Last Updated on August 5, 2025
Lost Your Car Keys? Get a New One Using Your Car’s VIN
Shipped Fast!
ACME Locksmith is your source for direct-to-you car key replacements.
Avoid towing, save time, and get your new key delivered now!
How to Replace Lost Car Keys
Phoenix’s ACME Locksmith makes and mails car keys using your car’s VIN.
Money Saving Tip: If you’ve only lost a spare key or remote, and you can still drive the car, purchase a spare key or remote online. Once it arrives, take car to your local lock shop for duplication and programming (if needed). This will cost less than cutting a key by VIN.
How Ordering Works
THE ORDERING PROCESS
- Gather the information needed
- Fill out the online order form to order your key / key remote combo
- If you don’t see the car listed, we cannot make the key
- Pay by credit card or Paypal
- We will call with any questions
- Keys will be mailed, 3-5 day USPS, 2-3 business days after placing order, unless rush shipping was ordered. A rush-shipped order will ship the following business day.
INFORMATION REQUIRED
Vehicle Information
Year, Make and Model of the car.
Car’s VIN
VIN can be found on insurance and title paperwork, on the driver’s side dashboard near the window’s edge-seen by looking into the front window, and possibly on the inside door well of the driver’s side of the car.
Cost & What’s Included
No surprises! See exactly what your key by VIN will cost. The “Total Price” on the order form will auto-populate as you enter your car’s information.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
The key, the labor to cut the key, the cost of obtaining the code needed to cut the key, and the cost for standard mailing of the key are included in our service.
Prices for us to obtain the codes vary by manufacturer, thus your key by VIN price will vary as well, but should range between $99-$199
As you fill out your order, the cost of the key by VIN will update.
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED
Some keys will get you into your car and turn your ignition, but you may find that the car does not run, or it starts and then dies. Should this happen, the key will need to be programmed to the car, for the car to run. This is a vehicle security feature meant to prevent theft.
In some cases, you can program your own car key. You can check here to see if the key is on board programmable.
For some vehicles, we offer an inexpensive programming device that you can select during checkout. This will allow you to program your own key/remote.
If you’re in Phoenix, you can hire ACME Locksmith to do the key programming. If you are not, a local auto locksmith will be needed.
Locksmith vs Dealer
Discover why choosing an auto locksmith saves you time, money, and hassle.
Price
Automotive dealers may also provide key by VIN services, but a locksmith will almost always cost less, because they are small, local companies and not national corporate centers.
Convenience
If the key needs to be programmed, a locksmith can do this at your location, while dealers will require that you tow your car to them.
What Customers Are Saying About Our Key by VIN Service
Quotes are exact quotes found in our Google reviews. Typos have been left to maintain authenticity.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reanna Rex
Love this company! I lost the only key to my car. I’m in a rural area, so there aren’t many locksmiths around. I was able to get new keys made for me very quickly by the car’s VIN. Dan even called to make sure I got them and they worked okay. All around, great service!!!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kevin Wright
Placed an online order for new keys cut from a VIN to replace worn originals. There was an issue in shipping, but Acme communicated well and made it right. The new keys worked great!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Richard Kellermann
Easy Peasy! Purchased used truck for son and key given with purchase did not work correctly. Contacted ACME…sent necessary information and provided vin and within a week had key and works as it should.
Key Replacement by VIN Order Form
How Locksmiths Replace Car Keys Using Your VIN
The fastest way for a locksmith to replace lost car keys is to make the car key by code using the car’s VIN.
Locksmiths can make car keys using a special code for the vehicle that allows the locksmith to cut the original key for the car. The VIN is used to generate this code. You may even have the code in your glove box, they are often provided when a car is purchased.
Pro Tip: If you have the code, give this to the locksmith instead of the VIN. You will save money because the cost of retrieving the code using the VIN is no longer incurred.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you make a key by VIN for any car?
No. If your car is not listed in the form, we cannot make a key for it. Records for car manufacturers do not go back before 1988 or so (depends on the manufacturer). For earlier car models, other methods of key origination must be used. Also, German manufacturers do not provide what is needed for third parties to cut keys by VIN.
Is the key you make guaranteed to work?
No. Using a car’s VIN to make a key provides you the original key for the car. If your ignition has ever been replaced, or your door locks changed, a key made using the VIN number will not work. Because of this, it is almost always a non-refundable service. The locksmith does not know if any locks have been changed, or if the VIN you are providing is correct.
Is the key you make guaranteed to start the car?
No. Most cars after 2010 use transponder keys (often called chipped keys). This means that the car key must be programmed into the car for the car to recognize the key, get past the car’s security system, and start the car. That online key won’t start the car until it is programmed to the car by a local locksmith.
The only sure way to tell that you don’t have a chipped key is if your lost key was an all-metal key. Then it’s guaranteed NOT to be a chipped key. But, any key with a plastic key head or remote attached as part of the key is suspect.
Sometimes, you can program your own car key. Check here to see if the key is on board programmable.
For some vehicles, we offer an inexpensive programming device that you can select at time of checkout. If it’s available for you car, the option will pop-up while ordering.
If you are in Phoenix, ACME Locksmith can come to you to program the keys/FOB
What if you can't make me a key by VIN?
There are cases when we cannot make a car key using the VIN number. For example, the car is too old to have the code information stored in electronic records, or the car is from a German manufacturer.
A locksmith can make a car key by getting the key code from someplace else
Sometimes the ignition or another lock on the car will have the code needed to make the car key stamped on it. It’s the same code that the VIN would pull up if the VIN method worked.
The code is usually hidden within the vehicle in an inconspicuous place. The locksmith will know where this code is and be able to cut a car key by code once retrieving it.
Locksmiths can make a key by using another lock on the car
In some cases, the door locks (or trunk or glove box locks) will have the same key cuts that the ignition does. In these cases, a local auto locksmith can pull the lock, take it apart, and decode the cuts for the ignition key.
For cars made in Germany after 2000, you almost always have to use the dealer to get a new key made.
When You Must Use a Car Dealership to Replace the Keys
There are a few instances where you will need to go to a dealer for a new car key. There is a governing body called NASTF (National Automotive Service Task Force), and their purpose is to coordinate between car manufacturers, parts suppliers, and automotive technicians (including locksmiths) to allow computer protocol information to be used in the open marketplace.
This is necessary as many new car keys now need to be programmed to the vehicles, and so the technicians making a key must have a computer link to the vehicle and guide it to ‘learn’ a new key (and typically delete any lost keys as well).
Which Car Key You Have Will Determine the Price of a Spare KeyHowever, some foreign manufacturers do not participate in this agreement, notably German and Italian car manufacturers. This often means outside vendors like auto mechanics and locksmiths cannot originate a working key. For some of these vehicles (and only a few), locksmiths can ‘clone’ a key (i.e., copy the chip programming in an existing key to a second key), but it prohibits them from being able to originate a key when all copies have been lost.
So, for car brands like BMW, VW, and Audi, you nearly always have to go through a dealer to get the car keys made. We’ve heard that some automotive shops and locksmiths have obtained pirated systems from overseas to accomplish this task outside the dealer, but … do you want to trust your car security to someone willing to buy an illegal device to work with it? Dealers may be expensive, but at least they are reputable.
