If you only have one key to your car, you're carrying a risk you don't have to. Not the dramatic kind - the boring, expensive kind: lose that single key, and you're straight into an all-keys-lost job, the most involved and costly key service there is. A spare, cut now while you still have a working key, is the cheap version of the same fix. Here's the honest maths.
The difference between a spare and all-keys-lost
A spare key is one extra key, cut and coded while we still have your original to work from. It's a single-visit job at your home or work. An all-keys-lost job is a different beast entirely: there's no key to copy from, so the whole set has to be created from scratch, the locks decoded, and the lost keys erased from the car's memory. Far more equipment time, far more labour - and a bill that's a multiple of a spare.
Put simply: a spare is the easy, planned version of the same job. All-keys-lost is the emergency, from-scratch version. Same car, same keys, wildly different cost and stress.
The stress you avoid
Lose your only key and the car is stranded - wherever it sits, it stays until a locksmith can get to you, which may be a busy time of day. You're phoning around, waiting, rearranging your day or your family's. With a spare in a drawer at home, the worst case becomes a ten-minute walk to fetch it. The key is still lost, but you're not stranded, and you can deal with the replacement in your own time rather than in a panic.
Who should get one
Anyone with a single key to their car or van. Two-driver households sharing one key between you. Anyone whose only key is looking worn or stiff - a worn key strains the lock and is more likely to snap. Anyone who travels for work and can't afford a stranded afternoon. If any of those is you, a spare is one of the best pounds-to-peace-of-mind trades you can make.
Where to keep it
Not in the car - that defeats the purpose. At home, somewhere secure and memorable. With a trusted family member who lives nearby. Or in a secure place at work. The point is that it's somewhere you can reach in a reasonable time, not locked inside the vehicle you can't get into.
The bottom line
A spare costs a fraction of an all-keys-lost job, takes one visit to make, and turns a stranded emergency into a minor inconvenience. If you've only got one key, getting a second cut now is the single most sensible thing you can do for your car this year.
Need this sorting, not reading about?
Call or WhatsApp East & Co - we come to you across within about 25 miles of Scunthorpe, 24/7.
Quick questions
How long does making a spare take?
Most spares are cut and coded in a single visit at your home or work, while you wait. Some vehicles take longer; we'll give you a realistic timescale on the phone.
Will the spare work exactly like the original?
Yes. It's cut to the same lock and coded to the same immobiliser and remote system, so it locks, unlocks and starts just like your original. We test it on the car before we leave.