Lost your car keys and you're mad at me?

[KentM]

Just trying to understand why a blank with a $5 dollar chip ends up being $225 (I could see a dealer ripping people off for $300 or more, but locksmiths should charge a fair price, regardless of what the market drives or what the other locksmith in town charges)

Thanks for laying it out, I'm curious to understand it better,
Squelchtone

The price is governed by the distance (travel time and fuel and maintenance of the van), time of the day, the techniques and tools involved, cost of the chip key, dealer prices, competitors prices and expertize of the locksmith.

Consumer have to decide whether to go to dealer (toeing the vehicle to dealer and spend at least a couple of hours in waiting while the key is being made) vs. to call the locksmith for the convenience and saving precious family time. Imagine if the key is lost on Saturday afternoon, the Dealers are closed till Monday morning, so there is a need for the locksmith.

IMHO $ 225 is a fair price.

One time a customer called me from downtown Toronto at 11:30 pm. He locked his Ford Mustang keys in the trunk and trunk lever was not working. I quoted him $ 150 to come and open his trunk. He was angry at the price and hanged up my phone. The vehicle was parked at a pay parking spot. After 15 minutes he called me again and asked me to come over. I went there and did the job, and made him one service key as well for the next time. I asked him, first you were a little upset about price, and then you agreed to pay the price, what happened. He told me that he called at least five locksmiths, no one picked up the phone. Then he contacted his friends for advise and realized that he have to toe the car to clear the parking spot and toe it to dealer again next day.

When I was just to leave after completion of the job, he asked my how much is the key with chip. I said $ 75. He said, since you are here, please make me one. The total becomes $ 225 Which is a fair price for the job in the middle of night.

Kent

[machinist]

about 2 months ago:

94 buick, customer has taken a screwdriver to the ign and really fudged things up nicely. I tell him he needs a new ign cylinder its going to be 250$, hes all offended, he calls back and asks if I would do it for 150$, I say well I'll drill down the sidebar for 150$ explain to him I'm effectively hot wiring the car and he still needs a new ignition, he agrees. I take payment and run a 1/4" bit through the hardened face nuke the sidbar, car starts with a .99 screwdriver now just as promised, hes so happy he sees the car start he asks if I'd give him a deal on a new ign cylinder, I say sure 150$ Hes very happy at this "discount". Please take a minute and do the math on all that above^

[Kezo]

Just trying to understand why a blank with a $5 dollar chip ends up being $225 (I could see a dealer ripping people off for $300 or more, but locksmiths should charge a fair price, regardless of what the market drives or what the other locksmith in town charges)

Thanks for laying it out, I'm curious to understand it better,
Squelchtone

It's better to not lower your price too much to accommodate people who need professional service, but not willing to pay a fair price. It helps weed out the weirdos. Word gets around that you're the cheapest locksmith in town, you'll get customers who will call you to make a key for a car because you quoted $95 or less, but deliberately chooses to not tell you that the ignition, the door, the trunk, and the glove box are all using a different key even though they assured you that everything used one key.

Then if you choose to go ahead and do all of that for $95 they will still end up arguing why they have to pay so much for just a key.

[angusW]

It is quite expensive to get a key cut these days. I had my car key (2006 Accord) and the valet key stolen last year. I was left with one key so I decided to get another valet key cut at the dealership. Couldn't be that much since it doesn't have the remote on it, right? Wrong. It's expensive. I just sucked it up and payed for it. Lesson learned. Don't get your stuff stolen