I lost my remote for my car and my spare one doesnt work. So I was just going to buy a new one for $30 and activate it myself, but I have an aftermarket stereo and apparently if you dont have factory stereo you cant do it yourself, you have to take it to a dealer. Is this true? Am I gonna have to spend $200+ for the dealer to do it? thanks

 

It's a 2000 SS btw.

 

Yes, the dealer would have to do it in this case. Did you get rid of your factory stereo? Otherwise just put it back in for a bit, program, and put your aftermarket back in.

 

Are you sure? Don't you just hold down 2 buttons to re-program it AFTER you install a new battery?
Dealer will do this, take an hour to do it, and charge you $75! Top 2 buttons, I think. Been a while.
What does the radio have to do with security? Only to access settings.

 

The radio has a security system built into it now to avoid swapping stolen radios. It is a simple on/off parameter. But I beleive that you need a stock stereo to accept the frequency code to program the BCM or receive programming from the BCM I don't remember how that works exactly.