How and where to look
The first thing to do when you have lost your car keys is to try to find them. This has considerable chances of success if you arrived not so long ago and managed to visit a small number of places.
- You should start with your pockets and things. You need to check not only the pocket where the keys are always kept, but also others - in a hurry, you could very well have put them in the wrong place. Check bags and packages, if any.
- If you definitely don’t have any losses with you, then you should return to where you came from. Moreover, you need to return the same way, carefully look at your feet and to the sides, and also inspect places and objects where the keys could fly off if they fall. If they just fell out of your pocket, then it is quite possible to find them, unless someone else picked them up. So it's better to hurry up.
- Return to where you left and ask there, perhaps someone saw or even picked up the loss. For example, waiters often find things forgotten on the table and give them to the administrator. Even in a store you can ask at the checkout. If they didn't find anything, it's possible they will later, so it's a good idea to leave your phone number.
At the same time, there is no need to make announcements over the speakerphone or post notices, or generally advertise which key is lost from which car.
If you were unable to find your lost car keys, you will have to resort to other methods. Some are quite expensive.
Why, according to signs, do you lose your car keys?
In addition to the obvious inconvenience and grief over this incident, there are also popular beliefs that do not bode well. It is not without reason that all vehicle drivers zealously adhere to superstitions regarding their activities:
- Losing keys in a supermarket or market predicts that the car driver will have his “steel horse” stolen. Financial affairs will decline, because the machine in some way served as an instrument of production: it helped to earn a living.
- Losing the item used to open the car on a picnic means that fun and relaxation will be infrequent. The time has come for bad luck: a lot of work and little pleasure.
- Keys forgotten somewhere also do not bode well. Even if they are found later, negative incidents cannot be avoided. Minor breakdowns on the road are the least that can happen. Emergency situations will arise with enviable regularity.
Losing the keys to an old car sold for parts does not pose any negative consequences. Such an event divides a person’s life into “before” and “after”. Moreover, in the new reality there is no place for negativity from the past.
If there is a second set of keys left
It’s good if you have a second set of keys, even at home. You can call your relatives to have someone bring him or even take a taxi yourself.
But having only one set is quite dangerous - the situation may repeat itself. Therefore, you need to worry about making another copy as soon as possible. If you have the original, this is not a problem at all - there are many companies in any city that can do this. But it is better to make a duplicate key with an immobilizer from an official dealer - it is more expensive, but it guarantees that no one will make another copy for themselves and then use it.
But what to do if you have lost your second key and you don’t have any more? This is the most difficult situation; here you will have to resort to outside help.
Trying to get into the salon
If the search does not bring any results, you will have to find another way to get into the car. At the same time, it is important to try all the ways to get inside the car without harming it, since breaking locks and knocking out windows should be the very last thing.
It will be quite difficult to independently get into the interior space of a personal vehicle through one of the side doors or the trunk, and, most likely, you will have to call professionals. There are several important points to consider here:
- You must have documents with you indicating that you are the owner of this car, otherwise the lock opening specialist will not begin the work;
- It is advisable to call professionals only from the official service or large companies; you should not trust the first person to offer their services to carry out such a responsible procedure;
- to solve the problem that has arisen, you should forget about saving - it’s better to pay more to get results and leave your car unharmed.
You can try to get into the car yourself only if the glass of one of the doors remains at least slightly open. A wire or a crafted hook will help you with this, which will help lift the door locking lever located on the inside of it.
If all the windows are completely closed, there is nothing left to do but contact an experienced specialist. Qualified professionals know how to deactivate the alarm and even how to start the car without using the ignition key. However, much depends not only on the skills of the called technician, but also on the brand of your car and the protection systems that are included with it.
If, after calling a specialist, everything was successfully resolved, you will only have to order the production of a new key, which in the future will need to be handled more carefully and accurately.
How to get a new key without having the old one as a sample
What to do if your only car key is lost and there is no original left? It all depends on its design. If it is a simple metal key, you can first try to call a specialist who can not only open the door, but also start the engine in just a few minutes. But for this you need to have documents for the vehicle confirming ownership.
Do not use the services of compassionate passersby who can offer their help, and especially do not ask them for it. They can do more harm than good. It’s better to use the Internet on your smartphone and find specialists in your city who will quickly come and do everything.
You can then make a cast of the lock cylinder and use it to make a duplicate. Many companies provide this service, but a problem may arise with Japanese models. For them you will have to buy an ignition switch and door cylinders, and call a specialist to replace them.
If the car is brand new and you don't have a spare key, you can try calling the dealer and asking for a duplicate key. You will need to provide all the data - from the license plate number to the VIN code. If the VIN code is unknown, then you will have to deliver the car to the dealer on a tow truck, where they can open it and give you a key. If the warranty is still valid, then all this can be done for free, but not at all dealers. Otherwise you will have to pay for everything.
The situation is much more complicated when the only key with a chip is lost. It is much more difficult and expensive to restore it.
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Unfortunately, losing car keys is not such a rare occurrence. There is no point in discussing the reasons and possible places for loss, but it is worth touching on possible actions and their sequence when it is discovered that the car keys are missing.
It’s good if you cannot find the keys while the car is in a garage or in a guarded parking lot. In this case, you can immediately begin direct actions to restore the keys, without thinking about protecting and transporting the car home. Much worse and more unpleasant, the fact of the loss was discovered far from the place where the car was stored, for example, when, getting ready for the return trip after a vacation at a ski resort, while being several hundred kilometers from home, you realized that the keys were lost.
First steps if you lose your keys
If there is a second set of keys available, then there are no particular problems - you will have to contact by phone someone who can take the second key from its storage location and deliver it to you. You can go get the key yourself if the locked car is located relatively close to your home. Otherwise, you will have to use the services of a tow truck, which will deliver the immobilized vehicle to the desired location.
It is worth keeping in mind that in order to use a tow truck, you will have to present documents confirming that the car belongs to the customer of the towing service. In addition, in many large cities, specialized organizations provide services for emergency opening of cars and production of duplicate keys using the car door lock cylinder. Therefore, if you are in a big city, you can contact them or an authorized dealer to open the car.
Options for recovering a lost key
Having driven the car to a secure place, you need to decide how to correct the situation with the absence of the ignition key. If we are talking about a car of decent age, then solving the current problem is not difficult. In this case, the best option would be to replace the ignition switch, along with the door lock cylinder, which can be purchased at a car dismantling center.
In some cases, this is not only a quick, but also a very inexpensive solution to the problem. So, for example, a set of ignition switch and door lock cylinder along with keys for foreign cars of the first editions will cost about 4-4.5 thousand rubles. In addition, you can order the production of keys based on the door lock cylinder. It should be noted that almost all modern cars today are equipped with ignition locks and door locks with the same cylinders, which can be opened with the same key. This greatly simplifies the situation, since it is possible to make a duplicate key using the door lock cylinder. True, some Japanese models have a certain feature in which a key made in this way will still not be able to open the ignition switch and start the car. And the point is not in any complex electronics, but in the configuration of the ignition switch cylinder. But for almost all car models of the Volkswagen, Skoda and Seat brands, as well as for cars of many other brands, a duplicate made from the door lock cylinder will perfectly replace the lost key.
Features of modern ignition keys
Starting from the second half of the 90s, car manufacturers began to introduce the technology of so-called “chip keys”. These ignition keys are equipped with a microcircuit (chip) with a specific code or even a code generator. When using the key, the car system reads the chip signal and, transmitting data to the car’s on-board computer, allows it to start.
Externally, as a rule, such keys are distinguished by rather massive heads - bases with buttons. But even if your car's ignition key does not have any buttons, this does not mean that it is not equipped with a chip. To check the presence or absence of a chip, you need to wrap the key head with several layers of ordinary aluminum foil, and then try to start the car. If the car does not start, you can be sure that there is a chip in the key.
When purchasing a new car, the buyer is given a set of chip keys, consisting of two or more copies. If you lose at least one key with a chip, you should immediately order a duplicate from an official dealer, rather than wait for the possible loss of the remaining keys. Just a few years ago, the loss of such a key resulted in significant financial and time costs. The key could only be restored by ordering it through an official dealer from the car manufacturer. Such an operation required several months of time and tens of thousands of rubles. Today, to restore a lost ignition chip key, it is not necessary to contact an official dealer and wait a long time. There are organizations that provide such services much faster and much cheaper.
Chip ignition keys
The principle of electronic key technology is simple and effective. As already mentioned, the chip key communicates with the receiver of the car’s control device. If the encoded radio signal was not sent or received by the system, then after the car starts moving, its immobilizer will turn off the main elements of the vehicle and the car will simply stall.
The procedure for chipping restored keys includes adapting new keys with the car’s electronics and erasing data about lost keys from the system. After this, the immobilizer is recoded to make it impossible to use old keys. At the end of the work, specialists, using special diagnostic equipment, reset the immobilizer errors. Often, the restoration of lost ignition keys can be carried out on the spot; in some cases, delivery of the car to a service center is required. The cost of making a chip key varies significantly and depends on the job.
If you have a card with an access code to your car’s immobilizer, manufacturing a chip key will cost much less. Manufacturing a key equipped with a radio unit for remote control of the central locking will cost slightly more.
What to do if you lost your chip key
This situation also has several solutions, but many simply do not know what to do when they have lost the ignition key with an immobilizer. You can contact a dealer or private owners. The first option is more expensive, but safer. The second is faster, but more risky.
When contacting a dealer, it is advisable to have the immobilizer code, which is usually written on the card issued when the car is sold. This will speed up the production of a duplicate. If this code is not available, then you will have to select it, and the wait may last up to several weeks. But then the dealer’s employees will reset the immobilizer settings and configure it for the new key, which will ensure safety if someone tries to break into the car with the old key - it will not work.
Private companies can also pick up the code and make a duplicate, and this usually happens much faster for them. It will be noticeably cheaper, but there is a risk that they will have another copy that can be used for theft. If you still had to resort to their services, you should then worry about strengthening the anti-theft systems or apply for CASCO insurance.
In both cases, you will have to call a tow truck to deliver the car to the work site.
As you can see, it is possible to recover lost car keys, even chipped ones. But sometimes this can be very expensive, especially if the dealer refuses to help and you need to replace all the locks with a new chip key - this will cost several tens of thousands of rubles. But this is the most difficult situation, which rarely happens. Usually you can spend a couple thousand from companies or a little more from a dealer.
Key replacement
Getting to the salon is only half the battle. You still need to start the car. As a rule, the ignition key is located on the same ring as the door key. On some models, this is one key. Therefore, you are unlikely to be able to start the car. Additional complexity will be added by the presence of an immobilizer, as well as a chip on the key. The simplest outcome would be a key hidden in the cabin. Sometimes, in order to organize autostart, drivers hide a spare key in the car, in which case you are lucky, the tool for starting the car is in your hands. Owners of modern alarm systems that can be controlled from a smartphone and also have an immobilizer bypass function will also benefit. In these cases, the car can be started. But to do this you still have to remove the lock. Otherwise, when turning the steering wheel, it will simply jam with a mechanical anti-theft device, and this can lead to an accident while driving.
The key needs to be replaced. If your car is under warranty and no locks have been replaced, you can contact your dealer. They can recover the key using the car's serial number. Of course, this is not a guaranteed case, but in fact, this is the most successful way out of the current situation. Within a couple of days you will receive a new key that will fit your car perfectly. If the car was bought secondhand, or the lock was changed for some reason, then you can order a key restoration for the lock.
To do this, you will have to remove all the locks
from the car and take them to a specialized workshop. There, craftsmen will make a cast using a special technology, after which they will recreate the key. The most difficult thing is selecting the immobilizer code. This can be done in several ways, and this is the most expensive work when recovering a key. Depending on the model, complete key restoration from cutting to chip programming can cost you from 3 to 20 thousand rubles (prices in St. Petersburg).
You can take the path of least resistance and completely replace the locks, but you should consider the cost and availability of parts for your car model. It's one thing to change the locks on a VAZ, another thing to do this work on a Land Rover. The price of the issue in both cases will vary significantly. Therefore, before deciding how you will get out of this situation, evaluate all possible options. Your task is to choose the most profitable one for you.
How to avoid losing your keys
In order to avoid getting into such an unpleasant situation, it is better to foresee it in advance and prepare. Things tend to get lost, and so do keys. That's why:
- Make another set in advance and leave it in a safe place. For example, you can give it to a friend who can bring a duplicate when he calls.
- Alcohol intoxication is the cause of many losses. There is no need to drive in this condition, or go to a place where you will have to drink. For such cases there is a taxi. It is better to leave the car and keys at home.
- You can put a keychain on your keys with a phone number and a request to return it for a reward. The person who finds them does not need them, and for little money he will not throw them away, but will most likely return them.
As you can see, losing your keys is not such a terrible situation as it seems at first glance. But it’s better to warn her, it will cost much less, and will save a lot of nerves later.
