GREAT SOUTHERN LOCK
Guide · Car keys
Locksmith or dealership for a replacement car key?
The honest answer: an auto locksmith for almost everything, the dealership for a short and specific list. Here is where the line actually falls.
- 24/7
Answered every hour
of every day - Inside the hour
On site across
Melbourne’s inner suburbs - No fix, no fee
Can’t open it? You
don’t pay a cent - Insured & ABN
Public liability cover
ABN registered
The short answer
For most cars on Melbourne roads, a mobile auto locksmith can cut and program a replacement key at the car, including when every key is lost. The dealership generally cannot come to you, will usually want the vehicle brought in, and often orders the key rather than holding it. That difference — a visit versus a tow and a wait — is the whole decision for most people.
The dealership is genuinely the better call for a small set of cases, listed further down. Anyone who tells you it is always one or the other is selling something.
What an auto locksmith can do
- Come to the car. Roadside, car park, driveway, work. No tow.
- Cut and program on the spot. Transponder keys, remote fobs and proximity smart keys for most makes and models.
- Originate a key from nothing. “All keys lost” is a normal job, not an exotic one — the key is generated from the vehicle rather than copied.
- Work outside business hours. The dealership shuts at five. Cars do not.
- Cut a spare before you need it. Far cheaper than an emergency.
When the dealership is genuinely the right call
Being straight about this matters more than winning the job:
- The car is under warranty and the manufacturer requires it. Check your warranty wording before anyone touches the immobiliser.
- Very new models with locked-down security systems. Some manufacturers gate key programming behind an online authorisation only their network holds. This changes model by model and year by year.
- Some European marques with proprietary systems, where the key has to be ordered against the VIN.
- The problem is not the key. If the immobiliser, body module or ignition barrel has failed, that is a diagnostic job, not a key job.
If your car falls in one of those, we will tell you on the phone rather than turn up and charge you to find out.
What actually changes the price
Not the badge on the bonnet so much as three things: whether any working key still exists, what type of key it is, and the hour you ring. There is a full breakdown on our car key replacement cost guide and the general locksmith cost guide.
What to have ready when you ring
- Make, model and year.
- Whether any working key exists anywhere — a spare at home counts.
- Whether the car has a keyed ignition or push-button start.
- Where the car is, and whether it is somewhere it can legally stay for an hour.
- Proof you own it. Registration and photo ID. Any locksmith who does not ask is one to walk away from.
One thing worth doing today: if you are down to one key, get a spare cut now. A spare cut at a convenient hour costs a fraction of an all-keys-lost job at 2am on a Sunday, and it is the single most avoidable expense in this trade.
Talk to a person
Every question on this page has a specific answer for your actual lock, car or building. One call, straight to the mobile, 24 hours.
- No call centre
- Price before any tool comes out
- ABN 73 112 836 867, insured
Questions
Common questions
Can a locksmith make a car key without the original?
Yes. It is called all-keys-lost, and the key is generated from the vehicle's own data rather than copied from an existing key. It takes longer than cutting a spare and costs more, but it does not need a tow for most vehicles.
Will a locksmith key work as well as a dealer key?
For most vehicles, yes — the same transponder and remote functions, programmed to your car. Where a manufacturer restricts programming to its own network, we will say so rather than fit something that half works.
Do I have to prove the car is mine?
Yes, and you should want to. Registration papers and photo ID matching the vehicle. A locksmith who will cut a key for a car without checking that is a locksmith who will do it for someone else's car too.
Is the dealership always more expensive?
Usually, once you count the tow and the days off the road, but not always on the key itself. The real difference is time — a mobile locksmith comes to the car and finishes on the spot.
Locked out, or need a key cut right now?
One call goes straight to the mobile — no call centre, no queue. You speak to a locksmith, not a switchboard. Can't talk? Text a photo of the lock and we'll come back with a firm price.
Related