Auto Locksmith FAQ’s

Auto locksmith FAQ’s:

Car locksmith

Do I have to bring my car to you?

No. A car locksmith has all the tools needed to cut your new car key and the computers to do the programming on board his/her van. Recently I made a new Fiat Ducatto key for a customer in Gresham village. I was able to copy his existing key in my van and then plug into his onboard computer via the OBD port and program his new key to the vehicle. This meant he could use his vehicle the same day. Had he taken the key to the dealer or manufacturer, he would have had to leave it with them, possibly waiting weeks without the use of his own vehicle.

Does the locksmith change the locks on my car?

No, if you lose your keys, we will only make new ones, but they will be coded differently, so the old keys will be useless for driving your car away. Unless you leave valuables in your car, this should not be a problem. If you want to change the actual locks on your vehicle, you should, in most cases, go back to the manufacturer. If you have had your locks modified or changed in any way, you must inform the vehicle locksmith if you later require his help. I remember being called out to a Jeep in Brancaster late at night. It was parked in a very quiet beach car park. When I tried, my Jeep lockpick, I found the whole thing felt wrong and asked the customer if anything had been changed, at which point he told me the vehicle locks had been changed for aftermarket products. This meant I was unable to do the job without damaging the vehicle, so alternative arrangements had to be made (they paid me plus an expensive taxi home to get the spare).

How much does a car locksmith cost?

This is like asking how long a ball of string is. Unlike house locks and keys, auto locksmithing has many components. And the cost will be based on how many of those components you need. Will I need to pick the lock? Will I need to work out the key shape from the lock? Will I need to access a database that charges me for certain codes to allow me to program the new key to your car? Can I use aftermarket products or do I have to use genuine branded parts? How far did I have to travel to get to you? Does coding your key require me to a plugin, or do I have to take half of your dashboard apart to get to the chip that I then have to remove, code and return? These and many more factors make up the cost, but in nearly all cases the auto locksmith can sort your problem on the day and will be cheaper than going back to the manufacturer. For example, I produced a key for a customer with a Renault Clio in Fakenham and saved them £300 on the price they were quoted by the dealership. What’s more, it was all done at the customer’s place of work, allowing them to get on with their day.

Will the locksmiths make keys for my old classic car?

To be honest, no. Cobblers and engravers can usually copy the keys of older cars and motorbikes. If not, you may have to change the locks and ignition barrels, in which case scrap dealers are always a good call. But for the auto locksmith, we can only make a profit on keys with computer chips. Travelling to Dereham from my home town of Holt to produce a key for an old Ford Capri is not even going to pay for the cost of the round journey, whereas making and coding a key for a 2015 Ford Mondeo will work for me. A very few auto locksmiths might just be able to produce older keys, but often the cost would be more than the value of the vehicle itself.

Can the auto locksmith make keys for all modern cars?

No. We can make keys for most car brands and models, and there are very few we cannot get into if your keys are locked inside, but there are a few when we have to tell you to go back to the dealer. Land Rover Discoveries and Volvos spring to mind. There just isn’t the data available for us to do our computer work on these vehicles. You might see websites advertising that they can indeed clone your key when the locksmith says he cannot, but these sites include every vehicle in their menus just to drive traffic to their sites. When you actually ring, they are just as powerless as the car locksmith.

What is the most common reason for an auto locksmith call out?

By far it is keys locked in the boot. When you are loading/unloading your vehicle, unlock all the doors. So many people only unlock the boot. They then put the keys down inside the boot, load the shopping, the golf clubs, the tools, etc, and then slam the boot down and swear in the next five seconds when they realise the keys are now in the back and they are locked out. There is no security benefit to only unlocking your boot if you are only going to lock yourself out of your car in a high crime area.

Does my breakdown cover include the cost of an auto locksmith?

No. Some recovery drivers will make a quick attempt for you, but I have been called many times by the biggest recovery service in the UK and I am a registered peripheral of the second largest. In all cases, I charge the customer direct. From Cromer, Fakenham, to Burnham Overy Staithe, call me first and save time. You don’t want to wait hours for the recovery service only to be told you have to wait even longer for me.

Can you make me a new car key if I have lost all the original ones?

Yes, I can read the lock using a special tool or get the information for many vehicles from your registration document, providing I have proof of ownership. Once I have cut the key blade, I can then let my computer talk to your car and program the new key to your vehicle. It is a much faster job copy from an existing key, though.

What is cloning?

Cloning is simply replicating an existing key. As far as the car computer is concerned, it believes there is only one key when you may have two or even more. You can clone some keys without having to plug into the car. This is a cheaper way to replace lost keys, but it does not protect you from those lost keys being used should someone else find them and want to steal your car. Making new keys that are uniquely programmed to your vehicle gives you the option of deleting the old keys, in exactly the same way you would put a stop on a lost credit card.

How do you get into my car if there is no keyhole?

There is always a keyhole. On modern cars, the keyhole is covered and the key is hidden in the key fob. But for safety, there must be mechanical access. A customer of mine in Norwich was astounded when I turned up to get him into his vehicle. His fob battery was flat and he could not get in. So I showed him the hidden key blade and then revealed the hidden keyhole on the vehicle. Had he listened to the dealer (if the dealer had even told him), or read the car paperwork, he could have made his meeting that day because the car will still work when the fob battery is dead. The customer was still happy though as he had expected a very expensive job. It was still expensive for a battery change he could have done himself.

How long does it take to pick the lock?

Seconds – hours depending on the vehicle, age, possible rust/damage inside the lock. I’ve taken two hours to open a car in Hunstanton and one and a half minutes to open a car in Beeston. Conditions like cold and rain might also slow me down. It takes as long as it takes.

How easy is it for thieves to hack the signal and steal my car?

Thieves that do this have bought special equipment. They are stealing cars to order. While not impossible, it is not likely for those of us with standard cars to have our signals stolen. You can, if you wish to, buy signal jamming pouches and I am happy to source them for you. But the biggest growing way for cars to be stolen is via your home letterbox. I see it all the time. People come home and put their keys on a table or other piece of furniture near the door so they can easily pick those keys up as they leave. Thieves are now fishing through the letterbox to get keys which can give them access to your home and they can use your own car as a getaway vehicle. Don’t make it easy for them.

If you would like more information on the above questions or have others to ask, please get in contact via any of the methods on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading!

admin December 16, 2019

auto locksmith / Car locksmith / Car thieves / Cloning car keys /

Caravan and camping: How to not need a locksmith

Summer finally seems to have arrived, and that means the mass migrations to caravan and camping sites up and down the country. But little mistakes can make cheaper holidays a lot more expensive.

Camper
You might read some of the advice below and think it blatantly obvious. However, getting away can be stressful and if we don’t take those few extra minutes to check certain things before we set off, our holidays and weekend breaks, may not begin well.

So, do you take your spare car key on holiday? Full marks if you do. It can be kept in the caravan or hidden in the tent, or carried by your better half. When you leave your spare 400 miles away at home what happens if you lose your car key paddling in the sea or walking in the dunes? Or you might just lock it in the boot while packing everything away leaving you locked out of your own vehicle (glove compartments are not a good place to keep spare keys). Do you really want to wait for the auto locksmith to arrive, decode your locks, produce a key that will possibly make the spare at home useless, and charge you a day’s budget for the privilege? And while you tuck that spare key somewhere safe, please check, double check and triple check you have the key to your top box. Not all locksmiths are properly trained and if you get one who drills out the lock because you are desperate to unpack all the most important stuff you placed in the top box, you might have to spend part of your holiday and budget sourcing a new top box or at least loads of gaffer tape to keep it all secure on the way home. (The other common result is frostiness from your significant other because the whole thing could be avoided.) Long before you go away, create a checklist of things to remember and no matter how much you want to beat that traffic jam on the way to your destination, always take the time to go through the checklist that will have spare car key and top box keys as something to take with you.

Hiring a motor home? Some reps may tell you that you can’t get locked out – when in fact you can, especially if you do not latch them properly. I have already been out twice this year to hired motor homes where the couple has stepped outside for a cigarette, allowed the door close, and found themselves locked out in their pyjamas. Take your key out in your pocket just in case, especially if you are new to motorhomes or it is a different vehicle to the one you are used to.

Maybe you are the proud owner of a static caravan? One that has a lift handle mechanism. When did you last have the mechanism serviced? When static caravans are near the sea, the salt can corrode all sorts of bits that you can’t see. And if water pools anywhere, rust will set in and at some point, the mechanism will seize. If you only use the caravan for personal use, then this is just an expensive inconvenience to have fixed, but if you hire out your caravan and your customers get locked out, not only have you the cost of the repair, but you might have to refund all or part of the customer’s fee by way of compensation. I see a lot of caravans in my job, and the state of the door mechanisms can be shocking. It can all be avoided with a little maintenance. If this is something you can do yourself, all well and good, but as no one ever instructs people on how to maintain these doors, you might find it cost effective to have a locksmith do the maintenance for you. For example, I charge £35 to do lock maintenance and this should be done twice a year. It is a lot easier to find £35 than to potentially have a bill for £250 plus reimbursing guests who might still go on to give you bad reviews on trip advisor. This maintenance contract extends to holiday home lets as well. If you are reading this outside of Norfolk, you might want to contact your local locksmith to see if he or she offers a similar service. When you employ a professional, you get the added bonus of someone who will adjust doors that have dropped and notice other problems you miss. Only today, I showed a customer daylight through the top of his door where it had dropped, a problem that has been making all the moving parts grind and has led to a replacement mechanism being needed, further compounded by the mechanism now being obsolete and the replacement not lining up with the existing fittings. All that could have been avoided if he had had the door maintained by someone who would have noticed the door dropping and rectified with nothing more than an Allen key and a little knowledge.

Have a great holiday and remember those spare keys!

If you require any more information regarding the above, please feel free to contact me through any of the methods on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading!

admin May 31, 2019

Holiday lock maintenance / Lost keys / motorhome locks / Static caravan locks /

Auto Locksmiths in Norfolk

At the time of writing, it’s been 18 months since I added vehicles to my locksmithing abilities, and despite a very intense, thorough training course, I have learned some lessons along the way that might help you when deciding what to do about your lost car key.

AC locksmiths AutoAs a general rule of thumb, if your vehicle is registered before the early 2000’s, then there is a good chance the mobile auto locksmith will not be able to provide you with a new key, and if he can, the cost will be in the same price range as the car value anyway, so you might be better off purchasing another vehicle.

If you own a Freelander and only have one key, get another one right now. You will have to search for this and will probably have to go back to manufacturer which can take a long time so if you don’t want to be without the use of your vehicle, get a spare made sooner rather than later. I went on a website that claimed to do Freelander keys by post, but when you actually talk to them in person, you find they can’t do it.

Never buy a 2nd hand Volvo with only one key. You will have to go back to manufacturer to get a spare and they are not cheap. Let me amend that. Never buy any 2nd hand car with only one key. Sometimes, a new key can mean the locksmith has to strip the entire dash out, locate a small chip on a circuit board and place that chip on a special circuit board in order to code in the new key. On the side of the road, in poor winter light, in the back of a van being buffeted by wind, the locksmith has to perform the most delicate of soldering jobs where one mistake can kill your car.

If you go on holiday, take the spare car key with you and leave it at the hotel/caravan/tent, etc when you go out. You will be thankful you did when you lock your keys in your car boot and know that a cab will be much cheaper than getting a locksmith because you left your keys at home 300 miles away.

And finally, car keys need not be boring! In the same way you get exciting phone cases, you can have coloured key fobs, leather fob cases, shiny chrome edges, or faux styles that put your car key blade in the style of a more exclusive vehicle range. If you are stuck for present ideas for someone, why not bling their car key? A present with a difference that need not break the bank. This idea goes down well with young men and their cars. You have no idea what to buy you’re your newly adult kids. Car key bling is great, and as they will probably change their car often, you can always do the same again next year, which means less time trying to figure out what they want.

If you have any questions regarding the above information, please do not hesitate to get in touch via any of the methods on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

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admin December 24, 2018

auto locksmith Norfolk / Car locksmith /

Car Keys – To clone or not to clone?

When people ring me for a quote on replacing a lost key for their vehicle, they are sometimes surprised by my cost. They have had a quote from somewhere else that is much cheaper and if I don’t get my reasons in quick enough, I can lose the business.

So why are some much cheaper? It is because they are offering a cloning service as the first option. Cloning is where you take one key, read the information it contains and make an exact duplicate. You now have two keys, but the computer on your car thinks those two keys are the same one. But what about that missing key? Who has it and is there a possibility they could use it to easily steal your vehicle? So yes, cloning is cheaper, but it always leaves an opening for someone else to help themselves to your property.

Car locksmithWhen I produce a second key for you, I plug my equipment into your vehicle and have a chat with your on board computer. I tell that computer that the key you have and the new one I am producing, are the only keys that are allowed to start the vehicle. So while I can’t stop the missing key opening a door, I can stop it being able to drive the vehicle away. My key and the cloned key look exactly alike. But new keys are more secure and therefore, my first option. I can be as cheap as the next guy, but I’m putting your security above my easy quick buck (cloning is significantly faster than new key production). So if you are ring around for quotes, don’t automatically assume the more expensive quote is someone trying to extort money from you. If you ask why they are more expensive, there is usually a good reason.
Here is an example: I had a potential customer with a Ford vehicle and no keys at all. When I quoted, she was shocked at my price. I explained that you cannot just programme one new key into a Ford, but their particular set up wipes all memory of previous keys and starts from scratch requiring you to have two new keys created. I had to quote for two keys in this case. But a cheaper person was quoting for just one key. So while there is a work around of the two key requirement, how likely was it that this other locksmith was quoting low with the knowledge he could ‘spring’ the two key requirement on her once he had the vehicle and was in the middle of the job. Most people will accept the change once the trader is there and working, It’s what is often done to avoid a fuss.
I will always give you a fair price for any work I carry out, backed up with guarantees. I will always stick to my quoted price unless you make additional requirements, at which point I will tell you exactly how much more those additions will cost. I will always explain my pricing in a way you can understand.
If you have any questions regarding the above information, please get in touch via any of the methods on my contacts page.
Thanks for reading

admin April 28, 2018

car key cloning / car key programming / Car keys cut / Lost car keys /