Avis Lost Key Experience
 

I rented a Volkswagen Atlas from the New Haven, CT (HVN) Avis location earlier this week. Somehow, the key fob came detached from the metal "emergency key" and keychain and I was unable to find it, despite retracing my steps many times.

So I called Avis roadside assistance and they advised the only resolution was to end the rental and have the car towed to an "authorized location" for $350. Turned out it was towed to their BDL airport facility - over 80 miles away from where I was with the car! (Fairfield County).

I have yet to hear back from Avis but I imagine I'm in for a real whammy. I'm guessing close to $1000 when all is said and done, as they're going to have to charge me for a new key in addition to the tow, plus loss of use or extra rental days and fuel.

Does anyone else have experience with lost Avis keys? How were you billed? Did they charge the credit card on file or send you a separate bill? This is a first for me in 22 years of renting cars. Still a total mystery as to where the key fob went (my best guess is that it fell out of my pocket and rolled down the hill into the woods at the friend's house I was staying at).

Was there a reason you did not just use the emergency key for the duration of the rental and then deal with the missing keyfob at return?

I believe in most cars the emergency key part itself won't start the car (if pushbutton start there may not even be a starter keyhole). The "dead fob battery" failsafe for the door locks is the physical key, but the failsafe for the starter is a secondary passive NFC (no self-power needed) in the fob that you hold up to the dash while pressing the button.

Yeah, on some fobs it's too easy to inadvertently release the otherwise-loose fob from the emergency key part that's attached to the keyring.

EDIT: I may be wrong about that -- some searches show that VWs at least have the passive NFC chip in the emergency key part (so you can give that to a valet). You'd have to know to hold that up to the right place, of course.

Actually, you were correct. For cars that have an actual ignition slot where you can insert the key, you can start it, but the VW Atlas isn't one of those, so without the fob, you can only get into the car, but not start it.

To answer the OP's original question, they will usually charge the credit card used for the rental (assuming the charge goes through). The tow is likely to be expensive. I'd say that worst-case, you're probably looking at around $1K but it's possible you'll get away with less. Please do report back on the final outcome as it helps others in similar situations to know what to expect. Good luck!

Some cards (and some home insurance) in France (don't know about the US) include coverage for costs related with lost/stolen keys up to a few hundreds/year (eg. my Visa Premier cover up to 800€/year), you should look if something of the sort is included in your CC.

My husband accidentally left our personal car fob in the Hertz rental car in Phoenix instead of the rental car fob, but discovered the issue as we were going through TSA. We rushed back to Hertz as we had the time to do so, despite the extended effort to get there, and while en route back to Hertz, they charged our credit card $250 for their key fob. Luckily, they backed the charge off very quickly after we returned the appropriate key fob to them.

The emergency key was just a key blade that opened the driver's side door (after prying off the plastic cover). Without the main fob section, there was no way I could start the car, unfortunately.

Update, almost 2 months later:

Complete radio silence from Avis. I have called their "customer relations" number twice since I lost the key and had to have the rental car towed, and they advised me I'll get a bill for the towing and replacement key in my email once everything has been reconciled on their end.

I checked my credit card statement and the original $149 for the rental itself is all that Avis has charged me. (At least they logged the "return" at the right time and didn't charge me for any extra days!)

So...I'm just waiting on the other shoe to drop, so to speak.

Incidentally - the friend I was staying with in Connecticut ended up finding the key fob, about a week after I left. It had fallen into his garden box, right in front of his front porch. It must have fallen out of my pants pocket and somehow gotten buried/obscured by dirt or plants. He's held onto it but I doubt Avis would ask for it back at this point - they've surely re-keyed the vehicle by now.