Frequently Asked Questions

We’re open Monday through Friday from 7:30 AM to 9 PM and Saturday from 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM. We’re closed on Sunday.

No. Call when you need us and we come to you. For planned work, such as rekeying a whole building, we’ll set a time that suits you.

Cash and all major debit and credit cards, paid on site when the job is done.

If your policy covers locksmith services, submit our receipt to your insurer for reimbursement. We make sure the receipt has what they need.

We guarantee our work against factory defects and craftsmanship. If something goes wrong because of a quality issue on our part, we fix it.

We’re a mobile service and come to you. When you call, we tell you where the nearest van is coming from and give you an estimated time of arrival. Traffic and weather can change it, so we keep the estimate realistic and call if anything shifts.

A driver’s license, plus a document that ties you to the vehicle: the registration, insurance card, title or bill of sale. We confirm lawful possession of the car as part of the job, before any key is handed over.

Yes. Most of the car keys we make start with no original. We take the cuts from the car’s lock or its key code, cut the blade and program the chip at the car. Have your ID and proof of ownership ready.

Leave the piece where it is. Pulling at it with tweezers or glue tends to push it deeper and can turn a simple extraction into a lock repair.

Call us. We remove the piece with tools made for it, check that the lock still works and cut a new key on site. Keep the other half of the key if you have it, since we can often cut the new one from the pieces.

Yes. Picking or bypassing a lock leaves it working as it did before. Drilling is a last resort, needed only when a lock is already damaged or built to resist everything else, and we tell you before we do it.

• Breaking a window. It costs more than the lockout call and leaves the car open afterward.
• Forcing a tool into the door. Modern doors are full of wiring and airbag parts, and a coat hanger bends the frame and tears the weather seal.
• Pulling the window down by hand. The regulator inside the door breaks easily.

Try every door and the trunk, since one is sometimes unlocked. If a window is cracked open and you can reach the lock safely, try that. Then call with the year, make and model and where the car is.

Yes. Transponder keys, remote head keys and smart fobs all have to be programmed to the vehicle, and we do it at the car. Tell us the year, make and model, and have your license and registration ready.

• Basic metal key: No chip. It works as long as the key and the lock are in good shape.
• Transponder key: A chip in the head talks to the car’s immobilizer. The key has to be programmed before the engine will start.
• Remote head key: The blade and the lock and unlock buttons in one piece. Both the chip and the remote get programmed.
• Smart or proximity key: Stays in your pocket. The doors unlock at a touch and the car starts with a button. It costs more to replace, so get a spare while you still have one.

After a key is lost or stolen, so the old one stops starting the car. When you get a replacement key or fob. And when a key or remote stops working, though that is often a battery rather than programming.

A proximity key, also called a smart key, is the fob that stays in your pocket. The car senses it nearby, the doors unlock when you touch the handle and the engine starts with a button. Carmakers call it Keyless Go, Keyless Access, Push to Start or Intelligent Key.

It runs on a battery, so a car that stops seeing the fob usually needs a new battery first. If a new battery changes nothing, the fob may need reprogramming or replacing, and we do both at the car.

• Breaking a window. More damage, and a routine lockout is a quick fix.
• Kicking the door. It splits the frame and hurts people.
• Climbing to an upstairs window. A fall is far worse than a lockout.

Rekeying changes the pins inside the lock so a new key works and the old one doesn’t. The hardware stays on the door. It’s the right call when the locks are in good shape and the question is who has a key: after a move, a lost key or a tenant leaving.

Replacing a lock makes sense when it’s worn, damaged or low grade, or when you want a higher security rating. Most of the time rekeying is all you need, and we’ll tell you which applies when we see the door.

The locksmith removes the cylinder, swaps the pins inside to match a new key, tests the new key and puts the cylinder back. It takes a few minutes per lock, and every old copy stops working the moment it’s done.

A master key system lets one key open a group of locks while each lock also keeps its own key. Landlords, offices and schools use it so the owner carries one key and tenants or staff open only their own doors.

At minimum, rekey them. You can’t know how many copies of the old key exist, and a rekey shuts all of them out in one visit while keeping the hardware. Replace a lock only if it’s worn, damaged or lower quality than you’d like.

Usually not. A rekey makes the lost key useless and keeps your locks. Replace them only if they were already worn or damaged.

Rekey when something changes: a move, a lost key, a tenant or employee leaving, or any time you’re not sure who holds a copy. There’s no schedule beyond that. A lock that works and whose keys are accounted for doesn’t need rekeying.