‘There’s no labor in programming a key fob‘: Woman goes to dealership to buy key fob for her Buick. Then she gets charged $357.19
Declaring, "These car dealerships are getting out of hand with these prices," a woman revealed she was able to successfully push back against a car dealership that wanted her to pay $357.19 to get a new key fob for her car.
The video encapsulating the tale comes from TikTok creator Kay (@theekaybee_). She posted it on Saturday, and it has drawn more than 140,000 views since. In it, she describes her experience at a dealership, and while she doesn't specify which brand of car she drives in the lengthy narrative she provides, she did use #buick and #gmc in the caption alongside #pricing and #scam to make her feelings known.
Dealership key fob 'scam'
After her opening salvo about car dealership prices, she explains, "So I go into the car dealership today to get a key fob—only thing I needed was a key fob." She says the person she spoke to on the phone said it would be $109 plus tax, which she felt was reasonable.
But, after a three-hour wait starting at 7:30am, she got an eye-popping quote of just over $350.
"For a key?" she exclaimed. "For y'all to program a key? I said, 'No, ma'am, no, ma'am.' You gonna have to go talk to whoever I talked to on the phone last week because they told me 109 plus tax."
Eventually, her pushback led her to a new adjusted price of $150, which she was OK with, although there was mention of adding a labor charge, which again set her off.
"Every time I go to the dealership, my blood pressure gets high," she comments, "because it's always something about the pricing."
The experience led her to reconsider using the dealership as her go-to for repairs.
"Maybe I'm the only one to go to the dealership, but I'm gonna find me somewhere else to go now because that dealership stuff; I'm not finna come in thinking I'm gonna pay this, and then y'all think I'm gonna pay this," she declared.
What's the deal with key fobs?
Edmunds took on the issue of high-priced key fobs in an article titled "The High Cost of Car Key Replacement." Essentially, it came down to blaming technological advances built into modern-day car keys.
"On most modern cars, an electronic key fob — also known as a remote or transmitter — is an integral part of the key set," the article explained. "The cost of replacing a key fob remote can range from $50 to over $100 depending on the automaker and complexity of the design. All key fobs need to be programmed. Some dealerships will do it for free, while others will charge for a half-hour to an hour of labor."
The article also advised getting a spare car key ahead of time if you're not given one upon purchasing the car. "There's no denying that modern keys are expensive," it read. "And so the best defense against losing them is a good offense. It is better to get a spare key now, on your terms, than to stress out and spend the money in what might be an emergency. You can take advantage of the cost-cutting methods here and avoid the labor charges by programming the key yourself."
@theekaybee_ Car dealership addition! #car #cardealership #buick #gmc #pricing #scam #car #dealership #fypシ #fyp #trending ♬ original sound - Kay 🌹
People weigh in
Kay's complaint resonated with others.
"There's no labor in programming a key fob," one observed. "The machine does it."
"In the future, open your key up and check the numbers," counseled another. "You can find those (unprogrammed) on Amazon or another retailer. Then get a local locksmith to program it. If you have a key with a chip that goes into the ignition, Ace Hardware can do it wayyyyy cheaper."
Someone else said, "I got to the point I'll YouTube and fix it myself cuz dealership be overcharging."
Kay concurred. "At this point I’ll learn on YouTube too."
Finally, someone chided, "You got scammed for sure."
She rued, "I agree," but then another commenter complimented her for standing her ground and not paying the initial quoted price.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok and Instagram direct message and to General Motors via email.
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