Lost Your Car Keys? What to Do Next

Losing your only car key is usually less of a disaster than it feels in the car park. In most cases the car can be opened, a new key cut and programmed, and the lost key removed from the car’s memory in a single visit where the car is parked, with no tow to a dealer. Before you ring anyone, work through the steps below in order. The first two cost nothing and sometimes end the problem.

1. Search once, properly

Go back to the last place you remember having the keys and follow your route since. Check coat linings, bag pockets and the gap under car seats. Look through the car’s windows at the ignition, the seats and the footwells. Keys locked inside the car are a lock-out rather than a lost key, which is a quicker and cheaper job (see locked out of your car).

Then ring the places you have been. Shops, gyms, workplaces, stations and car parks all keep lost property, and a key handed in at a counter often turns up the same day.

2. Is there a spare?

If there is a spare at home, use it, and get a replacement made while you still have a working key. Adding a key to a car that already has one is the simplest and least expensive way back to two, from £90 including VAT with us (see spare car keys). If the missing key could be found by someone who knows which car it opens, ask us to remove it from the car’s memory on the same visit.

3. Lost, or stolen?

If you think the keys were taken, report it to the police on 101, or on 999 if a crime is happening now, and keep the crime reference number. Your insurer will usually ask for it.

Think about what else was on the keyring. If house keys, or anything showing your address, went with the car key, your home locks need attention as well as the car.

4. Check your insurance

Some car insurance policies include key cover, either as standard or as an add-on, and some home insurance policies cover lost or stolen keys. Key cover can pay for the new key, the programming and sometimes the locks. Compare the excess with the price of the key before you claim, and check whether the insurer insists on its own supplier.

5. Get a new key made at the car

With no working key, a main dealer will usually need the car recovered to the workshop and a key ordered against the vehicle identification number. A mobile auto locksmith comes to the car instead. We open it without damage if it is locked, find the key code from the lock or the car, cut a new blade to that code, programme the chip and the remote, and delete the lost key so it can no longer start the engine. Most all-keys-lost jobs are finished at the vehicle in about an hour, a little longer on some high-security cars. The service page is lost car keys with no spare.

How is a key made with no original to copy?

A car key has two parts that matter, the metal blade and the chip. With no key to copy, the blade is cut to the key code for your locks. The code is found by reading the lock itself or, for many makes, from the manufacturer’s records through the SERMI scheme, which Keyworx is approved for. A code machine then cuts a blade to the manufacturer’s measurements, which is often a better fit than a copy of a worn key would have been.

The chip is a separate job. The new key is programmed through the car’s diagnostic socket so the immobiliser accepts it, and on the same visit the lost key is deleted so it can no longer start the car. None of it needs the old key or a trip to the dealer. It does need proof that the car is yours, so we check photo ID and the V5C logbook, or a match to the registered keeper, before any key is cut.

What to have ready when you call

• The registration, or the make, model and year.
• Where the car is. A postcode, a street name or a landmark is enough.
• Photo ID and the V5C logbook, or other proof that you are the registered keeper. We check before any key is cut, which is also what stops anyone else having a key made for your car.
• The crime reference number, if the keys were stolen and you plan to claim on insurance.

Is the car at risk while the key is missing?

Until the lost key is removed from the car’s memory, it will still start the engine for anyone who has it and knows the car. If you think that is possible, keep the car somewhere secure and get the key deleted quickly. Deleting it stops it starting the car. The metal blade can still turn the door lock on many cars, so if you believe the key was stolen by someone who knows the vehicle, ask us about the locks too.

What does a lost key cost to replace?

From £150 including VAT with us, for a new key cut and programmed at the car with the lost keys deleted. That is more than a spare, which starts from £90, because the car has to be read from scratch. The make and the type of key decide where your job lands above the “from” price, and we give you one all-in figure on the phone before anyone sets off. How much does it cost to replace a car key? explains what sets the price.

Once you have a new key

Have a second key made while the first one works. It is the cheapest protection against going through all of this again. A small tracker tag on the keyring makes keys easier to find next time. If your car is keyless, keep the key away from the front door and in a signal-blocking pouch overnight, because relay thieves can use the signal from a key indoors to open and start the car. There is more in how to stop keyless car theft.