Never keep both car keys in the same location or together — and if you lose one get another cut immediately. My son bought a new Subaru Impreza in 2015 and, on an overseas trip, he put both keys in his bag, which was subsequently stolen. The vehicle was in a basement garage at his unit block and it should have been no problem to call a specialist locksmith to get one cut on the site. But no. Tried two locksmiths and one could unlock the car and steering but could not cut or program a key. It had to be dragged out on dolly wheels, then taken to a dealership. In the end we had to replace door locks and keys, a combination meter, a key kit, an integrated unit plus labour. The cost was $3471 and we will never buy another Subaru.
This is not the first time we've heard of this problem, although the Subaru costs seem high. Company spokesman David Rowley responds: "We will be contacting the customer directly, due to the extenuating circumstances, to try to get a fair and reasonable outcome. We're also evaluating the creation of an emergency kit of these components to lower the customer costs on the rare occasion that such an event occurs."