JDM keyfobs

[rene7]

Anyone know whether the keyfobs that come with JDM cars are easily obtainable & programable in UK? Anyone bought one? and how much did it cost?
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Reason I ask is I've phoned Dealers about several cars recently that when I ask about the car having 2 keys, most only have 1 fob with the car - duh - IMO any decent dealer ought to get a 2nd fob Before offering the car for sale, a car with only 1 fob is unsaleable IMO.
Dealers get very defensive when you ask WHY's there only 1 fob with the car and come out with plenty of stupid BS excuses WHY
Anyone else encountered this??
Every car I phoned about that didn't specifically mention the car having 2 keys in the 'ad - only had one

[Axeboy]

Depends on the car, case by case, and depends on the age as well

Its common for only 1 key on imports, many spare keys get sold on by the auction employees for a little cash I expect.

Newer smart proximity keys will be hard to get spares made, not to say that someone somewhere cant do it, but its a risk. Older stuff I generally find is do-able.

Most JDM keys work on a different frequency to UK/EU keys

Edited by Axeboy on Wednesday 13th July 08:26

[MattyD803]

As above, it'll likely depend on alot of things, but for example, with Nissan Elgrands (MPVs) from the 2000-2010 era, which are keyless entry and keyless go, replacement keys and fobs are readily available from a number of car key specialists - I don't believe there is anything too technically different with the programming process, but getting the fob for a non-UKDM vehicle can be a little pricier.

The guy who did mine was Martyn Clinton over in Cheltenham - probably well worth giving him a call to discuss what you need - I get the impression there wasn't much he couldn't do.

Cheltenham Auto Locksmith

[mersontheperson]

Axeboy said:

Depends on the car, case by case, and depends on the age as well

Its common for only 1 key on imports, many spare keys get sold on by the auction employees for a little cash I expect.

Edited by Axeboy on Wednesday 13th July 08:26

Some cars I have bought from auctions have more than one key, some don’t. Same as when I am buying privately. I have to challenge the view on ‘auction employees selling the spare keys’ this would be theft and would be rooted out pretty quickly. This type of petty criminal activity is very rare in Japan, I would think that it’s just the seller not providing any spare keys.

[TommoAE86]

My Skyline and Crown both came with two keys, regarding the latter which is much more modern the Australian's don't have issues getting them, including the watch-key that was also available;

[rene7]

Thanks for replies - As I said I wouldn't buy a car with only one fob, My wife's blademaster has 2, [thankfully she learn't after plenty of hassle with her previous car a VW Beetle, where even the local VW dealer was unable to sort out a spare fob, charged her OTT for one that never worked properly though], my next car will have keyless entry and a 5 button fob, so V important to get 2 working one's with the car. Can't the dealers understand the importance of 2 fobs, or are they just like everyone thinks Bullstting 'cheapskates'
Axeboy
Exactly my thinking, let the seller sort out the 2nd fob, far too specialised for your average auto locksmith
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MattyD803
Thanks for the Cheltenham link, I'll mention this to any other dealers attempting to sell me a car with only 1 fob. Did he actually supply a working spare fob for you car, or progam a different fob to suit your car?
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Tommo ae86
The 'Crown' watch looks cool, do you have one for your car?

[Axeboy]

mersontheperson said:

Some cars I have bought from auctions have more than one key, some don’t. Same as when I am buying privately. I have to challenge the view on ‘auction employees selling the spare keys’ this would be theft and would be rooted out pretty quickly. This type of petty criminal activity is very rare in Japan, I would think that it’s just the seller not providing any spare keys.

Have to agree to disagree there.

Every private sale I've had I have had 2 keys at least here, apart from an old Austin Mini recently. For JDM imports, its been probably 30 or 40% that had 2 keys or more out of more than 20 imports. Its not the import agent keeping the keys. A quick look on the Japanese Yahoo auctions or similar finds an abundance of single spare keys, quite a coincidence.

Its not been a huge problem as Ive had spares made for most of them, but one or two smart keys have proven to be difficult/expensive.

Likewise, gearknobs go missing notoriously so, especially Honda Titanium versions from Type R's. So the pretty crime certainly happens.

Edited by Axeboy on Thursday 14th July 08:01

Edited by Axeboy on Thursday 14th July 08:05

[mersontheperson]

The gear knob thing is the staff on the ships, they get parked on the RO-RO ferries and then ‘disappear’ during the crossing 😊 But these are very low paid people who are struggling to make a buck for their large families, not condoning it, but it’s the way that it is. Often now the gearknobs are removed before shipping and sent to the vendor with the books spare keys etc

Knowing Japan, I would suggest that keys are lost after a big night out in the pub, or end up in house clearance of a dead estate etc.

You may be right, and I am not saying that keys don’t go missing, but I have been to lots of Japanese auctions and personally don’t think it’s auction staff. There is a strict process about mentioning number of keys, that hours on the auction sheet, so if they don’t come with the car, the buyer can refuse to pay.

[TommoAE86]

My Skyline 'lost' it's gearknob when it arrived, Crown fortunately is skrewed on so they can only rag it around.

[rene7]

Mersontheperson
Interesting info' I never realised that the number of keys etc with the car were listed at the japanese auctions
Would the fact that a car only have one fob affect the auction sale price?
Still don't understand why a british dealer going to all the trouble/expense of buying in Japan and shipping to Uk would buy any car less than perfect, [missing a keyfob etc..] when there's plenty of choice of vehicles available, also never realised that the documents etc were posted to Uk buyer. Thanks for that.
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The cheltenham link above doesn't work so wasn't able to speak to them about availablity of spare fobs etc.
Surely a gearknob is simple to replace compared to modern keyfob

Edited by rene7 on Friday 15th July 11:20

[Axeboy]

Its not listed as such. Sometimes in the free text they will say that it has 2 keys.

All of the cars I have imported that had 2 keys never stated it as such. You do see it on some listings but its not common

Edited by Axeboy on Friday 15th July 18:50