I lost my car rental keys - yuck. I called Hertz and they said it would be at least $325 to replace them. They said they would give a code to a licensed locksmith. They claim they don't have a spare set.
Fortunately the car is cheap (only $25 day) and fortunately I don't really need the car to get around - so I will wait a couple more days until Tue morning to see if someone has turned the keys into a neighborhood location (they are currently closed for the holiday).

My questions are these.
1. Don't you think they have a spare set at the regional office where the car was purchased? Couldn't they FedEx me the spare?
2. If I had a locksmith come and make a key am I obligated to replace the key fob and the key or just the key?

If you haven't already done so, check the glove box, the spare tire well or trunk for a key or white plastic envelope thing. Many Hertz cars I have seen have at least a key in one of those 3 locations. I hope you are not locked out of your car as well, then you really are having a bad day.

Was there one or two keys on the chain? If there was two, then there probably is not another set anyplace. I don't really get why Hertz does that, but they do.

If there was only one set, check the places mentioned in the previous post to see if the second key is there. It has been said many times in the threads here that they don't keep the second set anyplace, it's usually with the car, and usually on the chain.

You have to replace the fob and the key, and depending on the type of car cover any programming costs to get it all to work together. They may also hit you with a loss of service charge for the time the car is out of service.

I "only" had to pay $250 at an airport location last year, plus the cost of towing the car to the location. Did not have to pay any loss of service charge.

The loss of service would depend on how long it takes them to get a new key. If it's as simple as giving a locksmith a vin number and they get the code from Ford or whoever for their automatic cutting machine, and they cut one in ten minutes that's one thing.

On some cars however, If the fob has to be ordered from Germany, takes a week to get here, and requires the car to go to the dealer to have it all programmed, that's gonna be a loss of service charge on top of the key charge.

As they have indicated that a locksmith can produce one from the ID code or whatever on the spot, I would venture there will be no loss of service.

They should/can only claim loss of service if all the cars in the car class are rented out. If there are still cars available in that class, then they cannot claim loss of service. This is one of the first things an insurance company checks in a claim and what we all should be aware of.

My bad, there's apparently never any loss of service when a car has to be taken out for a week waiting for the fedex from Germany. Forget I even mentioned it.

That's about as unlikely as them charging hundreds of dollars for a $20 keycut at a locksmith.

Just to play Devils Advocate here...

Why would the Hertz or any other car rental agency keep spare keys for every car they own or lease? The expense would be crazy and the truth of the matter is that it is easier to keep everything with the car.

Haven't you noticed that the keys and fobs (usually 2 of each) are all cabled together? That way they don't separate any of the stuff from the car when Bob (name changed to protect the innocent) decides that he wants to drive his car to Vegas instead of driving his car back to LAX.

Sorry you lost your keys, but they were your responsibility.

Not sure if I understand the tone in your reply?

But you are right. They can not claim loss-of-service if your car was in Premium class and at the same time they have at least another one in the same Premium class that's available.

It does not matter if that specific car is out-of-service as long as they have cars available in the same class.

Are you certain it's just a key? If there's a fob, it's actually a good deal and likely represents a Hertz discount. I replaced a Toyota fob last year and it cost me $275 (personal vehicle).

The OP did not say which type of car it was, but did mention it had a fob in addition to the key. So it could be anything price wise depending on what the $25 a day car had. Some remotes are like $20 or $30 and can be programmed doing the "pedal dance" without a visit to the dealer, though probably not in this case as there is no other key to use to do the programming. On the other end the remotes are hundreds of dollars and require extensive programming that takes the car out of service while the computer is reprogrammed.

There is however very little chance Hertz is passing along any discounts they get in buying a new key, non insured things like this are a major money maker for them.

Is "loss-of-service" the same as "loss-of-use"?

I was always under the impression that the rental agency could make a loss-of-use claim against that specific vehicle.