varuscelli

I think that replacing lost or broken keys would be an area where Lexus dealerships could build a little bit of good will and trust with the consumer (by offering more reasonably priced replacements). However, it looks to me as though key replacement is often used as area to gouge the consumer instead. Just one more example to make me distrustful of dealerships (and I sincerely dislike having to feel that sort of distrust).

Fritz330

I went through this a while back. The smart key maker did not work with my ES330. I ended up buying a laser key cutting machine from China along with a programmer. The worst part was programming the fob, took me a good hour and countless attempts. But as for cutting the key, the cheap Chinese machine worked flawlessly. And so did the programmer. I've already paid for both many times over doing keys for friends, family and word of mouth customers.

808mcv20l

It didn't work on my 2000 es300. But I'm guessing that's because my key is a 4c transponder, the 04 rx330 with the 4D worked fine. Can you post what the key cutting machine looks like and how much it was? I'm quite interested.

Fritz330

The term "Laser Cut" cracks me up. Cutting these keys has nothing to do with a laser. What marketing bunk, lol. But it does echo nicely in the heads of stupid people.

varuscelli

A couple of comments about my experience in buying a rather generic Lexus key via an eBay seller.

The cost for the programmable master key was low at $26.95.

However, the key I received does have a couple of drawbacks.

The range of the transmitter is only about half that of my original Lexus master key. In fact, the first one I received had to be used right next to the vehicle (I mean within 2 to 3 feet of the driver's side door). I contacted the seller about this, and they sent me out a new transmitter/transponder that I had to reprogram, and the second one worked much better (range of maybe 20 feet or a bit more, depending on obstructions or clear path to vehicle), but still with nowhere near the range of my original master key which gives me at least twice that distance. That's not really a problem as I intend to use that key as a backup/emergency key.

The other issue I discovered was that when I found that the first transmitter/transponder had such limited range, I figured it might be that it had a bad battery. When I opened up the key casing to have a look at the battery, it was not easily accessible as the one in an original Lexus master key. I could easily remove the transmitter from the outer key casing, but getting inside the inner casing to have a look at the battery was another matter. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I was hesitant to inadvertently break it while trying to get to the battery (thus having to buy a new one altogether). So, that leaves a bit of a question mark in terms of how easy it will be to replace the battery in the new master key if it should need to be done. I assumed it would need to be replaced after a handful of years. When I asked the seller about this, they admitted that the internal case can be difficult to open. A bit of prodding and prying led me to believe that the inner case might actually be glued shut. I'm not certain about the "glued shut" part, but none of what I'd consider normal pry points seemed to result in any loosening of the halves of the inner case.