Alternative keyfob and spare key ideas
 

I traded cars with a friend and now own a 2006 Audi A4. So far I've done OK finding parts for it. That is till I tried to get a spare key made. $400 bucks at dealership in Bakersfield and 100 mile drive! I called a mobile locksmith in Los Angeles and he said he could program one of the blanks they sell on Ebay for around 250 to 300 dollars. The reason it was so expensive he told me was because Audi charges 150 dollars for the key codes. After talking with Audi and the two local locksmiths I'm beginning to believe that what the locksmith quoted me was a pretty good deal and wondering maybe if it wasn't even too good to be true.

Apparently there's no way of getting around the dealer when it comes to making a spare key. I wonder if there are any locksmith forums that might have found a way around it. Was talking with a friend at the gym and they were telling me that the new cars can have your car shut off remotely if you are late on making a payment on your car! I've searched this forum as good as I could and apparently everyone is clueless about any alternatives to making spare keys other than taking it to a dealership to get ripped off royally.

The Audi dealer service department just called me back. They said the programming fee was 150 dollars.

I asked if they would program a key if I had it cut from a lock smith and he said "we found that if we program keys not sold by Audi that they don't work". To me this means that they would do it but not guarantee it would work.

I then asked. "If I brought more than one key in, would there be an additional fee to program it? His reply was no. "It's the same programming fee if you bring in one key or 100 keys"

I can buy a set of two blank key fobs on Amazon for 53 dollars. I would then have to get them cut by a lock smith and then bring them to Audi but there is no guarantee they would program them or that the programming would work. I read the reviews on Amazon and most of them were successful in getting their keys to work so buying an aftermarket blank key looks doable. I'm going to call some locksmiths in Bakersfield and see if I can do everything in one shot.

Just got off the phone with Bakersfield Mobile Locksmith. He wanted to come out and cut the first key for 120 dollars and 20 dollars for each additional key till I told him how far I lived. He said there was no discount if I brought the keys to him.

There is also place called "The Keyless Shop at Sears" that opens in 15 minutes. I'll give them a call and see what happens. Only one other place in Bakersfield comes up when I google audi keys there. If I'm not satisfied I may start looking in Los Angeles but that is a three or four hour drive. Either way it's pretty much an all day project but Los Angeles would probably have several Audi dealers in case the first one refuses to program a key that's not their own.

I'm thinking since it's so much trouble maybe I want to bring in 4 keys instead of 2 though I think 3 additional keys would be ideal.

This is for us to replace our worn or broken case. All of us need to do is to move the internal components from our old remote to this new case

Let's try at Amazon for better experience. .

Actually they sell both the case and complete key fobs that contain the key, ready for cutting and the electronics. You can buy the cases for as low as under ten dollars but what I am after is the whole entire thing to make new keys. I was thinking also of getting a new case for my old one too but thought it would be a better idea to get spare keys made first before I go and mess around with the existing key and accidentally do something to mess up the only key I have.

I also talked to Bakersfield Team Locksmiths and they guy said he only wanted 35 dollars to cut an Audi Key and said if I brought all for key fobs in he'd do it for 50 bucks. That means I could potentially get 4 keys made for a hundred dollars less than Audi wants to charge me for a single key even after paying the 150 bucks for Audi to program them! I intend to go that route. I think Audi is probably lying to me when they are saying the aftermarket keys wont work.

Link for key fobs for my 2006 a4

link for case only

Cheapest locksmith I have found so far in my area" (100 miles away.)

Now all I have to do is get the car running first...

Got the car running last night. Still showing a vacuum leak and check engine light on. My old OBD scanner is displaying an error code when I try to hook it up and apparently isn't the right one for my new Audi. Drove it to the gas station and it ran really nice. Especially considering. all the things still wrong with it. Has twice the power of my old car that I traded for it...

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