My wife left her purse in the footwell of my 1997 Saab 900 Turbo and some bad guys kicked off the holiday season by breaking my passenger window and stealing it. They made off with the keys and remote fob to her '98 Volvo S70. Would someone please explain the cheapest approach to returning us to where we were? My understanding is that the key has to be made at a dealership for roughly $20 and a new fob can be bought off Ebay for roughly $15. After receiving the remote fob, we will have to swing by the only dealership in town (Roanoke, VA) and pay for a half hour or so of labor for the time they need to access he PIN and the Valdis system. Is there a cheaper approach? The old remote didn't have the red panic button, does anyone know if we can use the remote that does have the panic button?

One other question. When we bought the car we didn't opt for the $400 activation of the alarm system. Does anyone know if activating the alarm would still be possible and how much it would cost? Would only a Volvo dealership be able to activate it? I'd enjoy having the alarm work (and now might be a good time to do it since I have to buy a new remote anyways) but I'd prefer to pay less than $400 if all it involves is changing a setting on the on board computer.

Thanks in advance for your shared wisdom.

Regards,
Trevor