The Shocking Cost To Replace Broken Or Stolen Car Keys

Tuesday, 10. February 2015

Have you ever, lost or stood on your car key (I use the expression ‘key’ lightly). My brother in law once had his BMW key eaten by their dog, just before the car was due to be returned at the end of the lease.

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He wasn’t too worried until he saw the cost of the replacement. I was staggered to read a report from company, Recover Me, whose founding director, Robin Reames, revealed the cost of replacement keys on the UK’s top 10 selling models. He explained that finding out the cost of a replacement key is nigh on impossible until you need to replace it.

Hence the reason for revealing the costs, which average £206 per car. Of course the reason why the costs are going up and will continue to rise is the amount of information stored within the circuitry of the key. It’s like a mini black box. I remember taking my BMW 7 series in for a service a couple of years ago and the service agent asked for my key, not to drive the car but to see what needed to be done!

In order to make sure you take good care of your car keys here is a list of the top 10 selling cars with the cost of the replacement key alongside:

  1. Ford Fiesta                          £220
  2. Ford Focus                          £220
  3. Vauxhall Corsa                  £135
  4. Vauxhall Astra`                £130
  5. VW Golf                               £190
  6. Nissan Qashqai                £280
  7. Fiat 500                              £230
  8. BMW 3 Series                    £216
  9. VW Polo                             £210
  10. BMW 1 Series                    £233

Shocking or what, worth their weight in gold – literally!! By Graham Hill

Graham Hill’s Famous Car Review Focuses On The New BMW 1 Series

Friday, 22. July 2011

BMW 118d (E87) Facelift

Image via Wikipedia

My review this week isn’t some dopey supercar that no-one can afford and if you spurted away from traffic lights in it on full power would leave your small intestines still waiting at the lights. Nope it is a sensible car, the all new BMW 1 Series. It has been a popular car since its introduction because it enables bakers and other business owners who like Read more »

See Which Cars Are Selling Most

Tuesday, 31. May 2011

BMW Logo in Düsseldorf Hellerhof: Hans Branden...

Image via Wikipedia

April saw an increase in the sale of premium cars such as BMW and Audi. Whilst new car sales suffered during the month the premium brands all saw growth. The companies that showed growth included Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, BMW and Saab. Jaguar was the only make to suffer with sales down 60%. BMW even got into the top 10 car sales with its 3 Read more »

Graham Hill Not Inspired By New BMW

Thursday, 26. May 2011

My car review this week is the new BMW 4Series. We will see it in 2012 but I have to say I’m not particularly inspired. I’m a lover of BMW’s but after losing the plot with the X6 they’ve now set their sights on a mini looking version based on the 3 Series. It’s a 5Dr Coupe which I thought might be an exciting proposition but it isn’t a patch on the Mercedes E Read more »

Graham Hill Names The Top Ten Selling Cars Of 2010

Tuesday, 8. February 2011

Nissan Qashqai Facelift

Image via Wikipedia

Who wants to know the best selling cars of 2010? No-one? Well tough I’m going to tell you anyway! The Fiesta tops the chart for the second year but the Nissan Qashqai has popped into the top ten as a result of Nissan’s car sales hike from 77,924 in 2009 to 87,396 in 2010, a jump of 15%. This made Nissan the most popular Japanese car maker in the UK overtaking Toyota who suffered badly with its massive recall dropping sales by 15%. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) who Read more »

Top Passers Of MOT Tests Revealed

Sunday, 26. September 2010

LET`S PLAY - SPOT THE CAR - 3
Image by CARLOS62 via Flickr

Halfords owned Nationwide Autocentres has revealed the top ten 3 year old cars and 5 year old cars to pass the MOT amongst the UK’s best selling cars. This information is normally very hard to find so Halfords have pretty much broken ranks by revealing the information that I print out below: 

3 Year Old Cars % Fail
BMW 3 Series 7
VW Golf 11
Ford Mondeo 12
Ford Fiesta 13
Ford Focus 13
Renault Clio 13
Vauxhall Astra 14
Ford KA 15
Vauxhall Corsa 20
Renault Megane 25

 

5 Year Old Cars % Fail
Ford Fiesta 20
VW Golf 21
Vauxhall Astra 21
Ford Focus 22
Peugeot 206 24
Ford Mondeo 27
Peugeot 307 33
Renault Clio 34
Renaukt Megane 35
Vauxhall Corsa 39

The figures were based on the top 10 selling cars during the year of manufacture according to Halfords. One or two surprises there I have to say but it would be interesting to see stats for all cars, not just the top sellers, now that would be revealing! Are you surprised by any of the figures, drop me a note? By Graham Hill

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Auto Express New Car Awards

Friday, 20. August 2010

Auto Express have announced their New Car awards for 2010. Over 47 pages they have listed all their major award winners. The overall car was a bit of a shock as it was the Skoda Yeti.  Some of the more interesting best cars were as follows:  Read more »

New Wider Cars Are More Dangerous

Friday, 18. June 2010

Cars are getting wider and the question is being asked why? Are the manufacturers on a mission to increase replacement door mirrors after they are pretty much smashed to pieces after being clipped by an oncoming car, in ever tighter roads carrying bus lanes and cycle lanes? It certainly seems that way. Or is there another reason? No one seems to know, it is either a bit of subterfuge as I’ve suggested or are they all Read more »

What Is The Most Reliable Car On The Road?

Friday, 13. November 2009

Trade journal Fleet News has carried out a survey into reliability of cars by contacting the top 50 leasing companies and asking which manufacturer and which individual cars have proven to be most reliable over the last 12 months. BMW just pipped Honda to the post as the most reliable manufacturer with Audi coming in third, jumping from 7th place last year. Audi was highest rated dealership network for Read more »

I Explain Which Cars Are Most Reliable

Sunday, 9. November 2008

Looking for a reliable car has always meant that you must look in the direction of Japanese cars but following the annual survey carried out into company car reliability BMW has come out on top. The survey which sampled 881,000 vehicles leased by the top FN50 companies showed BMW to become the first ever non-Japanese company to top the reliability charts. Since the reliability charts were launched either Read more »