A spare key needed with remote.
 

My 2003 Boxster came with only one key.
It looks original.

Remote works, doors gets locked, unlocked, car drives, trunks open... so all is good.
BUT that is the only key I have.

Hence, I thought I may need a spare.
Local Porsche quoted me overall a tad over $500 to get it done (blade, cut, remote, and programming).

Any other solutions/suggestions to save some money?

I would call some locksmiths.Not. sure but ivev had luck in the past.

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Buy a key blank & remote online and take it to dealer to add the remote. Dealer wont be able to cut the key there, it comes from Germany. If you buy online they will usually just ask for copy of drivers license & copy of title or registration. Dealer should only charge 1 hour labor. Will save a little money.

that is, unless you know of someone or your local club has a piwis

If you call around you should be able to find a place that will cut the key and clone the "pill" that is in the key head. There is a place locally that does this for $150. The key will not function remotely... but you can lock and unlock and start the car. I have used this service on two 2000 Boxsters.

I have a piwis! Where are you?

(It only matters if you buy the key with an intact matching iPas code - this is part of why the dealer charges so much. The key costs $200ish and an hour of labor is another $200)

Otherwise, do as was said and just have the key cut and a pull cloned. Hell, you can buy a pill cloned for the cost of a new 986 key with associated codes lol.

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ike84,
I am in Lansing, MI, so a bit of a distance, unless you happen to be near :D

so with all those hoops - how much I could save?

I looked up the remote and the key - if new, the price is not so much different from the dealer. Of course cheaper, but again, we are not talking about more than a $100 yet.

Just thinking out loud - if they cannot program the key or the ignition lock was replaced... on one hand I want to save money, but on the other I do not want to have a huge headache and spend several hours of troubleshooting and tinkering just to save $50. You see my point?

so, any consensus here?

The physical key is not necessary for the car to start - all the key does is turns the tumbler to make connections inside the ignition switch. This can be relocated in a number of ways, making a physical key not necessary.


But the pill is a must. And a new pill must either be cloned from an existing one or come with a valid iPas code which can be programmed into the immobilizer unit via piwis or eeprom directly.

Truthfully, if you don't already have the equipment to do so, there is no cheap to make you a new fully functioning key

BUT! (THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY!)

what you can do is get a new blank key without the pill and have it cut for $50. Remove the pill from your functioning key and position it near the lock cylinder (inside the dash so it can't be accessed easily). This way, there is always a pill present. Then you can make as many keys as you want for $50 a piece.

Of course, you have just negated the single most effective anti theft measure on our cars. But, no one ever tries to steal our cars because every other 986 still needs the pill.

If you do this, I would recommend installing a kill switch somewhere that you can easily use but is hidden out of sight.

Your call.

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I chuckled when I read it. So simple!
But then, once the pill is lost... lol

I think I will got the "right" way and the the key from the dealership.
Turns out I should be getting a discount via PCA membership. Money well spent?

And thank you, everyone, for giving me different options and solutions.

ike84 - a question for you, not having a piwis, programming for a key is just plugging it in, plugging in the new key and hitting program? Where does the hour of labor come in? You can walk away and do something else whilst the piwis is programming the key, yes? Or do you have to monitor it for some reason?

No monitoring required. It takes 5 minutes.

In a stealership's mind though, anything under 1 HR gets charged 1 HR of labor, no exceptions. Doesn't matter if it's 5 minutes or 59 minutes, is 1hr of labor.

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Could one get durametric code a new key?


I went with the dealer to order the new key. I used the PCA membership for a discount. As for programming - we will see what's next.

No. You'll need Piwis or other very specific tools.

Adding a new transponder to the EEPROM is by replacing an existing entry is possible in general, but has some downsides and you really need to know what you're doing, because the transponder needs to be locked.

Best way is always to learn the new key fob to the physical car, so you have all parameters and entries in all control units.

I got the new key. Through the dealer.

It took them about 3 days to cut and ship the new one. I was actually very surprised.
Since I was away, I finally got into the dealership last night.
It took maybe 15 minutes to perform the programming and about 20 minutes paperwork (15 initially and 5 after the process).
It starts the car, ignition works.

However, as it turns out the remote was not programmed correctly... so I will have to be back.
I am not worried as that is not the most crucial part.
Yet I should have verified... but I was in a rush to get back home as someone was coming.
Ugh.


Now, the financial part.
As I mentioned initially they quoted over $500. But someone on FB mentioned that I can get a discount being PCA member.
As it turns out, the discount knocked the total cost to $426 after taxes and all. Not bad.

Still a lot, but fully functional key with factory codes, if I needed another one, or was to lose them.

What the heck is a piwis?

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If you test everything and clear all DTCs and so on in my experience 1 key is about 20 to 30 minutes at the car for 9x6 cars plus paper work. What often is underrated is the preparing time and other things you'll never know if you haven't done it yourself. But hey, this is the internet. Everbody knows everything. :)

I know, right?