Problem:
My Car key fob casing (Toyota Rav4) was cracking at the blade and about to die and the local Toyota dealer wanted to charge around €250 for a totally new key and transponder. I said it was just the casing that was broke and could they just replace that and he said no! Same story with the other dealers I tried.
Here’s my broken key with some bits of failed fixes including Sugru and Tape!:
Solution:
I reckoned there must be cheap replacement casings for sale somewhere so off I went to good ole eBay. eBay seller Goodtrade.Purple was selling this replacement casing and after a bit of careful reading and matching of Blade sizes, I bought a couple. Both my main key and replacement casings were cracked. They come in the below form with a blank blade that needs cutting:
I gingerly approached the local key cutting shop and asked if they could cut the new blank blade against my existing one and after a bit of head scratching they said they’d give it a go. I thought maybe they wouldn’t be able to get the fob into their machine because you can’t separate the blade from the casing but it cut fine. Next, I removed the Transponder unit from my old key and put it in the new case and screwed it back together.
The new key and replacement both worked perfectly with the car!
Total cost of replacement:
Casing, Blade & Postage from the UK – €6.95
Key Cut – €5
SAVINGS: €238.05!!
Here’s my new key:
Leon
Fantastic advice Leon. It’s totally outrageous the amount the dealers charge to replace these keys. You are completely right that if the key is cracked there is no need to do any programming of a new key as a case reapair is all that is required. We offer a mobile repair service for Toyota keys in London UK. Hope its ok to share a link. Our page offers more info about how Toyota keys snap http://www.theautolocksmith.co.uk/toyota-key-repair/
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I hope you’re not a lot dearer then the above method!?
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This imformation is a great help. Try to keep your imformation. I and other people need to understand about it. Thank you !
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