Short answer: Match the place to the key. For a plain metal key, a hardware store is the least expensive stop, and some copy older chip keys. Costco's parking-lot van programs many keys if your car can be driven there and is a model it covers. With no working key, a mobile locksmith comes to the car. Call any store first.
A car key can come from six places around here: a hardware store, a self-service kiosk, a parts store, the key van in a Costco lot, a mobile locksmith or the dealer. Each fits some keys and stops on others.
Each option below gets the same two lines: where it is the right choice and where it stops working, including the keys we would send to a hardware store ourselves. Where we could not confirm what a store offers, the guide says so and tells you to call that location first.
Two facts that decide where you go
The first fact is whether your key is plain metal or carries a chip or a remote. The second is whether you still hold a key that starts the car. A plain key with a working original can go to a hardware store or kiosk for a copy.
Once no key starts it, the car is stuck where it is parked, so the new key gets made there or the car gets towed.
Where a row below says to call, we could not confirm what that kind of store offers this year.
| Where | Works when | Stops working when |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware store | The key is plain metal, or an older chip key the store can copy, and you bring the original | The car needs a newer chip or a fob programmed to it, or there is no key to copy |
| Self-service kiosk | You have a working key for the machine to scan | There is no key to scan, or the car is one of the many after about 2009 the machine cannot handle |
| Parts store or battery chain | Not confirmed for 2026: call and ask what it cuts and programs | The method needs two working keys and you have one, as a 2017 Fusion owner found |
| Costco key van | The car drives to the warehouse lot, a van is there that day, and the model is covered | Every key is lost, or the model falls outside its coverage, which has limits on the newest years and German makes |
| Mobile locksmith | No working key, a dead or damaged fob, a newer or German car, or a key needed at home or work | The key is plain metal with no chip, where a hardware store is the less expensive answer |
| Dealer | You want the carmaker's service lane and can book a visit in business hours | Every key is gone: towing runs $125 to $200, then 1 to 3 days if the key is ordered |
Hardware stores and kiosks: the right stop for a plain key
For a key with no chip, a hardware store is the least expensive place to get a copy, and that is our advice on the call too. Our plain metal key is $49 to $89, against $40 to $90 at a dealer, so paying anyone to drive out for a no-chip copy rarely adds up. Some hardware stores also copy certain older chip keys.
Self-service kiosks work by scanning a key that already works, so they need your original in hand, and many cars built after about 2009 are beyond them. One Los Angeles poster on Reddit said the dealer wanted $350 for a second key to a mid-2010s Corolla, and that kiosks and hardware stores were not compatible with cars after 2009.
The copy route ends at a newer chip, a fob that must be programmed to the car, or a missing original. For those, a spare key made at the car runs $125 to $199 with a chip, while dealers ask $230 to $380.
The key van in a Costco parking lot
Costco's key program runs out of vans parked in warehouse lots, operated by a national key company. You walk up without an appointment. The operator says it covers about 90% of vehicles, with limits on the newest model years and on German makes, and Jalopnik counted about 500 locations in February 2026.
The two fob figures owners reported both ran to a few hundred dollars. On an owner forum, one buyer reported paying $299 for a five-button fob for a 2022 Bronco Sport, cut and programmed. In an August 2025 post on r/sandiego, one local poster said the van at the La Mesa Costco quoted $350 or more for a RAV4 fob. Neither is a dealer quote or ours, so ask the van and a locksmith for a number before you choose.
The van works where it is parked, so the car has to reach the lot, which rules it out once every key is gone. We could not confirm which warehouses in the county have a van on a given day, so check with yours before you drive over.
Parts stores and battery chains: ask before you drive over
We could not confirm what parts stores such as AutoZone do with car keys in 2026, so this guide makes no claim either way. Call the store and ask three things: whether it cuts the blade, whether it programs the key or fob to your car on site, and what happens if the car refuses the new key.
That last question matters because some cars set their own rules for adding a key. One owner on Reddit took a 2017 Ford Fusion to a battery chain for a second key, and it failed because that car needs two working keys for the method the store used. If you hold only one key, tell them when you call and ask whether their method needs two.
A new fob you bought that was never paired is not wasted, provided it is the right part for your car; key fob programming covers pairing it at home or in a work lot.
When a mobile locksmith is the better call
Four situations point to a locksmith who comes to the car. No working key is the big one, because without one the car sits far from any store lot or service lane. The others are a newer or German model outside a van's coverage, a key you need made at home or work, and a fob that has died or been damaged.
Without a key, going to the dealer means paying $125 to $200 to have the car towed before anything else, 1 to 3 days of waiting whenever your key is out of stock and must be ordered, and often $100 to $180 more as a programming line. At the car, the figures are: chip key $125 to $199 (dealers $230 to $380), remote head key $165 to $259 (dealers $300 to $450), smart key $229 to $399 (dealers $400 to $750). Losing every key adds $60.
European keys run $209 to $449 with us; the dealer figure there is $380 to $900. California requires a written record of your ID and the vehicle registration whenever a locksmith cuts a new key without copying an existing one (Penal Code 466.6; Business and Professions Code 6980.55), so set out your registration card or title next to an ID bearing that same name. You hear the price before we drive and pay once the key works. Lost car keys covers that visit step by step.
Auto club and insurance help
Some auto clubs reimburse locksmith service up to a limit set by membership tier, and two clubs publish limits of $50, $100 and $150 by tier. We could not confirm the Southern California club's limits, so check your membership guide before the job and ask the club what it needs from you to pay a claim.
Standard auto insurance usually does not pay for a lost key. The exception is a key protection add-on bought with the policy, so look for one in your coverage before paying the whole bill yourself.