My (new to me) 2001 Discovery came with a key, but no remote to lock/unlock the doors, so I ordered the appropriate key fob from an eBay seller.

I called my Land Rover dealership this afternoon to schedule an appointment to reprogram the key fob to function with my vehicle. First, they can't do it for THREE WEEKS because they are so busy (how long could this job possibly take?) Second, they said it will cost $49 for the "software" and $49 for labor.

Is $100 a reasonable cost to do this work, or am I just a cheap SOB that happens to drive a vehicle that is out of my financial league?

Is there another way to reprogram the key fob other than through my Spokane dealership?

Thank you Forum-readers for your insight,

Rick9Plus

 

Interesting...I know that simply syncing the handset to the BCM is as easy as a few turns in the right order in the door cylinder.. but as far as setting up a new key...I would understand how it might be different.

And the 3 week wait seems to be pretty standard operating procedure at LR dealerships. The only time I could get right in was at the Cape Fear LR (on the coast of NC) in december.



The more I think about it, they're probably charging you to cut the key to match your locks, then charging half hour of labor to sync the key. If that's all their doing, i'd be pretty impressed you only got hit with a half hour...usually dealerships are hourly..

 

You should feel lucky. I just bought an 03 Disco that didn't come with a spare fob. Got one at the dealer ($150) and they charged me another $150 to program it. Luckily when the parts guy heard home much it was to program he cut me a deal on the fob ($90). It only took about 15 min to cut the key and program it.
One good thing - I called to schedule the programming and they took me in that day at the San Jose Land Rover dealer.