No one really understands the importance of a spare car key until they lose, damage or have their one and only key stolen. A whopping two million cars are sold across the UK every year with only a small percentage being sold with more than one key, particularly those cars that have been traded in previously.
Whether it’s for peace of mind or practical reasons, it really does make sense to have a spare car key to hand. It’s a well-known fact that we lose things. A recent study of 2000 adults found that we each, typically misplace four items a month, including keys.
Here are five reasons we’ve identified as to why you should have a spare car key…
1. Save you money
Calling out an auto locksmith, such as ourselves, to programme you a spare car key will save you money (and time), compared to having us come out to you in an emergency because you can’t gain access to your vehicle due to losing your only set of keys.
2. Prevent car lockouts
They’re more common than you might think. Being locked out of your car is no fun. Trust us, we’ve experienced many of them. A spare car key can alleviate the stress and anxiety that typically comes with being locked out of your car. Whilst your spare key may be safe in your home or with a relative, the time and money to get back into your car this way will be far less than if you had to call out an auto locksmith.
3. Ease of use for two drivers
Sharing just one key can be tricky when you’re not always in the same place as the other driver and can increase the chance of it being lost. What’s more, if one driver happens to lose their key, the other driver can come to the rescue with theirs. Also, the technology on car keys these days provides customisable driver settings for the car such as music volume, temperature and seat settings plus more. With keys for each driver of a car, each drivers’ preferences are saved to their key for each time they get into the car. Meaning they don’t need to share and change the settings each time.
4. Vehicle security
In the event that your car keys are stolen, it is likely that whoever stole your keys knows the location of your car. By having a spare set, you can quickly access your car (you should do this as soon as you notice your car keys are missing) and drive it to a safe location, where an auto locksmith can programme replacement keys and erase the stolen one.
5. Easily retrieve your keys
If you accidentally lock your car keys in the car, which is easily done when defrosting a windscreen or running back into the house to get your handbag, you can quickly unlock and retrieve them with your spare pair.
Always remember not to advertise the fact that you have a spare car key kept “safe” in your home. This is only an open invitation for thieves.
A spare car key really can be the difference between a good day and a bad day. If you currently only have one set of keys, or are looking to have another set created for, possibly, another family member who uses the car, please get in touch.
For a list of all of our South Wales and Bristol auto locksmith services, click here.