OK so its New Years Eve. I get drunk and lose my car keys. On friday i go to a local honda dealership to see if they can cut me new keys. They charged me 300$!! Saying i had to get a new red "learners" key for the prelude. I told them i just wanted an original black key to replace the one i lost. I have no other keys than that. So i forked over 3oo$ and had them order some crap to get my keys replaced. I drive a 2000 Prelude Base model. Am i getting played? Is there anyway i can get a set of keys for a different price? any knowledge on this board will greatly be appreciated.

 

it is pretty expensive to replace an immobilzer key, but I didn't think it would be $300. They should just need the black key and use the Tablet to program the key, not the red key.

 

But he doesn't have his black keys from what I gather. And the Prelude seems to be an oddball with the immobilizer. None of the other Hondas seem to have the red key, at least what I've seen

 

the prelude is special in itself, the red key they speak of is the learner for the immobilizer. most times you need to replace the immobi module with the new key as they are made for each other specific. you can not program a prelude key without the learner. no other honda requires the learner key. the price seems about right.-

 

Agreed. I bought my lude with only the valet key, and they were asking $285 for the immobilizer set.

 

I could have sworn when I worked at Honda, I programed at least one immobilizer key for a 5th gen prelude using the HDS tablet. You shouldn't need that red key from what I remember.

 

only the 2000 and 2001 preludes work this way iirc