Key Cutting

Most cars on Australian roads take one of two shapes. A mechanical edge-cut key has notches along the edge of the blade — the familiar shape, still common on older utes, work vehicles and base models.

A laser-cut key, sometimes called a sidewinder, has a thicker blade with a winding channel milled into its face. It's stronger, harder to pick and harder to copy, and it needs a different machine to cut. If your key doesn't have notches along the edge, this is what you've got.

We cut both. Bringing the key or the rego along tells us which machine the job needs.

If every key is gone, there's nothing to copy, but that doesn't stop the job. Every vehicle leaves the factory with a key code tied to its VIN, and that code describes the exact pattern of the blade.

We look the code up against your VIN, confirm you own the car, and cut a fresh key straight from it. The result is a key cut to factory spec — often a better fit than the worn one you've been using.

Cutting itself is the cheaper half of most key jobs. Price depends on the blade:

• Blade type — a mechanical edge-cut key is quicker and cheaper than a laser-cut sidewinder
• The key housing — a plain blade, a flip remote that folds into the fob, or a full remote head
• Cut to code or copied — looking up the code from your VIN adds a step over duplicating a key in hand
• Where the work happens — the workshop is cheaper than a mobile callout

Where the cost really moves is programming, if your car needs it. We quote the whole job, not just the half you asked about.

Two reasons, and they're different problems.

The first is the cut. General key-cutting machines trace your original rather than working from code, so wear gets copied along with the pattern. It turns in the door on the day and jams in the ignition a month later.

The second is the chip. A blank with no transponder — or the wrong one — will open your doors and turn in the ignition, and the immobiliser still won't let the engine start. That's not a fault in the cut; it's a key that was never going to work. If you've been handed one, bring it in and we'll tell you whether it's salvageable.

If your car was built after the mid-90s, almost certainly. Cutting shapes the blade so it turns; programming teaches the car to accept the chip so it starts. Most keys need both.

The exceptions are genuinely old vehicles with no immobiliser, and surf keys — a cut-only key that opens the car but deliberately can't start it, so you can leave it hidden on the vehicle at the beach.

We handle both halves in the one visit. See Key Programming for what the second half involves.