One of the questions that often comes up is about making a spare key for a vehicle that uses a transponder in order to hide it on your car when you lock yourself out. While nobody wants to lock themselves out of the vehicle, what you DO NOT want to do is make a duplicate transponder key to hide outside the vehicle. What you CAN do is have a mechanical key made to use as your hide-a-key.

The reason for this is simple: If you lock your keys in your car, you can use the ‘mechanical’ or ‘non-transponder’ key to open the door and retrieve them. If someone else finds that key, they can open the door, but they can’t drive away with the car. While this doesn’t prevent someone from getting into your car, it does stop them from taking it.

Where do you hide your key? Anywhere that you won’t forget where it is. Place it somewhere that you will remember and that you haven’t seen “on t.v.” – the places where most people will look for it first. If it takes a while for someone to try and find your key, they will move on. If they really want in, they won’t look for your key in the first place.