MikeP wrote:

Just out of curiosity I was in the BM garage with a friend the other day and they plugged his key into this little box. Just dropped it in. From the Key they could tell what services need doing on it, how many miles the car has, when it was last serviced and if there are any erraneous messages (e.g. Washer Fluid Low) Does the RRS key have this ability?

Nope, the techy's first job on taking your pride and joy from the service car park into the service bay is to retune your car radio to some gawd awful crap local radio station, turning the volume up to full (to test all the speakers are working OK) and then plug the car into the "testbook" computer. That will down load the fault log and display your "invisible" power upgrade file.................................. so he can wipe it and then tell you that you have had a load of new software upgrades. After that the apprentice gets to change the oil and another gets to take the car round to the chippy for the lads lunchtime take-way (aka a road test - that's to check that the rev limiter works fine) before returning it to the carwash bay where it gets a quick squirt of soapy water and then it's left in a corner of the carpark until the receptionist gets the paperwork sorted out and finds that you had asked for some other work to be done, by which time it is 4:30pm and she wants to be clear of the dealership by 5 because her boyfriend is taking her to Bella Pizza for an Italian meal tonight, so she phones you to say that as the parts or on back order you can either come and collect the car or leave it for a couple of days when the parts might just have come in.
This is not what my dealer is like, they are great but judging by what some of you have posted in the dealer comments this is what it sounds like happens in many of the big city centre dealerships!  2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

I don't think its the BMW key that has that capability - its the BMW itself. I understand that it has a bluetooth or R.F link that enables the garage to interrogate the car without a connector being required. In fact the database on your car is held in Germany and the link is established all the way from the car to the factory. I guess the key is used to ensure it is only interrogating the one car - not the whole forecourt. 2016 RRS 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography Dynamic in Montalcino Red and Stealth Kit

Nope, I can confirm that the BMW key (for the newer BMW's with pushstart) itself hold a crapload of info on it. I recently had service sone and the service advisor has a small box next to his/her computer that they stick your key into...from the key they know the car owner, milage, and tons of car information. Makes service appointments a whole lot more efficient to be honest...especially that first one because you dont have to give them all your info.

Tim

Tim you old cynic  some of my Previous cars
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P38 Range Rover Autobiography
RRS 2.7 HSE Silver
RRS TDV8 HSE silver
FFRR Vogue black
Disco3 HSE silver
RRS 2.7 HSE silver
RRS 3.0 HSE BALTI BLUE
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current vehicles
RRS 3.0 L494 Autobiography
Audi R8 V10 Spyder
AC Cobra
Landrover Defender 90
Landrover Defender 110
Suzuki Jimney