Love them or hate them keys are a way of life and here to stay!  All fine and dandy when you know where they are but a different kettle of fish when you mislay them!  Replacement keys for homes are easy to source but car keys not so much.  Car security over the last 15 years has become a lot more sophisticated as thieves have learnt new ways to gain entry to vehicles, thus making car key duplication much harder and a lot more expensive.  All car keys these days are fitted with an immobiliser that prevents a car from starting if the wrong key is used, new car keys have to be programmed to the vehicle to operate and this it where it starts to become expensive.   Each motor manufacture uses different immobiliser technology therefore an Autolocksmith needs lots of equipment to work on different vehicles, replacement keys with a chip in the head can also be expensive ranging from £5-£100.

Moral of the story….look after your keys and make sure you have a spare, as a total loss of keys for home or house is extremely costly!