I recently bought a salvage 2004 MCS and only received one key with it. I would like to have another one or two but those keys cost a lot. Does anyone know how to go about finding the previous owner of the car so I can try to get the keys from them? I'm not sure if Carfax provides that info but if so, is there anyone out there who has a subscription to Carfax that could run a report on mine? Thanks.

 

I don't think you're going to have much luck here -- or at least not worth the effort required. Possibly you could do a public records search via the RMV using the VIN, but previous owners won't (to my knowledge) show up on Carfax, and dealers don't like divulging this information for obvious reasons.

When I bought my '05 last year it came w. only one key, so I ended up getting a second key from the dealer at not insignificant cost. I grumbled to myself a bit about the cost, but I wanted the second key, so so be it. In the end the $200 (or whatever it was) was not the end of the world.

I believe each car comes from factory with 6 keys, 2 of which go to the dealer/owner upon delivery, and the rest stay with MINI USA in NJ. If you order a replacement, it comes from this stash. When you program the new key, also make sure to program the old key as well. Any additional keys that are randomly floating around will be deactivated.