How a lot visit runs
Text or call with the stock number, VIN and key situation for each car. We match every VIN to its key and table price, and you have the total before the van leaves. On the lot we work car by car, test each key in the ignition or push-start and on the door locks, and hand the keys back tagged by stock number.
Proof of ownership comes first on any car with no working key. For a lot, that means the paperwork that shows the business owns or is responsible for the car, and the ID of whoever signs; tell us what you hold and we confirm on the call whether it works.
The franchise route on a no-key car
A car with no key reaches the franchise dealer for its make on a flatbed, $125 to $200, before anyone looks at it. The key can take one to three days to order, and programming lands on the bill as its own labor line at $100 to $180.
Take a Honda with a push-to-start fob. The dealer typically quotes about $480 for that key before the tow. At your lot it starts at the $239 table price plus $60, so from $299, with no tow and no second trip to collect the car.
Cars we send back to their own dealer
Two groups get checked by VIN before we drive: most Mercedes-Benz cars built from 2014 onward and many G-series BMW models from about 2016 onward take keys issued only through their own dealers. We tell you which of your cars fall there, so they go to the right place the first time.