A little background on how Merc made life difficult for dealers and their customers after fleeing the Russian Federation. Previously, the brand had a huge central spare parts warehouse in Russia, where a huge range of goods was stored, which were ordered by both “officials” and “non-officials” using the “independent specialist” program. After the known events, the company closed this warehouse. After the Fritz, the database and online support began to shut down.
But gradually the military discovered the spare parts. Some arrive via parallel import, some are ordered through partners in Germany. With the closing of service bases, everything also turned out not to be very scary. “Software” is exchanged, imported from friendly countries. In general, there are no problems with this now. The most annoying thing is the termination of online support, which is very important if the owner lost the ignition key or dropped it into the water, for example.
The fact is that only official dealers used to hand out a new one. It was necessary to come to one of them with documents for the car, then the masters, after checking the data and focusing on the VIN number, ordered the device in Germany. That is, in Russia, car dealers have never been able to “tie” the key to the car themselves: they did this only with the support of the headquarters in Germany. Now she’s gone.
Which can turn into a complete disaster, because you can lose a spare set. Stories “walk” on the web when the poor fellows had to personally go to Europe to recover the keys. Although this did not always save: the local dealers often refuse the service, because the owner of the car is Russian.
Is there a way out? Some military personnel have found German partners to take on such work. You do not need to bring a car to Germany for this, but you just need to send documents and a lock there, and then wait a month. The cost of the service starts from 4000 euros and depends on the vehicle model. By the way, exactly the same operation must be performed if the electronic control unit is broken.
At the same time, it is important not to run into scammers. Otherwise, it’s easy to be left without documents. That is, the Russian dealer with whom you conclude such an agreement must be verified.
But not everyone is so sad. For example, a Mercedes-Benz W164 chip key can be easily restored in Russia. It is enough to buy a “blank” and find someone who is engaged in “cloning”. Nevertheless, the owners of premium cars should be more careful with their “iron horses”. After all, a number of failures and losses in the current reality will have catastrophic consequences.
A little background on how Merc made life difficult for dealers and their customers after fleeing the Russian Federation. Previously, the brand had a huge central spare parts warehouse in Russia, where a huge range of goods was stored, which were ordered by both “officials” and “non-officials” using the “independent specialist” program. After the known events, the company closed this warehouse. After the Fritz, the database and online support began to shut down.
But gradually the military discovered the spare parts. Some arrive via parallel import, some are ordered through partners in Germany. With the closing of service bases, everything also turned out not to be very scary. “Software” is exchanged, imported from friendly countries. In general, there are no problems with this now. The most annoying thing is the termination of online support, which is very important if the owner lost the ignition key or dropped it into the water, for example.
The fact is that only official dealers used to hand out a new one. It was necessary to come to one of them with documents for the car, then the masters, after checking the data and focusing on the VIN number, ordered the device in Germany. That is, in Russia, car dealers have never been able to “tie” the key to the car themselves: they did this only with the support of the headquarters in Germany. Now she’s gone.
Which can turn into a complete disaster, because you can lose a spare set. Stories “walk” on the web when the poor fellows had to personally go to Europe to recover the keys. Although this did not always save: the local dealers often refuse the service, because the owner of the car is Russian.
Is there a way out? Some military personnel have found German partners to take on such work. You do not need to bring a car to Germany for this, but you just need to send documents and a lock there, and then wait a month. The cost of the service starts from 4000 euros and depends on the vehicle model. By the way, exactly the same operation must be performed if the electronic control unit is broken.
At the same time, it is important not to run into scammers. Otherwise, it’s easy to be left without documents. That is, the Russian dealer with whom you conclude such an agreement must be verified.
But not everyone is so sad. For example, a Mercedes-Benz W164 chip key can be easily restored in Russia. It is enough to buy a “blank” and find someone who is engaged in “cloning”. Nevertheless, the owners of premium cars should be more careful with their “iron horses”. After all, a number of failures and losses in the current reality will have catastrophic consequences.
Source: Avto Vzglyad
Donald Salinas is an experienced automobile journalist and writer for Div Bracket. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of automobiles, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the latest trends and innovations in the automotive industry.