Radio code questions and answers

Go by the serial rather than the badge. Type it into the free check at the top of the page and it names the radio for you. Our brand and model pages also list which radios each car had, year by year.

No. The code belongs to the radio, not the car, so we work from the serial on the radio that is in the car now.

No. Each radio has its own code, which is why the serial matters and the registration doesn’t.

That card records the radio the car left the factory with. If the radio has ever been swapped — and after twenty years, most have — the card is for a radio that isn’t there any more.

No. A replacement radio keeps its own code, so you need the code for its serial.

Sometimes. Japanese-market radios work differently — a Toyota or Lexus screen shows a 16-character ERC, and many imported Subarus have no code at all. Type in what you have and the free check will tell you for nothing.

For some cars, yes: a main dealer will often look the code up free with proof of ownership, and some manufacturers have an online form. We set out the free routes on our free radio codes page — use them first if you have the time.

On most Fords up to about 2012, hold buttons 1 and 6 with the radio on (2 and 6 on older cars) and it scrolls across the screen: a letter and six numbers. It is also on the label on the radio.

Hold buttons 1 and 6 for about five seconds while the radio asks for the code. A letter and three numbers appear, for example A123. It is also on the radio’s label, near the word SECURITY.

On the label on the radio, so the radio has to come out. It is 14 characters and starts GM or BP.

On the label on the radio and on the paper radio card that came with the car. It is 14 characters and starts VWZ, AUZ, SKZ or SEZ. These radios never show it on screen.

Turn the ignition on with the radio off, hold buttons 1 and 6, then switch the radio on. Two screens take turns: a U number and an L number. The letters only label the top and bottom halves — put the numbers together and that is your serial. Not showing? Look inside the glovebox door, where Honda dealers were asked to stick a label with it on.

Then you are reading it off a label rather than the screen. Three letters in front means it came off a sat nav unit. A B in front is the glovebox label. A single letter after the numbers is not part of the serial — leave it off, or type the lot and we will drop it for you. Underneath all of them the serial is the same eight numbers.

Press PTY and EJECT together with the radio on: five numbers appear. On Premium Sound cars, hold buttons 2 and 6 for a serial starting M instead.

Usually a pair or two of flat release keys, which cost a few pounds at any car parts shop. They push into the slots at each end until the clips let go.

The serial, not the part number. Part numbers are long and often start with the maker’s own code; serials follow the shape shown on our brand pages, like V123456, GM0205Y9019162 or BP3782R3701682.

Yes, most do. Type it exactly as printed: letters and numbers both matter, and 0 and O are easy to mix up.

Yes. Send us a photo of the radio label for £9.99. If we can’t read it or can’t find your code, you get every penny back.

It depends on the radio. Most set each number with the numbered buttons and confirm with a long press or a seek button. Every radio we cover has its own steps on its guide page, with the buttons shown as keys.

Some radios use the tuning or seek buttons instead, and a few use the dashboard clock as the display. The steps on your radio’s guide page cover both.

Usually one number went in wrong, or the serial we worked from wasn’t the one on the radio. Check the serial against the label and try again — and tell us if it still refuses, because that’s what the guarantee is for.

It varies: three before a pause on some radios, ten before a long lock-out on others, and a few (Land Rover among them) can lock for good after about twelve. Get the right code before you start guessing.

WAIT and LOCKED 10 mean it is counting down: leave the radio and the ignition on and it will let you try again. LOCKED 13 on a Ford means the tries are used up and the radio needs a dealer or a radio specialist. There is more on our locked radio page.

Then it isn’t a code problem. Check the radio fuse, the speaker connections and, on cars with a separate amplifier, the amp’s own fuse.

It appears on your order page as soon as the payment clears, usually within a few seconds, and lands in your inbox at the same time.

You get a “we’re on it” email straight away and the code within 2 hours. It arrives by email and appears on your order page.

No. We only need the radio’s serial. The registration can help work out which radio you have, but it never decides the code.

Yes — just put each serial through the free check and pay for each one. If you need codes regularly, email us and we’ll sort something out.

Because that’s where your code goes. It shows on screen the moment you’ve paid, and the email is what you still have in six years’ time if you lose the page. We don’t make you set up an account.

On Stripe’s payment page: card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, depending on what your device offers. We never see your card details.

Type it into the box on the result card, under “Have a discount code?”, and the price changes before you pay. If you came here from a link in one of our emails, it’s already on. Each code works once.

A code can’t be sent back, so at the checkout you ask for it straight away and give up the 14-day right to cancel that digital things normally carry. That doesn’t touch the guarantee: if the code doesn’t work, you get your money back. It’s all in the refund policy.

No. Payments run through Stripe, and the card never touches our site.

We aren’t VAT registered, so there is no VAT to reclaim. Your payment receipt and your order page are your proof of purchase.

Tell us from your order page and we put it right or refund you in full. That’s the whole of our money-back guarantee, with no video evidence and no admin fees.

That’s a power problem rather than a lock: check the radio fuse first, then the connections behind the radio. A locked radio still lights up and asks for its code.

On some VW-group and Audi cars that is the radio being matched to the car, not a lost code. A dealer or a specialist with the right software sorts those.

No. Plenty of cars — most Toyotas sold in the UK, for example — simply come back on with the clock reset. If your radio doesn’t ask for a code, you don’t need one.

Some radios stop accepting codes after a set number of wrong ones. A radio specialist can usually reset it at their workshop; we can’t do it from a serial.

For Hondas, yes: the sat nav has its own serial and its own code, and you can buy the pair together. Other makes vary, so put the serial through the free check.

Often it is the same radio in a different badge. The Vauxhall Vivaro, Renault Trafic and Nissan Primastar share one radio, and so do the Fiat Ducato, Peugeot Boxer and Citroën Relay.

If the converter kept the Fiat radio, the Ducato steps apply. If they fitted their own, type its serial into the free check and we’ll tell you.

Some newer vans (Vivaro and Movano from 2015, NV300 and Townstar, the Fiat Talento) tie the code to the van, so there is nothing to work out from a serial. A dealer can help with those.

Yes. Dacia radios of the button type use the same precode system, and the same steps.

Yes. It’s your radio, and you confirm at checkout that the car is yours or that you have the owner’s permission. We keep a record of that with the order.

No. It is the same code the factory set: the radio simply accepts it and carries on.

Tell us and we’ll redo it with the right serial, at no extra cost.

Six years, on your order page. The link in your email keeps working, so a code you lose in two years’ time is a click away.

Use find my code: put in your email address and we’ll send the link to your order page again.

No. We use your email to send your code and to reply to you, and nothing else. The privacy policy sets out what we keep and for how long.

Only two, and only if you’ve dealt with us: one discount if you start an order and don’t finish, and one for next time with a code we send. Every one of them has a link to stop them, and stopping them never affects emails about your own order.

A small UK business run by one person, selling radio codes online. Support is by email, and every message comes back from a human.