Hi All, I'm the guy that ran the wheels off a 93 Grand Cherokee. Lots of help from this newsgroup helped me to put 277,000 safe and fun miles on it. I traded (nearly gave) it to a local used car dealer for a 2002 Grand Cherokee Laredo with some very nice options, such as a Limited interior group and other nice touches. Nice car. I only received one key and fob with the vehicle however. The dealer did apologize that that's all there was. Going to the dealership today, I'm informed that a spare key will run me $50 plus another $40 to program the damn thing. How in the Devil can they get away with that???? I have a greater understanding of the phrase 'stealership' now. I didn't even catch my breath long enough to ask what another Fob would cost. Okay so, do I have ny other options on this? I'm not one to lose keys at all, but I do like the security of having one hanging up at home, just in case. I've seen the fobs on EBay for a few $'s but my manual says I need two of them to be able to program a third one. Can't just program one with the Information Center. I'm still really pissed. The parts guy at the stealership was even able to keep a straight face. Jeesh. And yeah, I asked the dealer I bought it from. He did only get the one and he did mention that before I paid him. So, my bad in that dealing. Thanks Guys. D
Just for what it's worth. I bought a spare key on Ebay last year and it worked great and was half the price.
You CAN find things cheaper but sometimes the programming is bucksy
A locksmith should be able to program a key for you but as for the remote, you may have trouble there. Your dealership should do it for you at no charge, and you should ask them to.
Mine did, and bought me a cuppa coffee while I waited.
The remote requires the dealership machine (locksmith's machine wouldn't do it) so I resold the extra remote I bought..
You are correct in some dealerships offer extra service at no charge. My son-in-law also only got one remote and they told him to buy one off eBay and they would program it for free.
He then said that the programming costs nothing and only takes a couple minutes so they do it as a freebie to promote customer loyalty.
My local dealer wanted $50 for the remote programming, I guess that he deserves the nickname 'Jake the Snake."
I bought one once with a 72 hour no questions asked return clause in the contract. I don't remember what state it was, or even if it was just something the dealer offered. I suspect that Stupendous Man knows what he is talking about. If you watched People's Court like my daughter did every single day when she was pregnant, you would know that you can get out of any contract, if there wasn't a true "meeting of the minds" when you signed it. Of course your trade-in is likely gone in ten minutes, on the trailer bound for the auctioneer.
The hassle and expense to get a replacement Transponder key consistes of a day at the dealership and $100 (They charge $50 for the key blank and $50 for the programming.)
If you lost your only key add a weekend after 6 pm tow charge (this is when it is most likely to happen)
Your option: Buy a key on eBay and get it cut at your corner locksmith. You can program it yourself in less than 30 seconds
My experience: I bought my '02 second hand and only recieved 1 key. I bought 2 on eBay for $11.99 each (free shipping) and had them both cut by my local (professional) locksmith and one of the keys programmed for $24.95. I programmed the second key.
You can program your own replacements (up to 8 keys) at home as long as you have 2 working keys in this case the cost is just for that of the key blank and the charge for a locksmith to do the cutting.
Think of it as a type on insurance you only pay for one time. You hope you never need it but.........
Billy Ray, you are absolutely right. This is the best way around it that I've found, and you helped lead me to it. Damned if I give the dealer, who I purchased a lot of parts from for my old
93 GC from, over $90 for a key. Plain ridiculous imho. Thank you all for your input. And to Stupendous Man; your way is not too bad to think about. If I was truly independent, it would be a option. Thanks again. D
Man... I just hate it when Billy Ray makes sense like that ... heh (he generally does)
My personal approach to this, and I would really like to see you give it a try. Worst case scenario is they will say no.
Go to the sales manager at your dealership. Sit down and look him in the eye, and tell him what's going on. Explain to him about your loyalty as a customer and that this is causing some pretty hard feelings and thatthough you have been a faithful customer to them, that this will likely cost them not only your business, but cause enough ill will that you will likely tell your friends, family and fellow Jeepers about how shabbily they have treated you over a KEY.
Explain that you will provide both the key and a remote , all you want them to do is program it for you and you want them to do it for free.
See what he says. If he says No then ask to talk to the owner. Tell the owner how his sales manager seems to think that customers are disposable. If the owner is unavailable, get his name and write him a letter.
In the last ten years I have had the good fortune to have dealerships that value my business. I don't buy a lot and sometimes I buy used. I'm a long damn ways from rich. W're just working middle class people living on a root beer budget. But, there have been times when I have had to look someone in the eye and call bullshit on one of their policies over a $20 repair or a little part or something.
Most recenty I went in to my dealership. As usual we laughed and talked and carried on with all the guys from the different departments.. Then I went and hugged the sales manager, asked how his new baby is and told him I was off to buy a spare tire cover.
I went to the parts guy, who is a mouse. He has the personality of a dog that's been kicked once too many times. He would like to be friendly, but it seems that people here tend to be rough on parts guys and it's a damn shame. Parts guys are great!
Well, I ordered my cover, WOW $68.00!!
I went back to the sales maanger, he asked if I got it ordered and I told him "Yep! But WOW $68.00! - Oh well, I like it!" He jumped out of his chair and went to the parts department and asked the parts guy what the markup was on it, and the parts guy told him not much. He then told him to write it up on a new car sale. Then the sales manager decided to comp me the tire cover.. I was tickled as hell!
Now, I know this is the long way to go to tell you that I have an amazing dealership, and I do. We have a deal. I don't beat them to death on a price, and they spoil me rotten when I go in. They have comped me things like new owner's manuals, a spare set of new floor mats (front and rear), an oil change with Mobile 1, car washes, programming a keys and remote, and doing everything they possibly can to make me alwas feel as if I were their most valued customer.
You need to make YOUR dealership remember that YOU are their most valued customer. One of hundreds, but each customer they have makes a difference.
Oh, one more thing. If you can't get them to do it for you ask the final person who says no, for the address of the Chrysler corporation's customer relations department.
No one wants you to tell daddy on them. Stick up for yourself, and do it with a smile and a handshake.
Jeeze, sounds like you have a great dealership. Mine's like a bunch of automatons...and they don't wash trucks, much less smile. Maybe it's the town...
I really do. Surprisingly too! When we went there to buy the Liberty, the sales manager jokingly called me a Yankee. Mind you, I wasn't raised in the south, but my folks come from the south and I looked him in the eye and explained to him that it wasn't funny. For just a moment there we were nose to mose (ok, me on my tippys, it had to be a riot!) and then we all laughed and we have gotten alont famusly ever since.
It's too bad that your group is such a bunch of sticks in the mud... c'mon over! I'll share!
"> When we went there to buy the Liberty, the sales manager jokingly called me
The "War of Nawthun Agression" was over a long time ago. :-)
A few years ago my wife and I traveled to Natchez MS and stayed at a bed and breakfast. At dinner we were seated next to a young local couple who explained to us the proliferation of boiled peanut stands along the roadsides. They explained when the Yankees came down and obliterated everything they only thing the locals could find to eat were "bahld peanuts." The way they described it you would think it happened a couple months ago.
I was raised in Southern Arkansas so I am very familiar with the culture (bahld peanuts aren't popular in AR) but I still don't understand why some folks can't get over the fact that the South lost.
Here they are quite nice to your face, but the moment you turn your back you can feel the daggers. It goes about a yard up my ass. If they are going to be rude, they should do it to my face so I can give it right back.
I've had a number of locals 'politely' imply some disrespect because I sound like a Yankee, when I tell them that two generations of my family were from Jackson County TN, they purse up and ask where it's at. I get that evil Irish gleam in my eye and ask something like "You REALLY don't know where it is? Huh, I thought you were a native."
Myself, I'm a "Westerner" born and raised in California. Add to that I'm an old Irish woman with a big mouth and an attitude... I'm in trouble ALL the time.
I was born in California too, raised there until I was 9. Then I got dragged all over the place until I landed here about 25 years ago. Is Maryland North or South?! Heck, everyone's from somewhere else in Annapolis!
Two people here actually born in California? I thought local law was that nobody was allowed to be born here, you had to be born somewhere else and move here??!!
Now, I am more typical of Californians, born in North Dakota, raised in Montana, lived all over the freakin map, and settled down in California.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.