No spare in the drawer, no key in the ignition, nothing. That is the job we do most days. We come to the car, make a key that starts it, and you drive away without a tow to the dealer.
Copying a key is easy when you have one. Losing the only key is a different job: there is nothing to trace, so the new key has to come from the car itself. We read the code for the cuts, cut a fresh blade on site, and then teach the car's computer to accept the new chip or remote.
Most people expect a tow and a week of waiting. For most makes and model years we do the whole thing in the parking spot, the driveway or the curb where the car is sitting.
It matters what kind of key you had. A plain metal key, a key with a chip in the head, a flip key with a remote, and a push-to-start smart key are four different jobs. If you are not sure which one you lost, a photo of the dashboard around the ignition tells us a lot. A keyhole means one thing, a start button means another, and we can load the right parts before we head out.
A key that starts a car is a serious thing to hand someone, so we ask for proof before we cut. A driver's license plus the registration, title or insurance card with the same name is usually enough. If the papers are locked inside the car, tell us when you text and we will sort out the order of steps with you.
This protects you as much as anyone. Nobody else can call us and get a key to your car.
When we program a replacement, we can usually remove the lost key from the car's memory at the same time. That means the old key, wherever it ended up, can no longer start the engine. If you lost it somewhere public, ask us to do this. It is worth the extra few minutes.
We also suggest making a second key while we are there. Having two keys is the cheapest insurance against doing this again, and doing it in the same visit saves a trip.
Text a photo of the car, the year, make and model, and your ZIP code to (657) 478-8248. A photo of the VIN plate through the windshield helps. We reply with a price and an honest arrival time, and nothing happens until you say go.
Yes, for most makes and model years. We get the cut from the car's key code or the lock, cut a new blade, and program the chip on site. A few late-model luxury cars need dealer-only parts, and we tell you that up front before anyone drives out.
Not if you ask us to remove it. On most cars we can clear lost keys from the immobilizer memory while programming the new one, so a key found by a stranger becomes useless for starting the engine.
Yes. We work wherever the car is: a parking structure, an apartment garage, a street, a workplace lot. Send the address or a pin, and tell us the level or row if it is a large structure.
Most replacements take somewhere around 30–60 minutes on site, depending on the car and the key type. Push-to-start cars with security delays can take longer, and we will say so when we quote.