Lost car key replacement in Leeds

What happens when you call

Most cars built since the late 1990s need more than a cut key. The new key has to be programmed to the car's immobiliser or the engine will not start, however perfectly the blade is cut. We handle both parts on the van.

1. We identify the key. Make, model and year tell us whether you have a standard transponder key, a flip key or a keyless smart key, and which programming route the car needs.
2. We confirm you can prove the car is yours. ID plus a V5C, insurance document or finance agreement. Any auto locksmith who skips this step should worry you.
3. We make the key. We cut the blade to the vehicle's key code and program the chip or smart key to the car.
4. We test everything. Start, lock, unlock, boot release and the remote buttons, before we leave.

Lost every key, no spare?

This is the most common call we get and it is fine. For most makes we can create a working key from scratch with no original to copy, including Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Skoda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia.

All keys lost jobs take longer than a spare, because the car has to be opened first and the security system has to accept a completely new key. On some models that means a wait built into the vehicle's own security timer, which nobody can shorten. We tell you about it on the phone rather than surprising you with it at the kerbside.

If you have just lost your keys

• Stay with the car if it is safe and well lit
• Have photo ID and your V5C or insurance details to hand if you can
• Note the make, model, year and exact location, including the floor if you are in a multi-storey
• Do not try to force your way in, it usually causes expensive damage
• If the keys might be stolen rather than lost, tell us when you call

Where keys go missing in Leeds

There is a pattern to it. Gym lockers and swimming pools, coat pockets on a night out around Call Lane and Greek Street, the school run, and supermarket car parks where the key goes in a bag for life and leaves with the shopping.

We are called out a lot to the park and ride sites, to the station car parks at Cross Gates and Garforth where a key gets lost in Leeds or London and the car is waiting at the other end, and to the student streets around Headingley at the start and end of term.

Why not the main dealer

A dealer can do this work, but the route there is expensive. The car has no key, so it has to be recovered to them. The key is usually ordered in rather than held in stock, so you wait. Then there is the labour rate on top of the recovery and the key itself.

We come to the car, make the key where it stands and leave you driving the same day. For most people that is the difference between missing one afternoon and missing most of a week.

Keys we can produce

Standard transponder keys, remote flip keys, proximity and keyless smart keys, and separate remote fobs. That covers most cars and vans on Leeds roads, including work vans such as Transit, Sprinter and Vivaro where losing the key stops the working day dead.

Very new models with online manufacturer security can sometimes need a franchised dealer, and there is no shame in saying so. We check your exact vehicle before we travel, so you never pay for a wasted journey.

While we are there

If you have just been through the all keys lost process, the cheapest thing you will ever do is have a second key made at the same visit. The car is already open, the code is already read and the programming session is already running, so a spare key costs a fraction of what a second emergency call-out would.

It is also worth thinking about where the spare lives. Not in the same bag as the original, not in the glovebox, and not under the wheel arch, which is the first place a thief checks.

Questions about lost car key replacement