E46 keys

A small used-car dealer near me is advertising an early, low-spec E46 (323, IIRC) that has 220,000 km (135,000 miles) and looks incredibly clean inside, with just a couple of rust bubbles starting outside. (Hey, this is Ontario.) The price is, um, 700 bucks, mostly – as far as I can figure out – because somebody mislaid the key. So my question is, How hard is it to get an E46 key? Do you walk into a BMW dealer with a Bill of Sale, find the secret code etched into the undercoating, call yer basic locksmith – what are we talking about here? Because I might be about to become a BMW owner. (And yes, I've been reading the articles and posts about the cooling system, etc., but if 700 bucks is the ASKING price....)

In reply to

It's a $180-200 dollar issue, at a dealer, IF you have a TITLE. A Bill of Sale is not enough for a dealer to cut you a new key.

No title issues in Ontario - just provide ownership to dealer. I had to do this for my e46: $276 cad. Call a dealer first before committing to the purchase. :)

BMW HQ will only allow a certain number of keys per VIN over a car's lifetime. So the concern would be say, if the original owner had an extra key made, then the next owner had two, etc...

Dealers need to check how many have been made before they will start the process. One new key for my Z3 took about three days and cost about $200. You also have to buy the little cover that goes over the battery. When it arrives, the key needs to be sync'd with the car.

If you plan to put a tune on the car anyway - you can send the ECU out and have the EWS system flashed out of existence for $400. That does not solve how to unlock the doors or turn the ignition though... but if it's going to be a race car with a puch button start and no glass it's a good way to go.

In reply to Huckleberry:

Is there a way to do that to my MB 98 e320?

markwemple wrote: In reply to Huckleberry: Is there a way to do that to my MB 98 e320?

I really don't know anything specific about MB stuff - but if it's ECU can be peogrammed/tuned on a dyno then chances are good someone has cracked the rest of it as well.

BMW makes 10 chipped keys when the car is manufactured. All keys that didn't come with the new car purchase are sitting in a warehouse in Germany. Once they are gone, they're gone. You would need a new lock cylinder and EWS unit to start from scratch.

You will need to show up at the dealer with registration and ID to order. New key shows up pre-cut and chip coded to your VIN. It will unlock and start your car right out of the box. Only thing you'll need to is program the remote, which takes about 30 seconds with a few button pushes.

That is really dumb.

In reply to NEALSMO:

I'm not sure they could have found a more German way to do that if they had to.

That is just bewildering to me.

The day after my last car purchase, I promptly went to the local hardware store and had 5 keys made. Flat metal keys with no battery, button or security. They all work perfectly and cost $1.29 each.

Didn't the East German's keep everyone scent on file and locked away for reference if they ever had to track a 'dissident'. They like catalogs

seems horribly inefficient to store keys for what could turn into decades