith shop.
  2. You will have to ask your insurer if your covered
  3. same as 2
  4. ditto again.

Depending on the specialty of the locksmiths in your are, some may very well be able to rekey the car and delete the lost remote from the computer so it no longer works. If not the dealership should be able to preform the same service.

To find the information you seek your gonna have to run the phones for a bit to find the best price.

Osip

4

The Nissan dealerships in the Boston area were charging about $80 to rekey a car 2 years ago.

As another poster said, it’s probably not worth the insurance hassle to do it that way.

5

Thanks for the information,StephenG I was looking for a ballpark figure and you helped a lot. The WAG’s I was getting at work ranged into the $300 to $400 range. $80 sounds much better.

Osip and t-bonham@scc.net thanks you for your answers, too. I guess I need to call the local dealership and find out for sure.

6

You probably need to inform your insurer regardless.

7

qts ,Why do I need to tell my insurors if the amount is less than the deductible and I will be paying for it out of pocket?

8

I imagine qts was thinking about theft vulnerability resultant from keys being in someone else’s possession.

9

If you still have a key it is just a matter of getting it copied and should only be a couple dollars. If it is one of the newer keys with a ‘chip’ in it it could be closer to $100. Even if you don’t have a key most dealers can make one based on your Vin number. Remotes are overpriced from the dealer but can be found on ebay for less than $20. There is a procedure to clear all the remotes and than program the ones you have to work with your car.

If by ‘rekey’ you mean change your locks so the old key will not work anymore than I would guess it would be pretty expensive.

10

$80 is probably the cost to make NEW keys for the car, not to replace the locks.

11

Making a new key is $5, rekeying the whole car for a new set $100.

kirk,
If you ever need a key made let me know. At $80 each I’ll be the richest locksmith in town. :slight_smile:

12

Yes, what I was looking for was to replace the locks so that the stolen key and remote will no longer open and start my car. Still, I guess I’m back to calling the dealership and locksmiths to price the work. I’m thinking that if I change the door lock and get the remote’s programming changed maybe I can leave the ignition lock alone and at least save that much. I lock the car whenever I go anywhere. Anyone see major flaws in my thinking on this?

13

labdude I was writing my last post while you were posting. $100 to replace the locks isn’t going to be fun but it is manageable. My deductible for both car and house is $500 so I’m not going to bother them with this detail.

I just like to know about what things are going to cost so I don’t get so shocked when I go to the dealership (or whatever.) It also helps to not feel like I got ripped off if I have a general price range to expect. Thanks for your help.

14

The only flaw I see is that either you’ll have to carry around two keys (for the door and ignition), or take a chance on being locked out of your car if the battery on the remote dies.

15

Get a couple extra keys made from your spares

cut them all in half at the exact same spot (so that each piece has some of the "teeth)

shove one half into the locks and push it in the rest of the way with the other half of the key

Now only the keys that are cut in half will fit into the locks and be useful

cost is for copying keys only. of course if it screws up and doesnt work then you have to change the locks…which is what you were going to do anyway.

16

I can see several potential problems with that trick, Sigene. I think it would be wise to not do it.

17

Well, if your friend just took your keys to be annoying and you believe he has no intention of stealing your car, then why bother doing anything? If you need another key, get one for $5.

And if he ever DOES steal it, well, then you know where to start looking.

Then again, any friend who steals your keys for fun and won’t give them back probably isn’t that great of a friend anyway, and you should either re-key the car or (cheaper) tell the cops he stole your keys. :smiley:

18

While there may be reasons you’re hesitant not to do the police report, it may be the prudent way to go, because:

  1. If your police are anything like the ones I’ve encountered, they devote essentially no active effort to individual car thefts. Yeah, they’ll call you when they find your car abandoned by joyriders, and will have expensive auto theft “squads” doing big-picture “theft prevention” activities; but if what you’re worried about is your acquaintance getting into a big hassle for pulling a stupid prank to annoy you . . . odds are against it. And . . .
  2. If something non-kosher happens with your car in future, the fact that you let an incident like this go unreported could come back to haunt you. My car got stolen by joyriders. They either knew how to use a slim jim, or had multiple duplicate keys (at least before electronic keys, you would hear that there were only about 24 key combinations for each model of car; I don’t know if that’s true), or just popped the flimsy locks with a screwdriver without much damage (I’ve done this myself when I lost the ignition key). Anyway . . . the insurance company, based solely on the police’s lazy report that there was “no (obviously visible) damage” to the locks when the car turned up, gave me considerable trouble about paying my claims for other damage, and wanted to interrogate me about who else had keys, whether I’d ever lost a key, etc., stating at one point that if an “acquaintance” had taken it with a key I allowed them access to, as they apparently suspected, there was no theft and thus no coverage liability. While I eventually prevailed, their willingness to harass me about whether I’d kept adequate control over my keys (when I had) makes me think that, unless you are willing to fib if you ever make a claim, you should make a good paper trail here that you’ve tried to prohibit and cure any third-party access to your car.
19

Not a good idea. Nissan keys are shoulder guided keys. The shoulders on the keys is what stops the key and lines it up in the proper location. If you do this, and do it correctly, it will work, until someone sticks something in the lock and pushed the broken key further into the lock. This is not advised under ANY sober condition.

20

Thanks, Osip and **Gary T ** rest assured, I was never going to try the “cut the key in half trick,” at least not with my car!

Thanks, everyone. It’s not a friend that has gotten my key, it’s a student with whom I have had a few discipline issues. To be on the safe side, I’ve decided to go with rekeying. If I can prove the theft, I’m having her charged criminally.