Garage Insights: Ever Wondered What To Do If You Lose Your Spare Car Keys?

11 September 2024
Blog

Losing car keys can be an incredibly frustrating experience, particularly if the spares are also missing or the motorist is too far from home to retrieve them. Yet it’s a problem that affects many car owners every year: according to research conducted by the RAC, more than two million drivers have admitted to permanently losing their keys, with the majority having no idea where.

As well as causing immense inconvenience, the cost of lost car keys can be exorbitant, running into hundreds of pounds, particularly if replacements are sourced from a dealership.

In this article, we’ll explain what your customers should do if they discover their car keys are no longer where they should be, and how our car key wholesale services can help them to get back on the road.

Check If The Lost Key Is Covered By The Insurance

Because it can be expensive to replace a lost car key, it is worth the car owner checking with their insurer if the cost is covered by their policy. Many comprehensive insurance policies include replacement keys or fobs so, rather than assuming that isn’t the case, the motorist should be encouraged to double-check, instead of blithely accepting that they’ll be out of pocket.

Promote The Use Of Anti-Theft Devices

In 2021, more than 100,000 vehicles were stolen in the UK and, while significantly lower than the peak of 620,000 in the 1990s, most thefts are now of keyless cars. With widely available equipment, thieves can intercept the unique codes that are emitted by key fobs and transponders and use these to gain unauthorised entry to a vehicle. Advise your customers to invest in a cheap and simple Faraday pouch in which to store their keys, as this will block the signal and prevent criminals from being able to intercept it.