I just bought a new 2023 CX-30 yesterday at a Mazda dealer. They give me a good price and so I accepted it.
The problem is that they just give me one auxiliary key but two remotes. I thought that each remote should have an auxiliary key. The dealer said no. They said that Mazda, the manufacturer, only gave them one auxiliary key. They insisted that Mazda messed up.
So I asked what the solution is now. They asked me to drive 1.5 hrs back to the dealership to get a copy of the key. I said that I can ship my current key back to them. They didn’t want to pay the shipping fee because they said it’s Mazda’s fault, not their fault.
So how many auxiliary keys you guys have on a new Mazda?
To me, this seems like a lazy salesman who doesn’t want to do his job. Or you’re just not talking to the correct person. Which is extremely common when contacting any dealer by phone. They basically have a defensive line set up to block you from actually talking to a physical salesman or service advisor.
Generally, this scenario requires the following steps on the dealer’s behalf.
- you bring the issue to their attention
- the salesman inquires with the parts department about pricing, availability of key
- salesman talks with sales manager about price and gets the OK to proceed
- parts department orders/cuts the key and bills it to the sales department
I work for a Chrysler parts department and we see this all the time. The service department will open a repair order with a line stating “customer needs 2nd key - per sales.” We bill a fob and blank on the repair order, cut the blank per the vin, and contact the customer to have it programmed. Customer comes in and gets the fob programmed and off they go. Some newer cars have laser cut key blanks that we have to “vin order” directly from Chrysler. If they take a while to come in we UPS ship them to the customer free of charge. The only time we bill sales for shipping is if they forget to give the customer the 2nd key and find it after.
This shouldn’t be difficult for them. And I’d have to assume a Mazda parts department has the ability to vin cut a key for you without needing you to come in so they can physically copy your key. My 6 just has a normal key, it’s not anything fancy, like a laser cut or worm cut key. It’s the most basic tech in terms of key cutting. I’d have to assume the parts department has the ability to cut it. But maybe they don’t have the correct equipment.
Here’s how you find out for sure:
Call the dealer you bought the car from, and ask to speak with the parts department. Have your vin number ready, and simply tell them you have a key fob that is missing the key blank, and you’d like a price on one. As well as details about how to get it cut. Ask them if they have the ability to cut the key for you by the vin number, without needing to physically copy your existing key.
Don’t mention that you’re missing one from a vehicle you bought there, and don’t mention the back story. Simply get info, see if they’re able to cut the key by the vin, and say thank you and move on.
Generally, sales knows absolutely zero about the service and parts side of things, so I’d assume your salesman just doesn’t know how to fix this, or doesn’t care enough to know.
Thanks for the detailed instruction. So I basically ask the part department to get a mechanical key and pay it on my own? This is definitely less of headache. I don’t want to talk to the salesman anymore who doesn’t care his customer once the car is sold.
Well I’m not recommending you buy it. But you can call them and see what the details are, so you can fact check the sales department and figure out if they’re just jerking you around or not.
But if it’s not expensive, yeah you could just buy it if it’s cheap enough to save you the hassle.
you bought a brand new car and your dealer is so cheap they wont spend a few bucks on shipping? they suck, never go back.
They are screwing you around, two fobs, two keys.
While on the topic… what is with the CX30 key fobs anyways. It’s massive and the buttons are tiny and on the side. My Mazda 3 is a way better design. I assume/hope there is a reason for it?
It may have been the manufacturer’s fault originally, but it became the dealership’s fault when they apparently failed to do an appropriate part inventory and quality check before selling the car to you.
How confident are you that they didn’t miss anything else?
LOL no dealer on the face of the Earth is going to pop a key fob open during PDI and make sure the hard key is in there.
But almost every dealer on Earth would make it right with the customer after the fact if it wasn’t.
This, I was gonna say the same. No one would open the keys at my dealership, not the person checking in the car off the truck, the tech doing the inspection, the lot attendant, the detailer, or the sales person.
We would 100% make it right if it’s in a reasonable time. If you told me this 1 year, 6 months later I’d probably tell you to kick rocks (🤷♂️sorry). 2-3 months I might get push back and sighs from management but it’s gonna happen. Within a month, “I’m sorry mr customer let me make that right”
I’m confused why the shipping cost is a problem for either party (principle on OPs end which is fine they just spent xyz on a CAR). We are talking about cutting a key right not the fob, it fits in an envelope. Even if it was the fob haha
OP must have done some shit at dealership, that pissed everyone off. Or this place is fucked (the fact that the one key was tied on and not in the fob and the dealerships response kinda leads to the latter, could be both though)