I’ve been putting off buying a second key for my R53 since the beginning of the year.

My current key works, but it’s range is extremely limited. I basically have to hold the key up to the window in order for the lock and unlock buttons to function properly. I think it’s just a tired 15 year old battery, but I only have one key anyway so I called up my local dealership today for a quote.

MINI of Mt Laurel here in NJ is quoting $341 + service tax for a new key.

Parts: $191 incl. parts tax
Service: $150 programming fee (+ tax)

Everything I’ve read up until now was in the $150-200 range out the door.

Has anyone else gotten a new key recently in a different price range than what I’m being quoted?

 

Call MINI of Peabody, Massachusetts.

 

You can program yourself.

howto on YouTube. I’ve also seen one on replacing the battery...if you want to save $$$

 

A member named Valvashon started a side business repairing MINI keys. He probably knows of a reasonably priced dealer and the process required to order a new key when purchasing by mail.

He should also be able to replace the rechargeable battery in your old key once you have your new one.

+1 on programming keys for a facelift car. Pre-facelift keys need dealer/computer programming for the key to work at all, but facelift keys should be able to start the cars when received. The programming is a series of remote button presses with the key in the ignition to pair the key to the keyless entry module.

It can be finicky to program them, but if all goes well it only takes about a minute. Here’s a video for the three button key programming:

 

Oh hugely helpful guys. Thank you

I was aware that I could program the remote functions myself but didn’t realize that’s the only “programming” the dealership was charging me $150 for. That’s totally laughable.

Looks like that dealership in MA can get a key to me for $165 w/ shipping, which beats $191 at least

 

https://www.minipeabody.com/ has an excellent reputation.
Genuine parts are usually less than most dealers, mention NAM.

Whatever key you get may still need to be 'paired' to the remote receiver along with any other key fobs you already have. Do them all at once. RB-MINI calls this 'registering'.
The receiver in early cars is in the roof above the mirror, it's inside the mirror on later ones.

 

You might find that the range issue is not a weak battery. I took my mirror apart and cleaned some corrosion off the receiver and it made a huge difference.

Do a search, there's a thread on here somewhere.

~$200 with tax/shipping seems to be about the best you can do for a new key. Don't pay for programming, that's a scam.

 

I believe it was around $140 from Mini of St Louis, I have to buy one too.

Mine came with one key that stopped working in short order, I pried it apart and little pieces of IC chips fell out...no battery replacement will work on this key. I still haven't gotten around to ordering a new key, shame on me. Old one still works in the ignition, I just don't lock the car.

 

I baulked at the asking price as its about 10% of the value of the vehicle (depending how much gas is in the tank), so I bought a $15 blank off ebay, cut off the metal key bit and ues it as a keyfob to remote unlock the doors. Of course, that would not work to start the car as the RFID chip inside is not matched to the engine computer (something BMW have to do during manufacture for these older Minis), but the procedure to pair the buttons to unlock the doors is simple enough.

The slow death of the rechargeable battery in these old keys is often the culprit here. I could try to solder a new battery into the old key, but my skills are not so great and as its the only key I have that will start the vehicle I dont want to bugger it up.

I have scoured the net and found no evidence that a 1st gen mini can somehow be programmed to accept any old RFID chip, the IR44 chip has to be coded to match one of the ten numbers preprogrammed into the cars ECU, otherwise the car will not accept it.That is why Mini charge so much for replacements and need the vehicle VIN to know what numbers are available to program into the key. That ID# however is only needed to start the car; Programming the car to accept door and boot lock codes from after market keys is much simpler procedure that is not dependent on the ID44 chip.

 

That little bit of IC that fell out might be the RFID chip that tells the car its OK to start.

 

The batteries in the keys for my R50, both started to die. The keys themselves work to start the car OK, but no remote functions. I found a keyblank on ebay.... followed the procedure to program it to the car. Now I have a working remote. However, because the key isn't cut... it doesn't work as a key. I went into the dealership for something else... so I asked. They said that the keys are shipped from germany, and only cut there. The dealer couldn't cut them. And it was roughly 400CDN for a "new" one.

As a work around, facebook market place has people who either can make "new" keys. So they would be able to likely do the cutting.... however annoying in a pandemic it was low on the priority scale.

 

A couple of alternatives:
A lot of locksmiths can now engrave the MINI-style keys, so the old could be copied to the new. (Timpsons in the UK).
It's not that hard to swap the key blade from one case to the other, just fiddly.

Whatever you do, don't lose the tiny RFID chip - that's the expensive part!

 

The cutting of the key is not the issue, any half competent locksmith can do that. It still wont start your car though because it wont have the correct code from the transponder chip.
In the majority of cars the car can be programmed to recognize the unique transponder in the replacement key you get from ebay or wherever, but for BMWs of a certain vintage only keys specifically programmed to the numbers already present in the engine management module memory will start the vehicle, so BMW appear to have us over a barrel.

I suppose its not in the realm of the impossible to transfer the RFID chip over to a newly cut key, but thats not really a way to get from one working key to having two.

 

Thanks for the additional suggestions. I do have some keys for starting, and manual unlocking. I'm just using the blank as the "remote" opener. But I really should find a place to cut it..... Maybe when the world opens again.

 

Did you ever get this sorted? Im south of Hamilton and looking for somoene who will cut the key before trying on of those third party keys.

 

Steelrat
All you need to do is take off the front half of the 'blank' key fob & transfer the working remote circuit board & the all-important RFID chip into one of the cut key fobs.