Replacing Locks Etc After Theft Of Rx400H

[Clarkybass]

Hi there, newbie to forum here. My two year old RX400H was stolen this week. The good news is it was found intact by the police (who have it still for forensics). The not so good news is it was locked and so presumably the thief (or thieves) have the keys still and know where we live (it was pinched from our drive). So I will need to have the locks changed. I rang my dealership (Lexus Twickenham) from which I brought the car new and they quoted me £2000. I queried this as I assumed all that would be needed was changing the electronic code. Apparently not, I was told, there's some central electronic mechanism too that will need changing along with the locks and keys. To me, two grand is ridiculous ... and frankly sounds like profiteering from our misfortune.

That was a long ramble to say, does anyone know of an independent dealer in Lexus in SW or W London that would not charge such a rip-off price for sorting the locks and keys?

Thanks in advance

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Surely changing the locks and anything else associated with it will be covered by your insurance.

[Clarkybass]

Surely changing the locks and anything else associated with it will be covered by your insurance.

Ahem, possibly not due to the circumstances of the theft and the exclusions in our insurance policy. Thats why I'm after something cheaper than £2k!

[steve2006]

With the vehicle being so new there probably won't be nuch in the way of secondhand parts, plus you will need the techical skill to fit and reprogram the security/central locking ECU.

Gold members tend to get a 10-20% discount on Lexus parts and service so it may be worth contacting your dealer to see if this would apply then join here as a gold member this could provide a 200-400 pund saving.

I take it the keys were either left in the car or a fishing rod was involved then?

[Clarkybass]

With the vehicle being so new there probably won't be nuch in the way of secondhand parts, plus you will need the techical skill to fit and reprogram the security/central locking ECU.

Gold members tend to get a 10-20% discount on Lexus parts and service so it may be worth contacting your dealer to see if this would apply then join here as a gold member this could provide a 200-400 pund saving.

I take it the keys were either left in the car or a fishing rod was involved then?

Thanks, sounds like I should probably go with my main dealership. WIll ask them about whether LOC Gold membership would reduce costs - thank you for the heads up!

Re: keys, it is possible my wife dropped them out of her handbag between the car and our front door (about 15 yards distance) as we cannot find them and there is no evidence of our house being broken into or of the car being broken into

[ACLex]

With the vehicle being so new there probably won't be nuch in the way of secondhand parts, plus you will need the techical skill to fit and reprogram the security/central locking ECU.

Gold members tend to get a 10-20% discount on Lexus parts and service so it may be worth contacting your dealer to see if this would apply then join here as a gold member this could provide a 200-400 pund saving.

I take it the keys were either left in the car or a fishing rod was involved then?

Thanks, sounds like I should probably go with my main dealership. WIll ask them about whether LOC Gold membership would reduce costs - thank you for the heads up!

Re: keys, it is possible my wife dropped them out of her handbag between the car and our front door (about 15 yards distance) as we cannot find them and there is no evidence of our house being broken into or of the car being broken into

Do you have any keys left or was that the only one?

Andy

[Clarkybass]

With the vehicle being so new there probably won't be nuch in the way of secondhand parts, plus you will need the techical skill to fit and reprogram the security/central locking ECU.

Gold members tend to get a 10-20% discount on Lexus parts and service so it may be worth contacting your dealer to see if this would apply then join here as a gold member this could provide a 200-400 pund saving.

I take it the keys were either left in the car or a fishing rod was involved then?

Thanks, sounds like I should probably go with my main dealership. WIll ask them about whether LOC Gold membership would reduce costs - thank you for the heads up!

Re: keys, it is possible my wife dropped them out of her handbag between the car and our front door (about 15 yards distance) as we cannot find them and there is no evidence of our house being broken into or of the car being broken into

Do you have any keys left or was that the only one?

Andy

I have a fob that has two Lexus keys on it (never used them so maybe one is for the glove box?)

I was recommended this lot - does anyone have any experience with them? Apparently a lot cheaper than Lexus dealerships: http://www.theautolocksmith.co.uk/Lexus-car-keys.html

[sendz]

If you still have a master key (black one) it shouldn't cost anywhere near £2000. All you will need is a new lock set and some new transmitters for the keys. The dealer can delete the old key codes making the missing one useless and recode the new ones. Hope this helps.

[Clarkybass]

If you still have a master key (black one) it shouldn't cost anywhere near £2000. All you will need is a new lock set and some new transmitters for the keys. The dealer can delete the old key codes making the missing one useless and recode the new ones. Hope this helps.

Thank you - if thats the case I wonder why Lexus Twickenham didn't mention this to me ....

[sendz]

I think you have 1 sub key (grey) and 1 master key then? So you will only require a lock set and 1 transmitter for you to get full 3 keys back. Will still cost close to £1000 though through a Lexus dealer but half the price quoted. For sure you will NOT need any ecu's.

[Clarkybass]

I think you have 1 sub key (grey) and 1 master key then? So you will only require a lock set and 1 transmitter for you to get full 3 keys back. Will still cost close to £1000 though through a Lexus dealer but half the price quoted. For sure you will NOT need any ecu's.

Thanks again - unfortunately I can't check the keys right now as I had to leave them with the police for their forensics (the car is in a pound about 10 miles from where I live)

[SAD]

I know this is after the event but have the police entertained the fact that your car keys could have been lifted through a letter box by the "hook and cane" method.

Do you remember placing them back in the house (think carefully), can you say this for sure? - were the keys then left close to the front door in a position where they could have been lifted by a magnetic device on the end of a cane (pole or similar?) - if so then this is a burglary and the insurance should cover the cost of replacement locks (both to the car and the house - if your house keys went too). In this instance there would be no signs of a forced entry and getting away with a £30,000 grand car is much more lucrative than a few electrical items!!

The likelihood of someone just indescriminently finding your keys on the drive and having your car away is much less than the hook and cane burglaries which are rife throughout the UK, esp where there are nice cars on the drive.

Good luck whatever - to have your car stolen is a distressing event whatever the circumstances

[Parthiban]

Having been burgled before with no visible sign of entry I wouldn't write off the fact they stole the keys from within the house.

Have also had my car stolen and recovered, required replacing all the keys and locks as you've been quoted - mine was an insurance job so not sure about how much work was done, but I know the cost was somewhere around £1000 and all the keys and locks were replaced.

[ACLex]

I think you have 1 sub key (grey) and 1 master key then? So you will only require a lock set and 1 transmitter for you to get full 3 keys back. Will still cost close to £1000 though through a Lexus dealer but half the price quoted. For sure you will NOT need any ecu's.

Thanks again - unfortunately I can't check the keys right now as I had to leave them with the police for their forensics (the car is in a pound about 10 miles from where I live)

If you stiil have the two keys mentioned then you will need to spend about £450 on parts, you should only be looking at a couple of hours labour to do the job so I would have thought it will be about £800 in total :)

Andy

[steve2006]

Blimey are Lexus labour rates £175.00 an hour then Andy?

[Clarkybass]

I put the points you chaps kindly made to Lexus Twickenham in an email and asked them to come back to me with a revised quote, stressing it was matter of urgency. Nada. So I phoned Lexus Edgware Road who confirmed that - with the other two keys - it should not come to anything like two grand. They are coming back to me tomorrow with a quote. Many thanks, all, for your helpful advice

[Parthiban]

I put the points you chaps kindly made to Lexus Twickenham in an email and asked them to come back to me with a revised quote, stressing it was matter of urgency. Nada. So I phoned Lexus Edgware Road who confirmed that - with the other two keys - it should not come to anything like two grand. They are coming back to me tomorrow with a quote. Many thanks, all, for your helpful advice

My car was done at Lexus Edgware Road so I'm sure it'll probably come to a similar cost.

Also worth ringing Lexus Woodford as well - I've used them for years as they offer by far the best service and helpfully also the cheapest prices in the London area :)

[ACLex]

Blimey are Lexus labour rates £175.00 an hour then Andy?

LOL, no, just not good at maths

Andy