Hear from Our Customers
You’re not stuck waiting three days for a dealership appointment or paying $400 for something a qualified locksmith can handle in 30 minutes.
When your key fob dies or goes missing, your car becomes a very expensive lawn ornament. We show up with the diagnostic equipment, the right replacement fob for your make and model, and the know-how to program it correctly the first time. You watch it happen. You test it. You drive away.
No tow truck. No rental car. No week-long saga with the service department. Just a working key fob and your day back on track.
Our family has been cutting keys and fixing locks since the late 1800s. That’s not marketing fluff—it’s just what happened when you do something well enough that your kids want to learn it too.
Tom McCausland and his daughter Chrissy run the largest locksmith operation in the Delaware Valley from our Prospect Park storefront, about 15 minutes from Pendle Hill. We’ve seen every key problem you can imagine because we’ve been serving Delaware County families for over 140 years.
When you call, you’re getting people who’ve made a career out of solving the exact problem you’re dealing with right now. That tends to make things go smoother.
You call or message with your location, vehicle year, make, and model. We confirm we have the right key fob in stock or can source it same-day. Then we give you an honest price—no surprises when we show up.
Our mobile unit arrives at your location in Pendle Hill or anywhere in Delaware County, usually within 20 to 30 minutes. We bring the replacement key fob, the cutting equipment if your fob has a physical key blade, and the programming tools that sync everything to your car’s computer.
The actual work takes about 20 to 45 minutes depending on your vehicle. We access your car’s onboard diagnostic system, program the new fob so your car recognizes it, and make sure every function works—lock, unlock, trunk, panic button, remote start if you have it. You test it yourself before we leave. If it doesn’t work perfectly, we don’t consider the job done.
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Key fob replacement isn’t just handing you a piece of plastic. The fob itself has to match your vehicle’s security system. Then it needs to be programmed using diagnostic equipment that talks to your car’s computer. If there’s a physical key blade, that gets cut to match your door and ignition. All of this has to work together or you’re stuck with an expensive paperweight.
In Pendle Hill and the surrounding Delaware County area, you’re dealing with a mix of older vehicles that use basic transponder keys and newer models with proximity fobs and push-button start. The programming process is different for each type. A 2012 Honda needs different equipment than a 2024 BMW. We handle both because we’ve invested in the tools that cover pretty much everything on the road.
Dealerships charge $300 to $600 for this service and make you wait days for an appointment. We charge significantly less, show up the same day, and do the work wherever your car is parked. The fob works exactly the same either way. You’re just not paying for their overhead and waiting on their schedule.
It depends on what kind of fob your car uses. Basic transponder key fobs usually run $100 to $250 including programming. Smart keys and proximity fobs for push-button start vehicles cost more—typically $200 to $400—because they’re more complex and the parts cost more.
Dealerships will quote you anywhere from $300 to $600 for the same work, sometimes more if you’re driving a luxury vehicle. They’re not ripping you off; they just have higher overhead and parts markups. A qualified automotive locksmith can do the exact same programming for 30% to 60% less because we don’t have the dealership cost structure.
We give you the actual price upfront based on your specific vehicle. No “starting at” nonsense. You know what you’re paying before we drive out.
Sometimes, but it’s hit or miss. If you bought the right fob for your exact vehicle and it’s a legitimate part, we can usually program it. The problem is a lot of online fobs are cheap knockoffs that look right but don’t communicate properly with your car’s system.
We’ve had customers buy fobs online to save $30, then spend two hours trying to program them before calling us to fix it. By that point they’ve wasted an afternoon and still need to pay for programming. If the fob is bad, they’re out the money they spent online plus our service call.
If you want to go that route, just make sure you’re buying from a reputable supplier and verify the part number matches your vehicle. Or let us source it—we get OEM-quality fobs at wholesale and include programming in one price. Usually ends up being about the same cost without the headache.
The actual programming takes 20 to 45 minutes once we’re at your vehicle. That includes accessing your car’s diagnostic port, syncing the new fob to your security system, cutting a physical key if needed, and testing every function to make sure it works.
Some vehicles are faster than others. A straightforward transponder key on a 2015 Toyota might take 20 minutes. A high-security smart key on a newer European vehicle might take closer to 45 minutes because there are more steps involved in the programming sequence.
The bigger time factor is usually how fast we can get to you. In Pendle Hill and throughout Delaware County, we’re typically on-site within 20 to 30 minutes of your call. So from the moment you contact us to driving away with a working fob, you’re looking at about an hour total in most cases.
We can still help. It’s more involved because we have to access your car’s computer system and create a new key from scratch, but it’s absolutely doable. You’ll need to provide proof of ownership—registration and ID usually cover it.
The process takes longer when there’s no existing key to clone from. We have to pull the key code from your vehicle’s system or sometimes from the manufacturer database using your VIN. Then we cut the physical key and program the fob to your car’s immobilizer system.
Expect this to take 45 minutes to an hour, maybe a bit longer depending on your vehicle’s security features. It costs more than duplicating an existing key because there’s more labor involved, but it’s still cheaper than having your car towed to a dealership and waiting three days for them to order parts and fit you into their schedule.
We work on pretty much everything you’ll see on the road in Pendle Hill—domestic brands like Ford, Chevy, and Dodge; imports like Honda, Toyota, and Nissan; and luxury vehicles including BMW, Mercedes, and Audi. The equipment we carry handles the programming for all of them.
There are occasional exceptions with very new models or exotic vehicles where the manufacturer hasn’t released the programming specifications yet, but that’s rare. If we can’t do it, we’ll tell you upfront and point you toward someone who can.
Our family has been doing this since the 1800s, and we’ve kept up with the technology as vehicles evolved from simple metal keys to transponder chips to smart fobs. If your car is parked in Delaware County and needs a key fob, there’s a very good chance we’ve programmed that exact model before.
No, and that’s the first thing to check before you pay for a replacement. Key fob batteries are cheap—usually less than $10—and they die every few years depending on how often you use the fob. If your fob suddenly stops working, there’s a decent chance it just needs a new battery.
You can replace the battery yourself in about two minutes. Most fobs have a small slot where you can pry them open with a flathead screwdriver or a coin. Pop in a new CR2032 or whatever battery your fob uses, snap it back together, and test it. If that fixes it, you just saved yourself $200.
If a new battery doesn’t solve it, then you’re looking at either a broken fob that needs replacement or a programming issue. That’s when you call us. We can diagnose what’s actually wrong and tell you whether you need a new fob or if we can reprogram the one you have. No point in paying for parts you don’t need.
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