Nissan I-key Owners ~ please Hold on dear to your I-key

Officially drove home my Latio babe on 19 April this year (2009).
I wrote..
Still have yet to work out a 'idiot' proof system. I bet you....the day will come where I will be writing here on least one clumsy incident about yours truly here..locking myself out of the house without the I-key or leaving the I-key in some other place or bag..whatever...(MORE)


Seven months later...I lost one of the I-key! Arggh.

A complete I-key looks like this.
(explanation about I-key from Nissan is available HERE)

I almost dropped dead when the service centre told me that a new I-key would cost a whopping RM900!!!!

Seriously, if my heart was a little weaker...it would have stopped.

The sales advisor whom I was dealing with wasn't very helpful nor sympathetic.  You know..typical Malaysian standard of customer service where they just as a matter of factly tell you..the standard procedure i.e. I will have to come back in the morning cos they will need :

..a whole day to re-programme the entire system,

..cos they need to send the existing key back to the plant too

..at the same time order a new one

..blah blah blah

..and yes lor.."it is that expensive ..with that "WHO ASKED YOU TO BUY SUCH A INTELLIGENT CAR" look on her face

@#@!^&*#

I was so angry~

Angry at myself for being such an idiot.

Angry at the the stupid woman for being no help.

Angry at the salesman who sold me the car.

So angry ..that I called up the salesman to complain.  My exact words.."you told me the key costs a few hundred..but you didn't say it's gonna be $900!!"

Obviously..he didn't and doesn't know the actual cost but he promised to help me check for alternatives.  ..that's what service is all about.  We don't expect miracles..a little bit of compassion and human touch are all we are asking for.

To my relieve....there is really an alternative to cut down the cost.

He found out from another service centre that..I can actually ask for only the remote for the time being..since I still have another I-key and a Master mechanical key with me now.

How would that work?

The remote only functions to arm/unarm the central locking system...i.e. if *touch wood* I were to lose my other I-key again..I still have a remote to unlock the car and use a mechanical key to start the car (the unintelligent way)

The remote (without) the i-key costs RM405 (after RM50 discount).  There's another RM50 charge to reprogramme the new remote.

This is how it looks like (with a missing i-key)

Yupe..the i-key itself is 50% of the cost. All because it's INTELLIGENT.  Without the i-key , the car doesn't 'work intelligently'.  Meaning..

..we have to press remote normally to unlock car instead of just pressing the button at the door (without taking out the key)

..we have to insert the mechanical key to start teh engine instead of just turning the knob (with the key still in the bag)

So...is it worthwhile..to own an Intelligent Car?