FAQ

Modern vehicles are equipped with state of the art immobiliser systems. Advancements in immobiliser technology means the days of thieves and crooks being able to hot-wire or bypass a vehicles immobiliser system to start the engine are gone!

Almost all vehicles built since the year 1998 worldwide are equipped with state of the art immobiliser systems that are ever evolving and becoming more and more secure. Every vehicle immobiliser system is slightly different but they all have something in common, the transponder chip! The transponder chip is a small RFID (Radio frequency Identification) microchip that stores a code unique to that chip and that chip only. Transponder chips do not require the use of batteries to operate, a tiny copper coil contained in the chip is used as an antenna to induce a voltage from the magnetic field emitted from an antenna around the vehicles ignition.

Upon starting your car the vehicles antenna reads the code embedded on the transponder chip located the head of the key. If the code on the transponder chip matches the code stored in the vehicles engine or immobiliser ECU the vehicle will start. If the code doesn’t match the vehicle will not run. The Australia wide team at replacement car keys.

Attempting to start your car with a non-programmed key can cause many problems. Every different model of vehicle will behave differently upon using a non-programmed key. Some vehicles will allow the starter motor to run but not fire the engine, while others will not respond at all. Many Japanese and European vehicles will actually completely lock the vehicle down and block attempted programing if the engine is started with a non-programmed key. If this occurs it can be time consuming and expensive to remove the vehicle from its lock down state.

With the exemption of some commercial vehicles it’s Safe to assume that if your vehicle was manufactured any time after 1998 it will incorporate a transponder chip in the head of your car key regardless of the manufacturer. To find out for sure you can contact the team at replacement car keys or visit one of our replacement car keys offices at any one of our Australia wide locations.

Losing all your keys for your vehicle can be a frustrating and stressful situation leaving you stuck on the side of the road and no way to get the vehicle started again. If you do happen to find yourself in this situation, don’t fret! Contact replacement car keys and speak with one of our specialist automotive locksmiths. To get you back on the road, Firstly the physical car key needs to be cut to match the door locks and turn in the ignition.

This is often done one of three ways, From a key code supplied by the dealer, Removing the door lock, or a using special tools to first manipulate the door lock into the open position and then decoding the lock using vehicle specific key cut and spacing graphs. Once we have cut the physical key we then use a range of different diagnostic or EEPROM tools to code the relevant frequency microchip into the vehicles immobiliser system.

The cost of a replacement car key, spare car key or lost car key varies between the different makes and models. However if you contact the dealership you can expect to pay anywhere from $300 and even upwards of $800.00. The online independent automotive news site www.drive.com.au conducted an exercise to gauge the average cost of car key prices in Australia. The article can be found by clicking the link below.
http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/the-high-cost-of-losing-your-car-keys-20100813-122qa.html

The nationwide team at replacement car keys is committed to reducing the cost of replacing your stolen, lost and broken car keys, we have a huge range of aftermarket and genuine car keys available for all makes and models of vehicles. Our key prices start from as low as $99.00. Contact Replacement Car Keys today to find out how we can save you money and get you back on the sooner!

Many car dealerships will tell you that you must use or a genuine key or that no one can program keys to the vehicle except the manufacturer. However this is by no means true. Genuine car keys are more expensive than and often not as durable as the aftermarket options. While there are some lesser quality aftermarket car keys available, the team at replacement car keys can replace your lost car key with a tried and tested aftermarket option. Our aftermarket options are not only more durable but use the identical RFID transponder chip as the genuine dealer car key making it just as reliable while often being less than half the cost of the genuine part.

Replacement car keys offers a money back guarantee on all our aftermarket car key options , You can rest assured that you’re not only getting value for money but reliability and the backing of Australia’s most experienced and advanced automotive locksmith team.