Hi all, On Saturday i got my bag stolen out of my wagon cab, Amongst the stuff that went were my car key (black octy flip out style key) and driving licence, police informed but the fact that driving licence has my name and address on and whoever took it also has a key now for the car. I've moved the car to another location in a locked garage. What advice can you guys give me, Don't want the expense of changing all the locks, new keys etc...

There isnt another option. You could have the key coded out however the blade will always work still.

Changing the locks is the only option imo and I wouldnt hesitate to do it.

Contact the insurance company IMMEDIATELY.

 

Failing to do so could leave you uninsured or liable for any losses. Tell them, they can then get the locks & keys changed and the ECU recoded so that it won't recognise the old keys. OK you may have to take a hit on the NCB, but if you "play ball" with them then it shouldn't reflect too badly on your premium next year.

 

If you don't tell them then woe betide you.

As above really, either you tell the insurers or you have a car that you will never be able to use/leave parked up anywhere with confidence again!!

 

And in future, be VERY careful what you leave laying around and where you leave them - when it comes to my personal possessions, I have had bad experiences in the past and I now adopt the "trust no one" attitude to safeguard myself and my property.

If you get a new key from the dealer, both your remaining key and your new key will be recoded to the car.  In turn the key that was stolen will not start the vehicle.

 

In the meantime, you could just ask your friendly dealer to recode the existing key to the car and remove the coding for the stolen key.

 

I'd say, don't panic, but get this done sooner rather than later.  

A few years back my mother left her keys in the front door. Along with the house key was also the fob for her almost new Mondeo. She changed the locks on the front door and booked the car in to the dealers to have the missing fob removed, and a new key added. The dealer (Allen Ford of Romford - name and shame), supposedly removed the old key code and provided a new key to my mother at a cost of nearly £300.

 

Two days later my mothers car was stolen from outside her house. Allen Ford denied all responsibility, saying the missing key had been removed. Fortunately, my Mothers insurance paid out for the missing car (eventually), but she was still left with the £300 for the car fob, lost no claims bonus, and Insurance excess fee. She will not buy a Ford again.

 

Moral of the story: Make sure that the dealer definately removes all missing keys. Double and tripple check with them. just in case the dealer is as incompetent as Allen Ford.

Phoned insurance, They told me they had put a note on my policy but apart from that they didn't give me any info apart from do i wish to claim, which i don't know :think:  ...Thanks for the good advice guys, appreciate it.

Looking at options, Phoned local Skoda, They have quoted me,   £196.98 for new key/fob inc recoding, So obviously old blade would still work (whichever scumbag has it)  But won't start the car, except Orville's situation above..

I would definately change the locks. If nothing else (such as the old key not being fully removed so it would still work), they can at any time just open your car and take stuff out.

Who's your insurer?

Most will cover lost keys and replace them and locks without question as it's cheaper than the payout of say a car.

Insurer is Swiftcover, When i phoned them didn't seem too bothered, Just said that a note will be put onto the system...

If the car is locked with the remaining keyfob, and the alarm activated. I would have thought that if anyone uses the key to unlock the door manually then the alarm is still activated and would go off?

Just don't leave anything of value in there that can be nabbed quickly.

once the new key has been programmed & the stolen key has been deleted they can still unlock the door with the blade. The alarm will go off, they can put the key in the ignition & switch it on. When they try to start it the car will start for a couple of seconds then will cut out due to immob still being active

Install a multilock?

Who's your insurer?

Most will cover lost keys and replace them and locks without question as it's cheaper than the payout of say a car.

 

But that will be a claim and will affect NCB and you will have to the excess.

 

I would look at getting a new lock set fitted.

once the new key has been programmed & the stolen key has been deleted they can still unlock the door with the blade. The alarm will go off, they can put the key in the ignition & switch it on. When they try to start it the car will start for a couple of seconds then will cut out due to immob still being active

I thought with these modern deadlocks only the signal from the fob will unlock them?

You can unlock and start the car with a dead key battery.

You most certainly shouldn't be able to start the car with a dead key battery or with the normal key blade as it should require the immobiliser codes, unless of course it uses a RFID chip then it might.

I thought with these modern deadlocks only the signal from the fob will unlock them?

 

so what would be the point in having a barrel in the door if only the signal from the fob would unlock it? also if this were the case how would you get in when battery dies?

You most certainly shouldn't be able to start the car with a dead key battery or with the normal key blade as it should require the immobiliser codes, unless of course it uses a RFID chip then it might.

the battery in the key has 100% nothing to do with the immob. The immob is turned off by a small transponder chip in the end of the key housing on most model VAG apart from the newer models such as mk3 Octavia which uses a different system where the immob transponder is an 8E chip mounted to the remote board. Most earlier models use id48 glass transponders. Some really old models use id42 & id44 carbon

 

The battery is purely for the remote function. Immob & remote locking operate completely separate of each other. Also a normal key blade still has an immob transponder inside it

just to give people that don't really know what they're on about an idea of what i'm explaining here's a pic of a remote key with an id48 glass transponder

 

I'm amazed! Thanks for that, I've learned something new today! 

no worries! you could say i'm quite knowledgeable when it comes to car keys saying that i'm still learning new things all the time with new cars & systems 

unless of course it uses a RFID chip then it might.

It does.