I imported my car from Japan, and while the vehicle itself was immaculate, it only came with one key, and that was in a horrible state - taped around to hold it together, so blade wouldn't close and was sort of fixed in the open position, scratched, dirty, etc. I ordered a new key at the Mercedes-Benz Nassau, and it took four weeks to arrive from Germany (and cost me $520), but I also bought a key case off eBay, and transferred the insides of the original key into it (actually I bought two different ones - one was a complete crap, couldn't hold it together with spring loaded, the other was perfect). Now I have a 'new' spare key, with everything working perfectly. In fact, I feel that original key requires less precision when pointing at the car to lock/unlock it - Japanese specs a really short-range, I've been told, - you have to be literally next to your car for remote to operate. Naturally, the key required initialisation after I transferred the circuitry, but it only takes a minute or two.
