# Dear auto dealership: **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 31, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508 "2015-08-31T16:41:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/21 "2015-09-12T19:29:43Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > At the risk of ruining one of life’s little surprises, the valet key also doesn’t disarm the alarm. So if you open the door with the valet key after you locked the car with the button on the fob key (or the power lock button inside) the alarm will go off, usually in an embarrassingly crowded parking lot. My fob key sets off the alarm if I try to unlock the door with it [meaning, physically inserting the key and turning] after locking with the button. Is there a way around it? ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/22 "2015-09-13T02:11:11Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > My fob key sets off the alarm if I try to unlock the door with it [meaning, physically inserting the key and turning] after locking with the button. Is there a way around it? If you just lock the car with the key, the alarm won’t arm. If you look in the owners’ manual there’s also a rigmarole you can go through to disable the alarm entirely. But of course that’s not good if you’re in some place where you’re worried about someone smashing your windows and stealing stuff out of your car. At any rate, if you use the valet key, switching the ignition to “on” will turn the alarm off, so there’ll only be a few moments of embarrassment. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/23 "2015-09-13T03:58:05Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > But if your regular key is in your pocket, then _nobody_ else can drive your car,right? Going back to the OP… he wanted a second key which you said is not enough. The second key to my “regular” car is in the drawer so anyone could drive it when needed. Just open the drawer, take the key and go. > [@](#): > > Suppose you go to the theater tonight with your wife, driving her car. Your car is parked at home, and because the only key is in your pocket, your car is $20 000 worth of useless metal. If my wife and I are out that means that the other drivers are teen age boys. I drive a sports car so I’m perfectly happy if they don’t get to drive it… but I know they will given any chance. This is why as long as the weather is decent we would take my car. > [@](#): > > But, what the hell, with 5 other cars parked there, I suppose that’s a classic “first world” problem, right? Well, one is a state away with my oldest at college, so there are only 4 to choose from. 😃 How do we get by in the first world? ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/24 "2015-09-13T22:59:44Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > They grasp it just fine. They just see no need to overlook a source of profit(eering). > > Not _quite_ on topic, but… if you rent a car these days, you’ll often be given both keys to it. > > The keys are held together with an unbreakable cable. As in, there really IS no spare key. Although keep in mind that the expensive hassle with the newer transponder style keys is only if you don’t have two keys. If you do have two keys, you can program a third one yourself and it costs you nothing beyond buying the key and having it cut. So from a dealer profiteering standpoint, the old kind where you always had to have it professionally programmed (albeit for much cheaper) would have probably been better. Also, I imagine in the alternate reality where the rental car companies don’t cable the keys together, this thread would be full of people ranting about how the rental companies charged them hundreds of dollars just because they lost one of the keys. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/25 "2015-09-14T03:48:11Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > If you just lock the car with the key, the alarm won’t arm. If you look in the owners’ manual there’s also a rigmarole you can go through to disable the alarm entirely. But of course that’s not good if you’re in some place where you’re worried about someone smashing your windows and stealing stuff out of your car. > > At any rate, if you use the valet key, switching the ignition to “on” will turn the alarm off, so there’ll only be a few moments of embarrassment. Hee. Sometimes my mind wanders and I use the key (my last car’s autolocks broke so for years I used the key). This triggers the alarm, and it’s usually as I’m leaving from church!! :o ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/26 "2015-09-14T09:03:49Z")
Well as long as you’re not leaving early… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/27 "2015-09-14T15:18:27Z")
**Roderick** , did you get a WRX? I’ll swap you my 2014 car that has two functioning transponder/button fobs for it, and won’t even charge you extra for the second key. 😉 > [@chappachula](#): > > But if your regular key is in your pocket, then _nobody_ else can drive your car,right? > Suppose you go to the theater tonight with your wife, driving her car. Your car is parked at home, and because the only key is in your pocket, your car is $20 000 worth of useless metal. > But, what the hell, with 5 other cars parked there, I suppose that’s a classic “first world” problem, right? Here in the “first world,” there is generally a primary driver for each vehicle. So that person has one key and the other one is in a drawer at the house for when somebody else is going to drive it. Not really that complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/28 "2015-09-14T16:17:04Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > **Roderick** , did you get a WRX? I’ll swap you my 2014 car that has two functioning transponder/button fobs for it, and won’t even charge you extra for the second key. 😉 No, I didn’t get a WRX or a Crosstrek. Just a Sport Limited hatchback. Fancy wheels and leather interior, but not a bigger engine. I needed a hatchback for the space. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/29 "2015-09-14T16:20:17Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > The magic word next time you buy a car is “due bill.” Look it up. 🙂 > > … That works, so does walking out of the dealership. Either option solves any problems with missing/defective items. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/30 "2015-09-14T18:40:05Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > No, I didn’t get a WRX or a Crosstrek. Just a Sport Limited hatchback. Fancy wheels and leather interior, but not a bigger engine. I needed a hatchback for the space. Woot. I got the Sport Premium because I demanded Deep Sea Blue. Leather touches in the front, but not the whole interior. I swore I was scoping out every kind of car there was while deciding what to buy, but somehow I missed the Impreza hatchback. Now I see them everywhere. I pulled up behind a silver one and next to a black one all at the same light this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/31 "2015-09-14T19:59:02Z")
That’s pretty common, actually. It’s a sort of confirmation bias, called selective attention, or (on the Internet) the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/32 "2015-09-15T01:02:13Z")
Yeah, I’m seeing them everywhere now too, including Crosstreks which look nearly identical. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508/33 "2015-09-15T16:57:44Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Yeah, I’m seeing them everywhere now too, including Crosstreks which look nearly identical. Yep, I had a crush on the Crosstrek which I DID see everywhere but wrestled between it and the equallly reliable, cheaper but more boring Impreza sedan. Then my father who was helping me review options said, you know the Crosstrek is just the Impreza hatchback on a higher chassis? It felt like the right middle ground. Although sometimes I do dream of [http://www.motorward.com/wp-content/images/2015/01/Subaru-XV-Crosstrek-1.jpg](http://www.motorward.com/wp-content/images/2015/01/Subaru-XV-Crosstrek-1.jpg)🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-auto-dealership/729508.md?page=1)