Picture yourself wanting a new vehicle. You’ve researched it online. You’ve watched videos. Compared prices. Compared specs with other car. Now picture yourself taking your vehicle into a car lot to trade it in. Before leaving, did you think to grab any other keys for this car or truck you are attempting to trade in? Did you have another set of keys for the vehicle to grab?
- My theory is that most people are excited to get a new car. The new car is like opening a Christmas or birthday gift. The new toy or gadget you’ve been wanting for quite some time. Within this excitement you may not even think about your second key you have at home in a drawer or safe somewhere. Alot of time and money go into buying a new vehicle. Remembering that second key isn’t a high priority.
- I’ve heard many complaints about how the dealership only provided them one key when they bought the vehicle. More often than not, used vehicles are only sold with one key, and usually 1 of 2 reasons why.
- Reason 1, and the most common, the car was traded in with just one key. As stated above, the person grabbed their keys, jumped into the car to drive it to the lot without putting much thought into it. Maybe they did have a spare at home, maybe they didn’t. This scenario would cover a good portion of why you ended up with one key when you bought your used car.
- Reason 2, and the dirty little secret some car dealerships don’t want you to know about. The truth is they keep the second key. Some extra keys may be misplaced by the dealer which could very well account for some of the keys not provided to you upon purchase. But the secret they won’t tell you is that from time to time, they throw all the spare keys into a box, and will sell these used keys to a locksmith or some other company that is willing to refurbish them. Some, not all, keys and remotes are reusable. The metal key portion or case can be swapped out essentially making the key look new again. It’s anyone’s guess what they do with the money created from these sales. Maybe an employee party at the end of the year.
- Just know that most automotive locksmiths can get you a spare key for most vehicles. Locksmiths can cut the newer high security keys and program them to most cars. The dealers may tell you otherwise, but that’s not the case. The locksmiths have a huge advantage over the dealer as they can do keys for multiple types of vehicles while that dealer can only do work on type of vehicles they sell. Locksmiths can also come to a location and create keys from scratch on site of car with lost keys. The dealers, you just have tow it in to them and standby in a waiting room while it gets done. Locksmiths stock multiple keys, remotes, fobs, batteries, lock parts, pinning kits, etc to handle most automotive key and remote needs. Check out and support your local small business locksmith in your time of need of automotive keys and remotes. Read reviews, keep your favorite locksmith in your phone, you never know when you’ll need them.
