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.