It's easy to steal a Prius.

Or how about you go to a Toyota Dealership and ask for a test drive. Also, see if the guy thats is coming with you is prius literate. When he hands you the fob, go in the car and start it up normally while secretly extracting the little key from the fob. Finish the test drive, hand the fob back, and go home. Come back to the dealer when they are closed and steal the prius with the key and there you go. A free prius only without SKS or Keyless Entry! :mrgreen:

 

With the little key you can open the door, but you can't start the car without the fob.

 

No good. The key gets you into the car, but won't start it. You need the fob for that.

 

No you give the little key back and pocket the fob.

 

Is that why I didn't get my second fob initially?

 

Assuming the thief doesn't know the Prius, if you gave him the fob he'd be angry. It does not appear to be a key. Even cars with fobs have an ignition key also. So toss him your house keys and run. What he'll do probably depends on his general attitude toward the world. Maybe let you run. Maybe shoot you. Maybe invite you to his church to meet the Lord and be saved.

 

Today I took my Prius to a body shop to have the side mouldings put on. The guy asked for the key to drive it into the garage and looked very confused when I handed him the fob. The fob had no keys hanging from it and I could see his mind working - maybe just trying think up a polite way to ask me again for the key. I gave him a little lesson on start-up procedures, etc. and after we talked about it awhile (while the tech put on the mouldings) - (they look fabulous, BTW!) he said he's going to tell his girlfriend about it.

 

True Story:

I had already test-driven a Prius, and wanted my wife to try it out as well. So we went to a dealership with an available car (a different lot than I'd been to before, a lot I'd never been on before). We missed the turn, so ended up parking in a office lot next door. It was a nice day, so we walked onto the dealership lot. We went in, talked to a salesman (never asked our names, not a great salesman) and said we wanted a test-drive.

He took too long to track down the car, so we started to leave the dealership. He came running out with the fob. We walked out to the car, and I started to get into the backseat (I wanted to see how the ride was back there). The salesman told me it was ok to get in the front, he wasn't coming with us (he had another customer). He gave my wife the fob, and went back into the store.

He didn't know our names. We'd walked onto the lot. He didn't make a copy of our drivers licenses (like every other dealership does). We drove off the lot, waiting for him to come running after us.

We drove around town, took our time, and brought the car back.

What was he thinking??

(perhaps there was a Lojack device, who knows?)

 

Maybe he thought you had honest faces.

 

My parents had similar experiences with a Saturn dealership. Actually, they weren't as anonymous as you, but the dealership did tell my parents that they do have a tracking system in the car. Possibly a portable lojack?