Recently I lost a button key to my Subie Forester and am still reeling from sticker shock. I got quotes from four dealers. Dealer that sold me the car would charge $370 (that was the lowest bid) and the highest bid was $404.
With the thought of finding a cheaper way to get a new copy of my remaining button key, I did a little legwork. I found I could buy a key blank but then there were two steps after that.
First, find a locksmith that can laser cut the blank correctly to match the surviving button key (if you still have that): I found a respected locksmith who said they would do that for $15, if I supplied the blank, but said they could not program the key because Subaru jealously guards the codes so only its dealers can cut keys.
So, second step, I called the dealer who sold me the car and asked how much would they charge to copy the codes from my surviving button key if I supplied them with a correctly cut blank. Surprise surprise they said “We can’t do that … we have to cut the key as well… just to make sure it’s cut correctly.”
Now in the free market economy so touted by Republican ideologues — but that is conspicuously absent in many sectors of our economy — a locksmith would be able to make a nice profit copying your existing button key for $50 tops.
So in short, Subaru America is a predatory monopolist preying on people who lose their keys… who are a captive market, purely and simply because Subaru’s clever lawyers have made it so.
When I lost my Honda CRV key a couple years back, it cost $140 to replace. Surely Subaru can match this price and still make out like bandits.
In closing, I would like to ask all those of us who have had to pay absurd prices for replacement keys to contact their congressman and senators requesting legislation to end this larcenous abuse of car owners by car dealers and car manufacturers.
UPDATE:
Specific legislative proposal: To prevent price gouging on keys, manufacturers cannot charge more than the usual and customary average markup for OEM spare parts. In this regard I saw the following language: “Manufacturers sell OEM spares only to the dealers and the MRP is usually 2-3X the cost price. “ That sounds like the kind of pricing that would be reasonable.