Auto Keyless Remote Scams

Recently, I lost my Volvo S80 keyless remote. Actually it was several months ago. I've put off replacing it because I didn't feel like forking over any more dough to Volvo. But it's pretty annoying to be without your keyless remote, so this week, I started researching what it would cost to replace it.

Given that my car is a 2001 model, the remote doesn't do anything fancy. In pricier cars, keyless remotes will start your engine for you. Mine just opens the doors and enables/disables the alarm.

I knew that no matter what, replacing the remote would be somewhat expensive, but I truly had no idea how badly Volvo would gouge me. I had a mental figure before going into the shop of perhaps $100, so I was shocked to discover that Barrier Motors in Bellevue wanted to charge me $260 for the remote. The breakdown is as follows:

Keyless remote device: $160
Software download $ 45
Labor and Tax $ 55
Grand Total $260

I was stunned, and actually asked the sales guy to repeat, slowly, the cost breakdown to make sure I hadn't misheard him. My response was to look at the guy and say, "No way." How does Volvo sleep at night?

I've come to discover that, in pricier cars, you can spend $400 to replace your remote. But at $260, I can't say I felt better that mine was at the lower end of the price scale. If I can't find a substantially lower cost way to solve my problem, I will just continue using my standard key.