The likelihood is that you didn't realize what a pain in the ass the Vespa immobilzer system is. The shop gave you an estimate based on bringing in a bike that had been stolen, and needed to be gone through, probably a bit of electrical repair and some pieces of broken plastic. Once they realized you don't have the brown key, they couldn't go any further as far as repairs. So they told you that you would need to buy that, keys and tumblers.
There are cheaper ways to rekey your scooter, but a Vespa dealer is going to use brand new OEM parts. And they are not cheap.
Price is about typical for Southern California. Malcolm Smith is a very good dealership, and the reason people get great deals on theft recovery Vespas is that everyone in the business knows what it's going to cost if you do'nt have a brown key.
If you can get someone to run the VIN in the Piaggie system on lightspeed, or know a cop well enough, they should be able to pull up the previous owner's name and address. maybe more. With that, if you can contact the previous owner, they might still have both keys.
You don't need both keys to get the rest of the repairs done, but you need one. With either key, the dealership can put the bike back together and make sure it runs right. Without at least one key that's connected to your ECU, there's no way to start the bike and make sure everything works.
⚠️ Last edited by Motovista on UTC; edited 1 time