corncob

This is one of the reasons that I always fly with my Style PS Leatherman. TSA carry-on friendly and the wire-cutters on the pliers make quick work of the steel cable that holds the keys together. I've been cutting the keys apart on my National rentals for the last two years and never had anyone say anything upon return. One of the employees at one point actually told me that it happens frequently. I just leave the extra key in one of my suitcase pockets, and the tag in the console, and pile them all together in the middle tray when I drop the vehicle.

https://www.leatherman.com/style-ps-25.html

FlyerTalker93851

Car rental companies don't get key fobs at cheap prices. We have to pay thru the nose too. Considering some fleet sizes (ours is 12K and for the state about 25K) think about how many fobs are getting lost. It's a lot. FedEx? We have over a Million cars on the road Corporate Wide. Cars are in-fleeted and out-fleeted never at the same city and both sets of flobs/keys must be with the vehicle. Calculate the cost in there for many sets of separated fobs/keys that were lost over the life of the car in our fleet. The cost gets pretty high.

We know two sets is a pain in more than your pocket to deal with. But there is a method to the madness. Please just bring it to the attention of your return agent if the keys need to be "re-married." A Lonely Fob is a useless Fob if it has no vehicle tag with it.

Thanks for the help gang.

axz17

Wait so why are there two sets??

ucfjoe

Why? Because when the buying side is negotiating a bulk purchase of vehicles the discount for them buying cars with one key is basically zero compared to paying for two and keeping one key in a special location and marrying it back later before auction isn't practical. Keep in mind that many of these bulk purchases are for cars already built or already in the queue for production. It's not coincidence that many of the purchases are near year end or quarterly end. The other group of purchases are for those mass fleet buys of Impalas that we all love and if they saved $175 on a side air bag delete I suspect they only came with one key but that's only one side of how these companies buy their fleet which I think many of us forget. Further food for thought if they only saved $175 for removing all of those side airbags how much do you think Chevy values an extra key? $25? Then what % of cars coming with two keys lose that second key by auction? Unless the number is +80% they are probably still coming out ahead.

qs933

If my understanding is correct, it boils down to:

1. If a car starts its fleet life with two sets of keys, it needs to end with two sets of keys. Makes sense -- if the car gets auctioned, a missing key is probably a deduction in value. Same thing if a car gets turned back in to the manufacturer.

2. Where a car begins and ends its fleet life is unpredictable (due to one-way rentals). Therefore, both sets of keys are kept with the car, wherever it goes.

3. Hiding the second key is either not feasible (smart keys in particular can't remain in the car) or not practical (one of the best ways to get your car stolen in my area is with those hide-a-keys).

I'm guessing number 2 is the main issue -- in Honolulu, where one-way rentals are inherently limited to the various locations on Oahu, I've always received one keyfob.

FlyerTalker93851

The cars come with two sets.

Closingracer

I lost them and it costed me $275.... $360 if you includes all the taxes

Juanefny

so I rented a mustang from fll. It was nighttime and I didn’t really pay too much attention to keys since they were in the car when I picked it up from the executive aisle.
today… (the next day) I notice there’s two key sets. But only one fob. It’s like the other fob was taken out. I’m not sure if this is intentional or what… what do you think will happen when I return it like this?

m907

I've seen this several times and National has never tried to blame it on me.

camk500

probably someone doing what I do and forgot. I’d you take the fob off the key it still works and you don’t have to carry that big bulky double key business around