Car Key Cutting

In order to successfully cut a car key, you need a great many things. To get around the years of training and financial investments in professional equipment, you can simply call on a person that already has the things required. The best option is to find a locksmith who offers car key cutting services.

Car key cutting can be done by the dealership, but there are several issues with turning to the dealership rather than a locksmith. The first is the experience. The dealership may know cars, but locksmiths know keys. Go with the company that has a true knowledge of the processes and tools they are using.

The dealership will also be the most expensive option out of all the places to get new car key from. There is no real incentive for the dealership to give you competitive pricing, especially if you are only interested in getting new keys cut. There are options such as big box stores, which offer key machines that you can use yourself.

In some cases, there may be a customer service representative that does the work for you. This will be very cheap, but you are going to get what you pay for. There will be no professional insight that the worker can offer. In fact, these employees are often misinformed, or they do not understand security enough to be helpful in instances of locksmithing.

Cutting Keys By Code

As was stated earlier, car key cutting can be done by code. This means a you can make a new car key without the original. Key codes refer to the numbers and characters that are used by professional locksmiths to fashion or remake keys. This is an integral part of the car key cutting process.

There are two main kinds of key codes that locksmiths make use of and these are bitting codes and blind codes. The bitting code refers to the specific numbers or code that a locksmith would use on a blank key whereas the blind code is a key code that employs the use of specialized programs and charts in order to derive the bitting code. The bitting code is also referred to as the direct code while the blind code is also referred to as the indirect code.

A majority of keys make use of a blind code, which is why it is important to make sure that you utilize the services of a professional locksmith to carry out the car key cutting process. In order to cut the car key by code, it is essential that the locksmith have the code available for use.

In some cases, it is really easy to get the code that is required to cut the key. For instance, the key code might be attached to the tag that came with your keys on the first day you obtained your vehicle. In other cases, the code might be stamped on your key.

The key code might also be stamped onto the lock face plate (this is popular with much older models of cars). If the locks were changed or rekeyed, a locksmith can still make a key from the lock. In addition to these methods, the car owner or the locksmith can also opt to call the car manufacturer and provide them with the VIN so that they can obtain the code for cutting the key.

However, if the code cannot be obtained by any of the above methods, then the locksmith will have to disassemble the lock. This is done because the key code is usually stamped on the barrel of the lock, so a locksmith will have to take the lock apart so that they can obtain the key code for the car key cutting process. In lieu of this, the locksmith can also opt to decode your key in order to obtain the code. This is done by measuring the key to determine the cuts of the bitting and outline the profile of the keyway.

The process of fashioning a new car key by code was once handled manually, but now it is as simple as entering the key code (once it has been obtained) into a code cutter that cuts the key to correct specifications, which are derived based on the key code.