Car Keys & Key Fobs

Car keys used to be a piece of cut metal. Now most of them are small electronic devices, and losing one can feel expensive and complicated. We supply car key replacement in Kitchener with factory original keys and fobs, cut where they have a blade and either cloned or programmed to your vehicle. The first step is always a phone call: tell us the year, make and model, and we’ll tell you what your car needs.

What’s inside a modern car key

• The blade: still used on many vehicles for the door, the ignition or an emergency backup inside a fob.
• The transponder chip: a small chip the car’s immobilizer reads before it lets the engine start. A key cut perfectly but without the right chip will turn the ignition and still not start the car.
• The remote: the lock, unlock and trunk buttons, which talk to the car separately from the chip.
• Proximity or smart keys: keys that stay in your pocket while the car detects them for push-button start.

Cloning versus programming

There are two ways to make a new key work with your car’s immobilizer.

Cloning copies the chip data from a key that already works onto the new key. The car can’t tell them apart. It is common for a spare key, and the car doesn’t always need to be present for it.

Programming adds the new key to the car’s own memory, so the vehicle recognizes it as an additional key. It is needed for many remotes and smart keys, for cars whose chips can’t be cloned, and whenever there is no working key to copy from. Programming generally means the car has to be there.

Which method fits depends on the vehicle, so that is part of what we work out when you call.

Factory original keys and fobs

We supply factory original keys and fobs. Original parts are made for your vehicle, with the right chip, frequency and buttons, and they match the fit and feel of the key that came with the car. Cheap online fobs often look identical and still fail to program, because they are the wrong version for the vehicle or have already been locked to another car.

When it’s just the battery

Before replacing a fob, consider the battery. A remote that works only up close, works intermittently, or stopped working after a cold snap often just needs a new one. We replace fob batteries, and our guide to key fob batteries and programming shows how to change one yourself and when a fob needs reprogramming instead.

Signs a key is on its way out

Car keys rarely fail without warning. A blade that has worn smooth, a cracked shell held together with tape, buttons that need several presses, or a car that sometimes says it can’t detect the key are all signs to act on. Getting a replacement or spare made while the old key still works is far easier than dealing with a key that has quit in a parking lot.

What to have ready when you call

• The year, make and model, and the VIN from your ownership or the dashboard.
• Whether you still have a working key or fob.
• What kind of key you have now: a plain blade, a blade with a remote, a flip key or a push-to-start fob.
• Your vehicle ownership and ID, since you’ll need to show the car is yours.

If you have no working key

Having at least one working key keeps your options open and usually keeps the cost down. If you’ve lost every key, tell us when you call; what’s possible depends a great deal on the vehicle. Whatever the case, getting a spare made while you still have one working key is the simplest protection against that day.

Pricing

Car key prices vary widely with the vehicle, the type of key and whether it is cloned or programmed, so we quote each one. Call 519-894-7055 for a quote, or read our locksmith cost guide for the factors that move the price. Our shop is at 300 Manitou Drive in Kitchener, convenient from Cambridge, Waterloo and the rest of the region. For house, padlock and other keys, see key cutting.