Who to hire when you've lost your car keys

Short answer

An automotive locksmith, which for most vehicles is faster and cheaper than the dealership and can be done where the car is. The exception is some newer and premium makes where the key has to be ordered against the vehicle identity and coded with manufacturer access — ask both before you commit to either.

Soon, not tonightIt will not usually get cheaper by waiting, and it is rarely worth an after-hours rate.

When it is someone else

Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a Locksmith.

  • your roadside assistance provider

    you have cover through a motoring club, your insurer or the manufacturer. Several include lost-key assistance and people routinely forget they have it.

  • the dealership

    the vehicle is recent, premium, or uses a key the aftermarket cannot obtain. Get both quotes — the gap is sometimes large in either direction.

What to do before anyone arrives

  1. Find out whether you have a spare anywhere, including with a previous owner, a partner or in a drawer at home. It changes the job from originating a key to cloning one, which is much cheaper.
  2. Get the make, model, year and the VIN ready, plus proof you own the vehicle. No legitimate locksmith cuts a car key without it.
  3. Note whether the key is a plain blade, a transponder key, a remote, or a proximity key with push-button start. Each is a different price.
  4. Work out where the car actually is. Mobile attendance at a shopping centre car park is different from a locked garage.

What to ask when you book

  • Can you originate a key for this make and year, or does it have to be a dealer?
  • What is the total including the key, the cutting and the coding?
  • Do I need to have the old key deleted from the vehicle, and is that included? If the keys were stolen rather than lost, that matters.
  • How long will it take on site?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

  • Key type: plain blade, transponder, remote or proximity.
  • Whether a spare exists to clone from.
  • Make and model, and whether the coding data is available to the aftermarket.
  • Mobile attendance and time of day.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Locksmithing is licensed or registered in several states under security industry legislation. Automotive key coding also requires access to vehicle security data, which is controlled — a locksmith who can do it for your make will say so plainly.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire when you've lost your car keys
An automotive locksmith, which for most vehicles is faster and cheaper than the dealership and can be done where the car is. The exception is some newer and premium makes where the key has to be ordered against the vehicle identity and coded with manufacturer access — ask both before you commit to either.
Is a locksmith cheaper than the dealer for a car key?
Usually, for mainstream makes, and often by a wide margin — an automotive locksmith can attend the car rather than having it towed. For some recent and premium vehicles the key can only be obtained through the manufacturer, and then the dealer is the only route. Both quotes take ten minutes to get.
Should I have the lost key deleted from the car?
If the keys were stolen, or lost somewhere identifying the car, yes — otherwise the missing key still starts it. Deleting all previously coded keys and re-coding the ones you hold is a standard part of the job and is worth asking for explicitly rather than assuming.

Find a Locksmith near you

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Who to hire for

General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.