How Many Keys

[chummy]

I have just bought a 2009 RAV 4 from a Toyota main dealer but only got two keys with it, one was a press button key and the other a Grey key with no press buttons on it. I was assured by the salesman that this was correct and there was never a second press button key supplied with the vehicle. Can anyone confirm this. The car is a petrol engine model and can anyone confirm that it has a chain cam engine which the salesman assured me that all Toyota engines were chain driven cams.

[BJB]

There should be three keys with the car. Two with the push buttons for remote locking and unlocking and the grey one with no buttons. This key will manually open the doors but not the glove box which can be useful at service time or for valet parking to keep your glove box contents secure. Go back to the dealer and get them to give you another button key. It will cost you well in excess of £100 if you buy it yourself and it will need programming to your car.

Your petrol rav will have a chain cam but the dealer is wrong to say all Toyotas have chain cams. Some have belt cams which need changing at 60,000 (from memory?)

[chummy]

There should be three keys with the car. Two with the push buttons for remote locking and unlocking and the grey one with no buttons. This key will manually open the doors but not the glove box which can be useful at service time or for valet parking to keep your glove box contents secure. Go back to the dealer and get them to give you another button key. It will cost you well in excess of £100 if you buy it yourself and it will need programming to your car.

Your petrol rav will have a chain cam but the dealer is wrong to say all Toyotas have chain cams. Some have belt cams which need changing at 60,000 (from memory?)

Thank you so much for your reply. I thought that was the case and the dealer was trying to fob me off excuse the pun. I am surprised that a main Toyota dealer would try this on. I shall go back to them armed with this information but I suspect it will be a fight as they appear to be digging in their heels over this.

[RavUser]

In the Toyota Owners Manual of the car, it should state how many keys were provided when the car was new and what types were provided.

I would certainly check and if there should be three keys and if you are correct, I would go back to the dealers and tell them that you do not like being lied too and that you are going to write to Toyota UK and report the incident to them.

If they then say that they did not lie to you and you are sure you are correct then what else did they not tell you the whole truth about!

Ask to make an appointment with the Dealership Principal and take the issue up with them.

[RavUser]

I Have just read the Owners Manual for your vehicle online at the Toyota Website and it states there should definitely be "Three keys" as well as the "Key Number security Tag".

Go back to the dealers and rip into them

[chummy]

I would like to say a big thank you to all who contributed to my plea regarding the number of keys that should be with the car. Armed with this information I will go back to the dealer and ask for the extra key. What is a worry is that there is someone out there who has a key for my car. Should I inform my insurance company. If the car ever got stolen and my insurance company found out that I only had two keys for the car would they pay out. They could say that I had given the key to some one and they had stolen it.

[gjnorthall]

There have been plenty of scams involving retained keys. However anyone buying an used car, even with all the keys, wouldn't be aware if there was a copy transponder key in someones possession. On the other side of the coin there's plenty of transponder keys that get broken, put in the washing machine etc, so there may be nothing sinister about a car being sold with one key.

The main issue as I see it is the value of a transponder key and the nightmare and cost of loosing the only key for a car (it can be very difficult / impossible programming a replacement key without an original).

Insurance claims will often be refused if it's shown that the driver was negligent - I guess it would be difficult to apportion negligence in the case of a car being sold with no spare key.

Can't believe that a Toyota dealer would act in the way described and I'd be having a serious word with a senior manager at the dealership.

[RavUser]

What was the outcome of this post?

So others can be fore warned!

[chummy]

A great big thank you to all who contributed to my plea of how many keys my RAV4 should have . Armed with this information I went back to the dealership and demanded that they gave me the full set of keys. They grudgingly agreed to this . I think they expected payment for it but I refused. A friend of mine was very impressed with the RAV4 and went to the dealer wanting to try one out and probably buy one. The salesman kept him waiting for 10 minutes. When he finally returned he was very offhand and gave the impression that my friend could either buy one or not it didn' t really matter much to him. My friend walked out of the showroom and went next door to a VW dealership where he was dealt with immediately. I shall not be using this dealership again.

[RavUser]

Glad you got the key's sorted and I am sorry for your friends experience which unfortunately is sign of the times in many main dealers that give the good ones a bad name............