So I lost my one and only key for my 08 Mazda 3i. The dealer is wanting about 50 bucks for the key and then an extra 100 dollars to reprogram and on top of all that I have to tow the car into the dealership. I found a local guy who can reprogram the keys but I want to know if anyone knows the chip needed for these. I found a 20$ aftermarket key on Ebay that says its for the 08 Mazda 3s but you can never be to careful. It uses the 4d-63 Transponder chip. Does anyone know if this is the right chip?

 

So couple things. Number one the key.

Some dealers want to gouge you for as much as they can. You can get an OEM key cut to your car and shipped to your door for about $27 from onlinemazdaparts.com. Certainly don't pay the dealer $50 for the same key. Alternately you can get an aftermarket one for about $9. The dealer should cut it for free, if not then a lock smith should be able to cut it for you. Both the OEM and the aftermarket key have the proper transponder chip (though I'm not sure which one it is). You can get an a/m key here http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16640.

Number two programming.

If you have no working keys then you're pretty much at the mercy of the dealer. They have to plug into your car's computer/cluster and via their computer manually remove the existing key codes and program in the new key codes. Once you have two working keys you can program in additional keys (up to a total of eight) yourself for free in about fifteen seconds. The programming process the dealer has to use takes 30-45 minutes so most dealers are going to charge you an hours labor for it. I've seen some owners get it done for free either because they had friends at the dealer or because the service manager was just that cool. I've also seen some people get quoted $150 for programming. Most people end up paying $50-75 or so. I'd recommend calling a couple different dealers to see if you can get a better price (assuming of course you're not going to have to pay additional towing fees to get to one of course).

Number three, how to avoid it again in the future.

Buy at least three keys from wherever you want to get them from. Pay to have two programmed by the dealer.... it should just be a flat fee for programming the two keys, not additional for the second. Once you have that done program the third key in yourself. This way should you ever lose another key later you can just get a replacement key and program it in without having to pay the dealer extra again. Also when if you lose a key and redo the programming any keys not programmed back in at the same time will be unprogrammed.

 

Thanks for the Info. As for getting my keys programmed I called a locksmith who advertises that he can reprogram key's. He said he has to program to reset the code and should be able to do it without any keys. Is that possible?