You’ve gone to the mall to go shopping and now you’re ready to go home. But where are your car keys? They were in your pocket… weren’t they? You rush back into the mall and try to retrace your steps. But where to go? You’ve been to at least a dozen stores, had snacks at the food court, and coffee at the Starbucks. Where to start? They don’t have your car keys at the Mall lost and found and your dog is home waiting to go for his last walk of the night. What do you do?
Well, when the key is nowhere to be found, you may need to call a locksmith. If you’re lucky enough to be in the Bellevue, Washington area, you can call the experts at Bellevue Locksmithing to come to you and address the problem. Does it matter what type of car key I have? Let’s look at the possibilities
You Use a Traditional Car Key
If you have a standard key, which is what most older cars use, they are your basic mechanical mechanism. You put your key into an ignition cylinder and turn it to start your car. If you lost your car keys, you call a qualified locksmith and he or she will come to the location where you are your car are and make you a new key on the spot. If you have an unusual or older vehicle, a locksmith may not be able to recreate the key. In that case, you might need to buy a new ignition lock cylinder and key which may require you to do so with the car dealer, but in most cases, the new key can be made and you can be on your way home to Rover.
You Use a Car Key Fob and Switchblade Key
Key fobs are very popular and once they became the standard, auto manufacturers sometimes combined them with a second mechanism that would lock and unlock your vehicle with a spring-loaded key that folds into the fob much like a switchblade.
Losing an aftermarket key fob with a switchblade key is a little pricier to replace but can be done at the dealership or by a locksmith company that is up on all the new technology.
Your Car Has a Transponder Key
Auto manufacturers came up with transponders in the early- to mid-1990s as a means to create a better anti-theft device. These ignition keys have a plastic head embedded with a computer chip so they can use the wireless connection between your key to engage the ignition.
If you lose one of these and don’t have a backup key, only well-educated and prepared locksmiths like the experts at Bellevue Locksmithing might be able to help you. You should have proof of ownership papers with you so that the locksmith can verify that this is indeed your car. You may have to have the car towed to your dealership if a locksmith isn’t capable of making the key on-site for you and may even take several days to be ordered for you. Besides towing charges, the replacement key can be costly, so it would be far better to have a locksmith who can address this for you.
Your Car Uses a Smart Key AKA Keyless Ignition
A smart key is used when a vehicle has a start button on the dash. This technology works by using a proximity sensor in the vehicle that automatically knows when the smart key is near. It then unlocks the vehicle and allows it to be started with the push of a button. You may need to have the car towed to the dealership if you don’t have a backup key. If the dealer doesn’t have one in stock it may have to be ordered and have it paired to your vehicle. This is not cheap.
At Bellevue Locksmithing, we have invested in the diagnostic tools, key cutting machines, software, and hardware to make a car key from scratch at your location. Most people don’t realize that this is possible and assume they will have to tow their car to their dealership.
You won’t want to have to tow your car to the dealership if you can avoid it. Chances are, if you have lost your car keys, the vehicle is going to require specialty equipment to tow it. That can be costly and time-consuming. Then you will have to work with the dealership to get the right keys for your car. Most dealerships don’t stock keys to cars anymore because it’s not cost-effective for them to stock such keys for all the different cars in the market. Newer keys are programmed to the ignition as an anti-theft measure. To replace those can take days or even weeks which means your car is held hostage at the dealership and you will pay top dollar to replace that key.
Bellevue Locksmithing stocks a wide variety of transponder keys, high-security keys, and smart proximity keys. We can save you the hassle and cost of having your vehicle towed, not to mention the exorbitant cost of buying a new key from your dealership. We come to you and you get your new keys made on the spot so you can get back on the road and back home to walk that patient dog of yours.
