Lost keys today I think

[Kev555]

Yes, something ive never done before in all my years of car & van ownership but I think ive done it this time. I think ive left the keys of the Vito on top of the engine of our Santa Fe when I was topping up the oil and coolant. either fell out of engine bay onto road and gone, in the engine tray(hopefully) or I dropped them out of my coat pocket at another house 60 miles away. I have a spare thankfully but theres no blade in it and the open front doors of the van button doesn't work. I also lost my trailer lock key, garage key and work key and fob. Whats the options for getting a replacement key? I have a packet with the spare key and part numbers and barcodes on it but dont know if its relevant to the key?

 

[sonic]

Use the search engine there have been several recent post on this subject.
Not sure if the police still do retain found property, but ring the local nick. In my day we used to get loads of car keys handed in.

 

[mattkh]

Hopefully, the Santa Fe will have an under tray.

 

[Kev555]

Hopefully, the Santa Fe will have an under tray.

It does Matt, just too late tonight by time I realized they were lost to head to garage to remove it. I will have a look tomorrow eve after work but I fear they may have jingled off it. Hit it a couple of cracks underneath tonight to see if i could hear them rattling but nothing

 

[hmang]

It does Matt, just too late tonight by time I realized they were lost to head to garage to remove it. I will have a look tomorrow eve after work but I fear they may have jingled off it. Hit it a couple of cracks underneath tonight to see if i could hear them rattling but nothing

Good luck finding them Mate .

 

[M80]

Try lying under.
Hit the tray with your fist, if the key is there it should bounce and let you know.

There is a recommended chap in Birmingham can provide keys, but coming to N.I. might not be on his agenda. I would think MB are the go to for that

I've sent a suggestion by pm.

 

[umblecumbuz]

Tray off is first step I guess - messy, but necessary.
Powerful torch to search from above with engine covers off.
Magnet on a stick (I have one fitted to a wire curtain rail, gets round corners).
Or ... £150!

 

[curious]

When I lost a set of keys that contained my C-class key and my Vito key, I had to go through the hoops (ID, passport, V5,etc, etc) at both the car retailer and the commercial retailer. (admittedly the commercial guys were far less anal than the car retailer.) I couldn't get it resolved with one trip to one Mercedes outlet. Neither is allowed to deal with the others' types of vehicles.

Whilst they charged me circa £250/£260 at one for a new car key, the price for a the Vito key at thye other was circa £150. Struggle to see and additional £100 of work/materials in the car key!

Check the price with your commercial Merc outlet. You might be slightly (relatively) pleasantly surprised.

 

[Kev555]

Dropped the tray off the Santa Fe tonight and no keys sadly. Only one other place to check now before I can come to terms that they are well and truly lost. Thanks for all the advice on how to source a new set.

 

[Kev555]

Maybe Curious or another member can help me? Finally after a bit of back and forwards with the body shop my insurance company put in charge of sourcing a key for my Vito from Mercedes, the key has finally arrived. I was told by the body shop that as far as they are aware the key should fit my van and start and lock/unlock it with no visit to a Mercedes dealer? Is this correct? I thought i read on the forum here a while back that a new key has to be programmed to the vehicle?

 

[Blobcat]

Maybe Curious or another member can help me? Finally after a bit of back and forwards with the body shop my insurance company put in charge of sourcing a key for my Vito from Mercedes, the key has finally arrived. I was told by the body shop that as far as they are aware the key should fit my van and start and lock/unlock it with no visit to a Mercedes dealer? Is this correct? I thought i read on the forum here a while back that a new key has to be programmed to the vehicle?

It does but they can do it remotely and disable the old keys

 

[Kev555]

So the old key I have will be disabled once the new key is put in the ignition?

 

[Blobcat]

So the old key I have with will be disabled once the new key is put in the ignition?

It depends what Mercedes have done, they can disable old keys (if requested) if they’ve just supplied a new key then it’s unlikely they’ve disabled your old one

 

[curious]

My new key worked straight from collection from the dealer. There was no remote activation (unless they can do scary stuff I'm not aware of. Keeping the Vito in a Faraday cage from now on.) or anything else that needed to be done.
I have my own Star and deactivated the lost key myself. Not remotely, but plugged in through the OBD port. Not really necessary and wouldn't have bothered if I had to pay anyone since there was no way of identifying the lost key to my vehicle.

 

[Kev555]

Thanks Blobcat, you had me sweating there as I'm meeting the guy at enterprise car hire local to me where he's doing a drop off to receive the key. Had visions there of blocking enterprises yard and no keys working in the ignition I just said I lost a key and required a replacement, the spare key i have left starts the van and locks it but only unlocks the back doors and theres no blade with it for the locks.

 

[curious]

So the old key I have will be disabled once the new key is put in the ignition?

No. It would have originally had 2 keys and they won't know which one has gone missing to deactivate. Your Vito will potentially have 3 active keys. (Maximum of 10 allowed before you have an expensive problem.)

 

[Kev555]

Thanks Curious, from what ive been told my new key is supposed to work on receivership tomorrow fingers crossed

 

[Kev555]

I highly doubt I will ever find the other key now Curious. Other keys on the ring where valuable to me as well but there you go, only ever lost one set of keys in my lifetime and it had every important key I owned on it

 

[Kev555]

Thanks Blobcat and Curious for the advice