[jpmjr]

I just bought a 2018 Touring, 48 K miles- awesome car. BUt only came with one key fob. Any recommendations for replacement vs going to a dealership ?
Thanks
John

 

[2002]

You could purchase a new blank Clarity key fob from a Honda dealer online, which allows you to shop around with different dealers. Or buy one from an online seller of new OEM Honda parts. Probably will pay half what a dealer would charge you for it. Then you can take the new OEM fob to a dealer for programming. You could also go to a locksmith, although if you do that don't bother buying a fob online as they will take care of that for you. Price should still be way lower than buying one from a dealer.

Avoid used fobs on eBay as they may not work, and while you might get lucky and get your money back on the fob you probably won't get your money back for any attempts to program it.

Start though by getting a dealer quote for replacement fob and programming as that will give you the benchmark to compare to.

 

[dwheat17]

I called the dealer to see if I can get a 3rd key for my son. $468 plus $150 to program it in SoCal. I checked online and I could get it for $275 but would still need to pay $150 for programming.

At this point I am hoping that Honda files for bankruptcy as they do not deserve to be in business. I'm sure the "programming" takes 10 minutes at most.

I did follow-up with my mechanic. He said he would not use and OEM key as they are hit and miss on the programming. He could get the key from Honda for $410 and charge $79 for programming. Still that is $600 for an extra key. No thanks.

 

[leemell]

That pricing pretty much mirrors the cost of any car fob from it's dealership. Not unique to Honda.

 

[2002]

I did follow-up with my mechanic. He said he would not use and OEM key as they are hit and miss on the programming. He could get the key from Honda for $410 and charge $79 for programming. Still that is $600 for an extra key. No thanks.

Probably a good mechanic that's why you use him but for this you might be better off getting quotes from a few locksmiths.

 

[Virginia Country Man]

For my Nissan Titan I bought a fob on Amazon and then used YouTube to learn how to program it. Checkout YouTube and see if there are any videos specific to the Clarity and then decide if you can do it yourself.

 

[BILLJMCL]

I just bought a 2018 Touring, 48 K miles- awesome car. BUt only came with one key fob. Any recommendations for replacement vs going to a dealership ?
Thanks
John

John,
I had the same problem in January. I ordered a fob from EBAY from a seller called PROGRAMYOURREMOTE. What I didn't know was that the fobs ARE NUMBERED - you can see that on the remote itself. I already had a #2, but when I ordered the fob, I got one that had no number on it. Took it to the Honda dealer and, after a few attempts, they told me that a non-numbered fob would not work.
I sent the fob back to the seller and just went with the Honda dealer. In the meantime, the seller immediately refunded me the entire money and then, in an email, said that he had a #1 in his inventory. Too late.
Anyhow, frankly I'd recommend that you contact that seller on EBAY. If you have two drivers you will definitely want a #1 and a #2 fob. The car automatically adjusts the seat to your fob's preferred setting. I don't know if it does anything else. Of course, if you don't have two drivers, then it doesn't really matter which number fob you have. But DO get a numbered fob.
The fob on EBAY cost me $185 total. There was no charge for the return.
Of course, I don't know about what your Honda dealer would charge. Mine was $150. Massive ripoff for programming.
Bill

 

[2002]

Took it to the Honda dealer and, after a few attempts, they told me that a non-numbered fob would not work.

Did your Honda dealer charge you for the attempt to program the eBay fob? If not you were lucky. That is the main problem with buying fobs on eBay is that yes the reputable sellers will refund your money if the fob doesn't work but you are usually out the money spent attempting to program it.

The numbered fobs also control climate settings. Although I think only the Touring gets the numbered fobs since Base does not have powered seats.

Separate topic but since we are talking about the numbered fobs, I am the only one who drives my Clarity and when I first got it I noticed that when I made adjustments to the seat, the next time I got in the car it was back to the previous setting. I had to remember that whenever I made an adjustment to the seats I had to then press the Set button then press the number 1. Easy to forget to do that and I found it kind of annoying that it kept going back to previously stored settings which didn't seem necessary for just one driver. It probably was doing the same thing for the climate settings but I didn't notice. Then I found in the manual that you can shut off the dual fob function. You can still program the two seat settings but it no longer automatically reverts to a stored setting when you get in the car it just stays wherever you left it last unless you press one of the two buttons.

To turn it off you go into Settings -> Vehicle Driving Position -> Setup Memory Position Link, and then you can turn it on or off.

 

[BILLJMCL]

No, the Honda dealer didn't charge me. Of course, given that I was going to get the correct fob from them, they carried the programming charge over to the new fob.

 

[TomL]

I tried hard to find a way around the dealer's expensive cost for a third fob and failed. I spoke to two locksmiths who specialize in electronic key fobs and they both said the Ebay blank was not recommended and unlikely to work. There is also the inherent problem with Driver #1 and Driver #2 fobs when you try to create a third fob, as someone else indicated.

 

[2002]

No, the Honda dealer didn't charge me. Of course, given that I was going to get the correct fob from them, they carried the programming charge over to the new fob.

So you bought the new fob from them on the same visit where you had them try and program the eBay fob? If so that's probably typical as I would think most dealers would not charge you double for programming on one invoice. Now if you left and came back another day then that would be a really nice dealer to not charge for programming the new fob since you had recently paid for a previous attempt on a non-dealer fob. Then again they make huge profit just on the fob alone so I suppose some dealers will decide that the total soaking was enough without charging you again for programming.

 

[jpmjr]

UPDATE- the dealer wanted $ 410 for the fob and 70$ to program
If I bot the fob , they would not guarantee the work. hmm, i called a locksmith recommended by the dealer.
Called Pops A Lock - mobile locksmith. All in Fob, programming and a # 1 FOB ( i had #2) $ 230. also, he came to my house, did it in the driveway and the fob was oem Honda and cut the physical key inside. All guarenteed for a year. seenmed to the best solution.

 

[dwheat17]

That is more like it. I'd like to give that a try. What part of the country are you located?

 

[LeeMarkus]

I know a firm named locksmith dallas that offers replacement fob options at an affordable rate.

 

[jpmjr]

Fob

That is more like it. I'd like to give that a try. What part of the country are you located?

sorry for the delay,I haven't logged in in a long time. I live near Newburyport in MA. Pops A Lock is a franchise. They may be in your area.

 

[rshock]

Batteries Plus Bulbs $200.19 for the fob and the programming. They ordered the fob for me, and it came in within a week. I went to my local Batteries Plus Bulbs store. It took about 15 minutes for the programming, no appointment needed

 

[nutven]

Has anyone tried using the MaxiAP AP200 to program yourselves the new keyfob?

 

[Srcpt]

My insurance includes a rider that pays up to $400 for a lost fob.

 

[CreedJohn]

That pricing pretty much mirrors the cost of any car fob from it's dealership. Not unique to Honda.

Then the keys made by locksmith technicians are not genuine keys for the car?

 

[2002]

Then the keys made by locksmith technicians are not genuine keys for the car?

Locksmiths use genuine Honda keys, the cost savings occur when they don't mark the part up as much as dealers do and the labor cost to program the key is usually cheaper.