The dealership route is a tow bill, their key price, and usually a day without your car. I do the same job in your driveway, with the cutting machine and the programmer already in the van. The car never moves.
Car keys stopped being pieces of metal about twenty five years ago. Most of them now are a chip, a radio, and a computer handshake with your vehicle. I carry the gear for all of it.
The standard key with a chip in the head. Cut to your vehicle and programmed to it, so it turns the ignition and actually starts the engine instead of cranking and dying.
Lock, unlock, trunk, panic and remote start. New fobs paired to your car, and old ones deleted so a key floating around out there stops working.
The keyless kind you leave in your pocket. If yours is lost or the car no longer sees it, I program a replacement at the vehicle.
The single cheapest thing on this page. A spare made while you still have a working key costs a fraction of an all keys lost job. Do it now, not from a parking lot at nine at night.
Keys on the seat, keys in the trunk, engine running with the doors locked. Opened without prying the frame and without breaking a window.
No working key exists anywhere. The new key gets read off the vehicle itself, cut, and programmed on the spot. It takes longer than copying a key you still have, which is exactly why spares are cheap.
Dealers do good work and they are the right call for some vehicles. But for a lost key the math is usually not close, and the difference is almost entirely logistics rather than the key itself.
Being honest about it, there are a few vehicles and a few security systems where the dealer genuinely is the right answer. If yours is one of them I will tell you on the phone instead of driving out and charging you to find out.
Driveway, work parking lot, trailhead, gas station, the shoulder of a highway. Wherever it is sitting is where the new key gets made.
Thirty seconds of prep and I can quote you a real number on the phone instead of a range.
Yes. That is called an "all keys lost" job and it is normal work. I read what the vehicle needs, cut the key from that, and program it to the car. It takes longer than copying an existing key, which is why a spare is always cheaper than an emergency.
Only if you want it to, and sometimes you should. If a key was stolen or lost somewhere public, deleting the old keys from the car is the whole point, because otherwise that key still starts your vehicle. Say the word and I clear them.
Often, yes. If the chip in the key has failed the car will crank and refuse to start, because the immobilizer does not recognize it. That is a key problem, not an engine problem, and people spend real money at a mechanic before anyone checks it.
Most jobs run twenty minutes to an hour at the vehicle depending on the make and whether you have a working key. I will give you a realistic window on the phone, not an optimistic one.
Text me the year, make and model and where you are. You will have a real price back before anybody drives anywhere.
801-834-0453
