[Dagstar]

Short story: paid $300 for a new fob (and $50 for new key) from The BMW Mini Part Store, arrived in 5 days, by far the cheapest price I found.

Months ago I accidentally put my key fob in the washing machine. It still worked but comfort access was gone and I had to hold the fob up to the steering column every time to start the car and use the key to manually lock/unlock. Dried it, replaced battery, relearn wouldn't hold, cleaned components, yadda yadda yadda bottom line I needed a new one. I couldn't stomach the price (up to $650...) and since the car still worked I'd rather put the money towards other things needing attention. A few weeks ago I came across an old thread where someone mentioned The BMW Mini Part Store having great prices on keys, and they sure did. I paid less than half what some local dealerships wanted and about $200 less than the cheapest. I also opted for a new cut key (an additional $50) just incase I ever lost this one. All in all it was about $365 shipped and arrived in 5 days. They required my driver's license and registration to purchase. I did the relearn, which took me about 10 minutes, and half of that was watching a video. Dealerships charge an hour labor for that.