I bought my 2008 panel back in May, and when I picked it up there was only one key and no remote fob. The Dealer stated that there was only the one key.

The passenger door has no lock, and it is a pain to have to open the driver's door and unlock the passenger door from inside, only to have to go round to open the door for the girlfriend.

Should there have been a fob remote?

Also what do keys run cost-wise, and should there be a different key for the lockable storage compartments?

Cheers
Doc

 

Yes to key fob. The car came with two fobs & two keys. Was it a chevy dealer ? Have them get you a fob and have them program it also a new key! some %#$@*^% dealers. I lost a fob and got one on ebay but had to get it reprogramed. It might have remote start if it is a auto trans. post the vin. and soom one will let you know if it has remote start. don't know what keys are going for .

 

It was bought used off a lot out of state. I thought it should have had a fob (or 2) but they had what they had.

I'll check the dealers here on pricing etc.

Cheers
Doc

 

From a quick search it looks like eBay has the best deals. You can get two complete fobs for just under 50 dollars.

Uncut keys are going for right at 20 dollars.

You would have to have a dealer program the car to accept them.

So far I’ve not needed new keys for my HHR but I did have to replace some for my Dodge Neon a while back. I bought the keys on eBay then took them to the dealer we bought the car from to have them programmed.

He seemed to think it would cost me 100 dollars to have that done,… so after leaving in a huff, and swearing they had gotten the last business from me ever, I went to a more local dealer to see what it would cost to have them do it. It may be that since I had them do work on my other cars he decided they could just do this small thing for me. The keys were already cut down at the local Ace hardware for 2 dollars.

A while later I bought new remote key fobs for the car too and he did those as well but did charge me 20 dollars for both.

Check around for your best deal.

 

Found keys and fobs on eBay at a decent price.

I can have them cut here.

Last question on this.... I also found how to program both the keys and the fobs online.
Is this a safe thing to do?

Cheers
Doc

 

You can program the keys (after they've been cut) with a procedure outlined in the owners manual on page 2-20, 2-21. You can not program the fobs yourself no matter what you find on the internet. That has to be done at the dealership. If you don't have a 2008 owners manual, one is available here.

 

Should there be a valet key and a master?... or just a master?

Also with it being a panel as opposed to a passenger is the remote any different?

Cheers
Doc

 

There is only one key. The only difference in the fobs would be auto start or not depending on whether it's an auto trans or manual. You can use an auto start fob for a vehicle that doesn't have it or an non auto start fob for one that does. You just won't have the auto start function. Also, from what I understand, HHR that were originally built to be rental/fleet vehicles won't have auto start.

 

how do I tell about the rental/fleet thing?

 

Being that you have a panel its unlikely that you have an ex-rental, but you can always run a CarFax to make sure that the vehicle wasn't used as a rental/fleet vehicle.

Now assuming you have an automatic transmission, because remote start isn't and wasn't available with the 5-speed, you can check your build tag in the glove-box.

You'll see a label printed with assorted 3 digit alphanumerical codes, what you are looking for is code "AP3". If you see AP3 on the tag you have a vehicle equipped with remote start, if that code is missing, you have no remote start capability.