Lost all your car keys

What actually has to happen

Two separate jobs, and the price is the sum of them.

First the blade. With no key to copy, the cuts have to come from somewhere else. Usually the vehicle identification number is looked up against a manufacturer key code service, which a licensed locksmith can access, and the key is cut to factory specification on a code machine. Where the code is unavailable, the door lock is decoded directly with a tool that reads each wafer height.

Then the chip. The new key contains a transponder that the car's immobiliser has never seen. A programming tool connects to the diagnostic port and asks the immobiliser to accept a new identity.

On a push button start car the same thing happens with a proximity fob instead, and there is still a mechanical blade inside it plus a hidden door cylinder to get you in.

Neither half is optional. A cut key that is not programmed will crank the engine and stall it after about two seconds.

Why it takes an hour

Because the manufacturer wants it to.

When a car is asked to accept a new key with no existing key present, most platforms enter a security access delay before they will comply. Ten minutes on many Chrysler products, sixteen on a lot of Fords, and up to an hour on some European vehicles.

The delay exists to make opportunistic theft impractical while leaving legitimate service possible. It is not the locksmith being slow and it cannot be bypassed by a better tool.

A good locksmith tells you about it before starting. A customer who is told up front treats it as expertise. The same customer discovering it at minute twelve assumes they are being spun.

During the wait the battery needs to stay supported, because a voltage drop partway through a module write is the one failure that turns a routine job into a serious one.

Locksmith, dealer or tow

A mobile automotive locksmith comes to the car. That is the whole argument.

A dealer needs the vehicle at the dealership, which with no key means a flatbed. The tow is a hundred dollars or more and half a day, and it is on top of a key and programming price that is usually higher than the locksmith's to begin with.

So the realistic comparison is roughly 200 to 500 dollars mobile against 400 to 900 dollars plus a tow at a dealer, for the same outcome.

There is a real exception. A small number of recent platforms lock key programming behind manufacturer systems that independents cannot reach, and on those the dealer is the only route. A locksmith who knows their trade will tell you that on the phone rather than driving out and failing.

Ask one question. Have you done this year, make and model before.

Delete the old key

This is the part people forget and it matters.

Programming a new key does not automatically remove the lost one. On many vehicles the immobiliser simply adds the new identity to its list, and the lost key stays on that list and still starts the car.

If the key was lost somewhere identifiable, or was on a ring with an address, a parking permit or a house key, that is a real problem.

Ask explicitly for all previous keys to be erased and the car's key list rebuilt from the keys you now hold. Most platforms support it. Some erase everything automatically during the procedure, which is fine as long as every key you still own is present during the session.

Say it on the phone so it is priced in, and confirm before they finish.

Have this ready

Year, make, model and trim. Trim matters, because a base model and a top trim in the same year can use different key systems.

Whether it has a key you turn or a push button start, and whether the old key had buttons on it.

The vehicle identification number, which is on the dashboard at the base of the windscreen, on the driver's door jamb sticker, and on your registration and insurance documents.

Proof of ownership. Photo identification plus registration, title, insurance card or a finance agreement. This is required and a locksmith who does not ask is one to avoid.

And the exact location of the car, including which level of the car park, because a mobile technician arriving with the wrong access is an hour wasted.

While you are at it, ask what a second key costs today. With one working key now in existence, a spare is dramatically cheaper than repeating this, and today is the cheapest it will ever be.