still near you (there are some stores still around), they were willing to do it for me. Some Ace hardware stores will as well.

It's easy to do yourself. Dealers typically charge an absolutely ridiculous amount for this because it's not worth their while to charge a reasonable amount and anyone who can't figure out to do it themselves is probably going to pay them whatever they ask for.

That price would be more in keeping with rekeying the car and with new fobs.

and now i have 3 spares.


i suppose it's possible that they were quoting me the worst case scenario and would have charged me much less if the problem turned out to be simply that it needed a new battery (though that's specifically what i asked for a quote for), but i have my doubts.

i have seen many examples of significant overpricing and ripoffs from dealers around here (fairfield county, connecticut). it is the richest county in the richest state, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

anyone who works on your house overcharges as well. it really burns me to watch those house-flipping shows where they're like, damn, needs a new roof, then they get some people in who quote them $8,000 and they talk them down to $6,000. well of course they can make a profit flipping houses if they can get new roofs for $6,000, that's so far off market around here....

Easiest way is to just pop it open and get the number off the battery. It'll be like a coin - probably a little smaller than a quarter.

Head over to CVS or Walgreens and check the battery aisle. The different brands have different numbers but they all have a "replaces xxx, xxx and xxx" kind of label on the package.

Pop it back in (make sure you get it in with the same side up as when you took the old one out) and you're done.

For me, the hardest part was figuring out how to pop the fob open, usually there's a little slot and you can twist a dime it it. Also, if you have one where you can separate it into two pieces, separating the key chain part from the fob...usually have to separate it to get the battery out.

Have fun.

Great advice.

I had to for my VW

Says I might be able to program them myself but won't know until they get here.

I suggest searching youtube. That's how I managed: eBay and youtube.

It's amazing what's out there.

have a tester and they will replace the battery if that is the problem.
Edited to add, I had a transponder on my key ring that would emit an RF signal that would mess up the RF signal in my car remote.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+replace+a+key+fob+battery