Sure, don't believe your keycutter.

[ShadowTiger]

Now that is awesome.



Nurian - I am so pasting that as the motto of our Hardware Desk.


The situation that I dread almost the most, ... basically, where I try to match up the best blank to the key, but there is not best blank - there are only two best candidates, and I have to decide. I can either tell the person that we can take a chance, or that I can't make it without a 100% chance of it working.

There's probably no best way to do it. Either they -do- go home empty-handed, a'la the latter of the above options, or we take a chance and I make one key or even both keys. If she's returning anyway to return one defective key, she may as well already have the other. If the first one she tries works just fine, she can do whatever she wants. At least we tried.

At least we tried. Better than just giving up immediately. My store is the only place actually open on Sundays. There's a locksmith literally 120 feet to the left, across the street from our store. They're only open on weekdays though.

[mandaliz8704]

You're the keymaker. You're the expert. You're the guru. You tell me you can substitute one blank for the other, I believe you. You tell me the key will only work if I'm smothered in molasses and dancing the female lead of Swan Lake, then I'm going out to buy me a tutu.

That needs to be his signature line. Awesome.

[Dark Psion]

We looked at getting one of those machines that "clones" the chip, but it would cost us $2000-$3000

Also, with some of the newest versions of these keys, the vehicle will change the code from time to time and so a "spare key" may have to be re-cloned.

The biggest problem we have are keys without any ID codes on them. Some days you will find several of us taking turn holding two keys up at the lights to see if they match.

[Rine]

Key guru, why do keys have to have "chips" and be "programmed?" How does it protect me? (Seriously, I don't get it because I'm ignorant like that.) It seems to me that it is a way for the dealer house to get more money. My Ford only came with one key and I really need to get another. But it is so very expensive. It makes me cry on the inside.

[Mango]

You're the keymaker. You're the expert. You're the guru. You tell me you can substitute one blank for the other, I believe you. You tell me the key will only work if I'm smothered in molasses and dancing the female lead of Swan Lake, then I'm going out to buy me a tutu.

Thanks Nurian, for the best laugh I've had all week!

m.

[Mikkel]

Key guru, why do keys have to have "chips" and be "programmed?" How does it protect me? (Seriously, I don't get it because I'm ignorant like that.) It seems to me that it is a way for the dealer house to get more money. My Ford only came with one key and I really need to get another. But it is so very expensive. It makes me cry on the inside.

It protect you against having your car stolen by someone with a screwdriver. In the good old days you could just pull the cylinder (is that the right word in English?) out of the lock and turn the lock without the key. Now the engine won't start unless the chip is read and match the car.

[Rine]

I don't think anyone would want to steal my car. Aren't there more ways than that to steal a car? And, yes, I think cylinder is the right word. At least, I know what you are talking about. If it costs so much to get a copy of these keys, why don't dealerships provide two keys? I am the second person to own my car, but the original owner claims he never received two keys. Nothing I can do about that, though.

[poofy_puff]

I don't think anyone would want to steal my car. Aren't there more ways than that to steal a car? And, yes, I think cylinder is the right word. At least, I know what you are talking about. If it costs so much to get a copy of these keys, why don't dealerships provide two keys? I am the second person to own my car, but the original owner claims he never received two keys. Nothing I can do about that, though.

I think you just got the shitty end of the stick there. He probably did get two keys and lost one. The reason I didn't get two keys is because i bought a previously-owned (used) car, but the dealer MADE another key for us at no extra cost because i bought the car there.

No one would want to steal your car NOW, but they might have when it was brand-new.

Yes, there are other ways to steal a car, but when it has a key with a chip, the engine will only run for a couple of miles if someone manages to start it without the key. Then it will shut itself off and wait for the police or AAA to come find it. This actually happened to my Ranger, before I bought it.

[Midnight12]

The key-maker already knows if it needs a chip or not even if the customer doesn't know. Blank keys come with a chip already in them, and they can't make copies of keys that have said chip without the special machine that is used to program said chips.

And a lot of times, only the dealership has the necessary equipment. More and more locksmiths are starting to carry it too...

good point. should have mentioned that what little experience I did have making keys was at a customer service counter in a grocery store that had the basic automatic key machine and the manual handy and that was it. Didn't mean to sound like a know it all. had the occasional customer upset with me when I couldn't make their car key as it did require a chip or i just didn't have the right equipment to make a certain key period. And why was said store miles from any dealership...thats all.

[poofy_puff]

You didn't sound like a know-it-all. On the contrary, I thought you didn't know at all

[Midnight12]

basically with the way i was half heartedly shown the ways (if at all) then left to fend for myself, I didn't know....at all heh

[Andara Bledin]

I know this because I have a Toyota Corolla and a Ford Ranger whose keys both have a microchip, and I got the Ford one made at a hardware store ($75.00) and the Toyota one had to be done at the dealership (which would have been $140.00 but they waived it because the car should have come with two keys when it was purchased). It's a racket.

That it is. When I get to the point of buying a new enough car that it comes with the chipped keys, I'm having mine disabled. I don't lose my keys, but I've already heard enough horror stories about the chips in the keys going bad for no good reason (including one that was only a month old belonging to the bosslady) to hate them with a passion.

^-.-^

[poofy_puff]

That it is. When I get to the point of buying a new enough car that it comes with the chipped keys, I'm having mine disabled.
^-.-^

You mean you can just do that?

[mandaliz8704]

My ex boyfriend had a Cadillac that we used to start with a screwdriver. It had the black chip on the key, and if i remember correctly, someone tried to steal it and cut a giant hole in the steering column. ex-bf did something to it so that it would start with the key in the ignition so it read the chip, but we started it by pushing some metal thing over sideways with the screwdriver...not by turning the key.

I hated that car.

[LadyAndreca]

Wow they were still making cars with different keys for the ignition and door as late as 1992? I remember those from the 70's... some time in the 80's there started being more and more cars with the same key for the door and the iggy.

My husband's '92 Buick has two keys. The square one is for the ignition, the round one is for the doors--took me a while to remember that until I realized that the ignition had a square guide for the key.

My car and my husband's both have a gazillion spare keys, because they were both owned by his parents, and mine by his grandmother, before we got them--and I had a spare copy cut for me when he and I moved in together. So if we ever somehow both lose our keys, we can call them up to help us.

When it comes to keys working/not working, I figure I'll let the keycutter do his job, because I sure don't know how to. Then I'll just TEST the keys right away so I don't find out the hard way there was a flaw in the original/blank/cutting and get them returned or re-cut if they don't work.