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I am an Aussie 2003 S3 owner and have recently snapped the metal key blade of one of my keys in half (black sections remain intact).

My local Audi dealer has ordered me a new blade but is claiming that even though I still have the black section the new blade will still require reprogramming to the car.

Based on previous threads this does not sound right (and they are asking AUD$110 for the reprogram).

Can anyone shed any light on this for me? I'd love to prove them wrong.

you should just be able to carefully knock out the pin that holds the blade in place and swap the old broken blade for the new one with no need to re-program. i know for a fact, VW dealers can supply the blade alone as i have one sat here in front of me so i see no reason why audi dealers can't supply just the blade

I'd agree with shineydave. As far as I know you need both keys to reprogram, and it's a straight forward process - I did it about 4 years ago on my old S4 and it took me all of 5 minutes - including making a cup of tea.

Paul

It will not need re-programming, the black part holds the code not the metal part.

I realise that - but $110 to reprogram a key is still a bit steep!

Paul

What £40, about half hours labour. Sounds about right for a dealer.

Half an hour - that's taking the proverbial!

Yeh but thats standard charge out protocol - 1/2 hr slots even if job only take 15 mins they charge 1/2 hr, 31 mins = 1 hr so on and so forth....

Wish I could get away with that with my clients!

LOL yeh - take it your not a lawyer or accountant then?

LOL yeh - take it your not a lawyer or accountant then?

I am an Accountant but will not/cannot bill in the "Audi" manner! Work for 31 minutes and get paid for an hour, that would be so nice, perhaps if I did that I could buy an new RS4!

Paul

Well hope no offence Paul. My ex is a CA for a large oil company. Her charge out rate was somewhere areound the 160 mark/hr (more now as that was a couple of years back) and she billed in 15 min increments using a similar protocol to Audi.

OT Vicar?

Hi Harry,

Mortally offended.

No offence taken at all - we use 15 minute billing intervals but essentially write off small chunks of time throught the day for short phone calls etc. It all depends on the market you deal with as to what charge out rate you can use. For a corporate they can cross charge whatever they like really (called wooden dollars) cos it makes no difference to the overall result in the year it's just whose budget it comes out of (which creates anotehr set of jobs for loads of people).

Anyway, we're getting off the point here. Poor SA53 will wake up in a few hours time and log on and see he's got loads of responses to his posting and then realise ... well what will he realise?...that Audi are trying to take him for a ride!

Well it's going to be 24C here today and only 14C in Adelaide.

Paul

Thanks for your help (and associated unassociated dialogue).

I have commited to the replacement blade from the dealer but told them I won't be paying for reprogramming. They claim my car won't start with the new key but that remains to be seen.

Enjoy the heatwave..........

What comes with an English heatwave....hosepipe bans (can't wash cars easily) and drought orders (can't wash cars at all).

Paul