The short answer
A plain mechanical key for an older truck: $59 to $89. A chip key that has to be coded to the immobiliser: $89 to $179. A remote head key, where the buttons and blade are one piece: $129 to $249. A proximity fob for a push-to-start car: $189 and up.
Same key machine, same technician, wildly different prices — because you are not paying for a piece of brass. You are paying for whatever electronics have to be taught to trust that brass.
Why the hardware store key did not work
We get this call two or three times a week. Someone paid $6 at a big-box store, the key opens the doors fine, and the engine cranks for two seconds then dies. That is the immobiliser doing its job. The blade was cut, the chip inside was never programmed, so the car reads an unknown key and cuts fuel.
The other failure mode is subtler: the blank was cut from a worn key rather than from the factory code. It works for a month, then starts needing a wiggle, then one morning it does not turn at all. We cut from the code the manufacturer assigned your VIN, which is why a fresh duplicate often feels smoother than the key in your hand.
Duplicating is cheap. Originating is not.
If you still hold one working key, the car already trusts a device and adding a second is routine — usually 20 minutes in a driveway. Lose every key and the job changes completely: we pull the code from the VIN, verify you own the vehicle, and persuade a security system to accept a key it has never seen. On some Toyota and Hyundai platforms there is a manufacturer-enforced wait timer on top of that.
That gap is the whole argument for getting a spare while things are calm. An $89 spare on a Tuesday afternoon versus a $250 emergency origination in a bar parking lot on Rainey Street at 1am is not a close call.
What a mobile appointment actually looks like
We meet you where the car is — an office lot off Braker, a driveway in Cedar Park, wherever. We decode the VIN, cut the blank in the van, program the chip alongside your existing key, then test doors, trunk, remote and three cold starts before taking payment. Half an hour, start to finish, for most vehicles.
Bring ID and something showing the car is yours: registration, title or an insurance card with the VIN. Texas requires it, and honestly you want a locksmith who asks.
Want the exact figure for your vehicle? Tell us the year, make and model and we will quote it on the phone.
See car key duplication pricing