Garages, towers and the ballpark lots
A garage job goes smoothly when we know four things before we arrive: the street the entrance is on, your level, the clearance posted at the entry and how a visitor gets past the gate. Tower garages in East Village, Cortez Hill and the Marina often need a resident to buzz us in or leave a pass at the front desk.
If the van will not clear the entrance, it parks at the curb, the key is cut there, and the programmer comes down to your car on foot. The convention center garage on Harbor Drive, the lots east of Petco Park and the Seaport Village lots each decide for themselves whether a service van may work there, so call first. Metered spots on India Street and Fifth Avenue are simpler.
Instead of Kearny Mesa or the Mile of Cars
Both dealer clusters are an easy drive when the car starts. When it does not, the bill grows in layers: the tow out of the garage, a service appointment, a parts order that can eat one to three days whenever the key is not on the shelf, then $100 to $180 of programming on a separate line. Add a ride back downtown while the car sits there.
European keys show the gap most. BMW's 2001 to 2013 remote key is $349 with us and roughly $650 from the dealer, and Mercedes keys up to model year 2013 are $329 here, $620 there. Anything 2014 or newer from Mercedes is a dealer-only key, which you hear during the first call, not after a wasted trip.
Convention days, the trolley and late dinners
Keys go missing at the convention center, on the walk back from dinner in the Gaslamp and on trolley platforms.
If you rode the Blue, Orange or Green Line in and the car is back at a station lot, we meet you there, because the car has to be present for programming; ring us first so the lot's rules get checked, whether it is Old Town or an Orange Line park-and-ride.
Closer in, expect lockouts in Little Italy and the Gaslamp, keys snapped off in older door locks, and City College students near Park Boulevard wanting a spare chip key before the only one disappears. Opening a locked car downtown costs $79 to $129; removing a snapped key without drilling is $89 to $149.