Everything on this page happens at the vehicle, wherever it is parked in Valparaiso: a driveway in Lincoln Park, the shoulder of Hwy 20, a lot on John Sims Parkway, the ramp at Boggy Bayou. Car lockouts, keys made from scratch when every copy is gone, fobs programmed on site, keys extracted from doors and ignitions, and ignition cylinders that finally quit. Call (850) 740-4750 and tell us the year, make, and model, and you will hear what it takes.
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Valparaiso sits between the bayous and Hwy 85, and nearly everyone here drives. There is no dealership in town, and the nearest ones expect you to bring the vehicle to them, which is difficult when the problem is that it will not start or you cannot get into it. A mobile automotive locksmith flips that around. The equipment for cutting and programming keys rides on the truck, so the job is done where the car is, and the car is driven away rather than towed. Here is what we do at the curb and what you should know before you call.
Keys on the seat, keys in the ignition, keys in the trunk, a fob that died while you were inside the store, a toddler who hit lock while you were loading groceries. Each one is opened without damage by using a protective wedge to create a small gap at the top of the door and a long-reach tool to work the interior handle or the lock switch. On vehicles where that approach is not appropriate, the door lock is picked or decoded instead.
Do not use a coat hanger. Doors on anything built in the last two decades carry side-impact airbag components, window regulator cables, and wiring harnesses right where a hanger goes. Do not use a hardware-store inflatable wedge unprotected; it will crease the door frame and chip the paint. Do not break a window unless someone is in danger inside. If a child or a pet is locked in a hot car, call 911 first and then (850) 740-4750, and if you need to break glass to get them out, do it.
Keys shut in a trunk with the cabin also locked are handled by opening the cabin and using the release, or, on cars where the trunk is isolated from the cabin, by decoding the trunk lock directly. Truck bed covers and toolboxes with keys inside are opened as well; tell us which lock is between you and the keys.
Since roughly the late nineties most vehicles have carried a small chip in the head of the key. When you turn the ignition, the car reads the chip; if the code is not in the car's memory, the engine will not run even though the key turns. That chip is why a copy cut at a kiosk opens the door and does nothing else, and why a lost key on a modern car is a programming job, not a cutting job.
If you still have one working key, a duplicate is straightforward: the blade is cut to match and a new chip is programmed to the car, either by cloning the existing chip or by adding the new key to the vehicle's memory with a programming tool connected at the diagnostic port. Having a second key made while you still have the first is the single most cost-effective thing a Valparaiso driver can do, because the next section is what happens when you do not.
With no key at all, the process is longer. The blade is cut either by decoding the door lock or from the key code obtained from the vehicle identification number, and then the car is put into programming mode through the diagnostic port so it accepts the new chip. Some makes require the old keys to be erased, which is actually good news if the lost one is somewhere unknown. Some require a security PIN pulled from the vehicle. All of it is done at the car in Valparaiso with the equipment on the truck, and the car starts when we leave.
A fob combines a remote for the locks, sometimes a transponder for the ignition, and on push-button vehicles a proximity chip the car reads when the fob is inside. Each of those can fail separately. A remote that stopped locking the doors but still starts the car usually needs a battery or a remote reprogram. A fob that will not start a push-button car but still locks the doors has a proximity or transponder issue. A fob that does nothing at all is a battery first and a programming job second.
Lost push-button fobs are the automotive job that scares people most, because dealers make it sound like the car has to be flatbedded away. It does not. The new fob is programmed at the vehicle, the emergency blade inside it is cut so you can open the door if the fob battery dies, and the lost fob can usually be deleted from the car so it cannot start the vehicle if it turns up in the wrong hands. Tell us the year, make, and model when you call (850) 740-4750 and you will get an honest answer on whether your specific vehicle can be done on site; a small number of very new or very unusual models still require the dealer, and we will say so rather than drive out and find out.
Not every fob problem is a programming problem. Cracked shells, buttons worn through, a blade that snapped at the pivot, and a battery contact bent by a dashboard fall are all repairs that keep the original electronics. When the electronics are fine, moving them into a new shell is far cheaper than a new fob.
Keys break in ignitions more often than in doors, and Valparaiso's climate does its part: brass fatigues, salt air roughens the cylinder, and one morning the key turns halfway and comes out in two pieces. If a stub is sticking out, you may be able to pull it with needle-nose pliers, pulling straight and only after rotating the cylinder back to the position it is in when the key is inserted. If nothing is sticking out, stop. Pushing anything else in drives the fragment deeper against the wafers and can turn a quick extraction into an ignition replacement.
Extraction uses thin hooked and barbed tools that slide along the broken blade and pull it out. Once it is out, the cylinder is checked, because whatever was stiff enough to snap the key is still there, and often the honest recommendation is a cleaning and a fresh key cut from code rather than a copy of the worn one.
Ignition complaints arrive as symptoms: the key will not go in, the key goes in but will not turn, the key turns but the car is dead, the key turns and comes back out while the car is running, or the wheel is locked and the key will not budge. Each points somewhere different.
First, check whether the steering lock is loaded; turn the wheel firmly one way while turning the key. Check that an automatic is fully in park. If the key still will not turn, the cylinder wafers are worn or dirty, or the key itself is worn to the point that it no longer lifts the wafers correctly. A key cut from the factory code, rather than copied from a worn key, sometimes fixes this instantly. If not, the cylinder is rebuilt or replaced, and it can be keyed to match your existing door key.
The mechanical cylinder is working and the fault is electrical: the ignition switch behind the cylinder, the transponder not being read, a dead battery, or a starter issue. We check the transponder side, since a damaged chip or a bad antenna ring produces exactly this symptom, and we tell you plainly when it is something a mechanic should handle instead.
Those are cylinder wear and shifter interlock problems respectively. Both are common on higher-mileage vehicles and both are repairable at the vehicle.
We work at the vehicle anywhere in and around Valparaiso: on John Sims Parkway where most of the town's shopping and errands happen, along Hwy 20 running east and west, on Hwy 85 heading north, on the neighborhood streets off Bayshore and around Lincoln Park, and at the boat ramps and parks on Boggy Bayou and Tom's Bayou. If you are on a highway shoulder, pull as far right as you safely can, put on the hazards, and stay in the vehicle if traffic is heavy. Give a mile marker, a cross street, or a visible business so the technician finds you on the first pass. If your phone is low, say so and confirm the location on the first call.
Automotive work in a bayou town is not only cars. Motorcycle ignition and seat locks, outboard and boat ignition keys, trailer coupler locks, toolbox and tonneau locks, ATVs and mowers with lost keys, and RV door and storage compartment locks all come up in Valparaiso. Most can be keyed from the lock, and many of the RV and trailer locks can be re-keyed so you stop carrying a ring of nearly identical stamped keys.
Year, make, model, and whether it is a standard key, a chipped key, or push-button start. Whether you have any working key at all. Where the vehicle is and what is around it. Whether you have the registration or title handy; for key origination on a vehicle with no keys, we need to verify ownership before a key is made, which is a protection for every vehicle owner in town. With that information (850) 740-4750 can quote the job before anyone drives out, and the quote does not change on arrival unless the vehicle turns out to be something other than what was described.
A few things we will tell you straight. Some of the newest models with encrypted proximity systems can only be programmed by the dealer, and we say so on the phone. A key can be made for a vehicle with a dead battery, but the programming step needs the vehicle powered, so a jump is part of the job. If the ignition symptom points to the starter, the wiring, or the engine computer, you will hear that it is a mechanic's problem and not be charged for a repair that would not fix it.