Hello,

I'm looking for some advice.

At the end of May this year I purchased a used VW Golf GTD from a main VW dealer in West London.

The car was six months old and sold to me as a former demonstrator.

I paid £22K for the car.

At the point of purchase the dealer informed me that he was waiting on the spare key and I drove away with only one key.

Seeing as this was a VW dealership, I felt I could trust that said key would be sent to me.

After numerous emails between myself and the representative at the dealership,

he finally informed me at the beginning of August that the key had arrived, yet needed to be coded to the car.

This would require me to return the car for a morning.

I live fifty miles away (a trip via the dredded M25) This is easily an hour and a half trip, each way.

I challenged him on why it needed coding if it was the spare key, it should already be coded.

He simply ignored me and advised me to bring my car in.

Due to injury requiring hospitalisation, I was unable to do anything during July and August.

I am now picking up where this left off.

I contacted the dealership today to find out that the representative that sold me the car has since left the company.

I spoke with the used car sales manger who simply told me that the car HAD to be bought to their dealership to have the work done.

I have suggested that I take it to my local VW dealership but he refused claiming that they had issues in the past when dealing with dealerships not in their franchise group.

As a 'gesture of good will' he has offered to have my car collected and driven to them to have the coding done.

Then the car dropped back off to me, with some fuel added.

I have no signed documentation from the purchase day stating that the spare key was missing and was 'to follow'.

I only have the email chain from the dealer, confirming that he is obtaining the key for me.

My wife is my only witness to the transaction and arrangement over the spare key.

What are my options please?

what they offer IMHO.

if you look up on the net

they do need the car

as does anyone to program a key.

dx

Don't need the key to program it? Why are they instant that they have the car?

I'll google it now.

Thank you.

they need the car to program the key.

just look on the forums via a search engine.

If it was the official spare key it would not need programming....its not.... it a new blank key fob..hence they need the vehicle....but they should have been honest in the beginning and told you they had lost it.

I would ask for the car to be assigned a new code and both keys recoded.

Who knows who has got hold of the original spare key???

If it was the official spare key it would not need programming....its not.... it a new blank key fob..hence they need the vehicle....but they should have been honest in the beginning and told you they had lost it.

But VW car keys charge the battery in the fob when in the ignition do they not? It says in our manual that keys should be used regularly or battery may die which can require reprogramming.

But VW car keys charge the battery in the fob when in the ignition do they not? It says in our manual that keys should be used regularly or battery may die which can require reprogramming.

I wouldn't know mine is a keyless Ford...just insert a Lithium battery when it needs replacing.

OK, another load of rubbish here.

The control systems are constantly active and have security features which change constantly. In order to program the key it needs to be in the ignition system at the same time it's programmed so the unique code assigned during switch off is memorised. The system is set up as such that it can identify a specific key assigned to that car.

The car will need to go to any dealer world wide who can program both keys to match. The dealer in this case has acted as expected.

Suggest you ask for the key to be posted and ask a more near dealer to do it for you.