It's an aspect most people don't consider when buying a second hand car, which is where rekeying comes in handy, you could spend relatively little money and make sure nobody else will have access to your car except yourself.
IIf you bought a used car, then chances are high that you received everything you needed from your seller. The trouble starts when you consider all the ways in which the previous owner had copied his or her car keys. He or she could've cut some extras for family or friends, left an extra key at their mechanic or in a friend's possession, or just gotten carried away making multiple copies of keys during the lifetime of the car.
No need to worry that the seller is trying to hide something from you, though. Chances are he/she just doesn't know about every key that has ever been cut. That's the whole point: you simply cannot make sure that those two keys are the only working keys for the car.
There is no reason to believe that the seller tries to hide something from you. The truth is that he himself may be unable to provide a precise number of copies of the key that exist. Nevertheless, it is impossible to ensure that no other people can drive or enter your vehicle until you solve this issue.
This is solved easily with the rekeying procedure. Every lock has an internal mechanism consisting of small pins or wafers that will be able to react to a specific type of key. The rekeying procedure will change that internal mechanism in such a way that it can now react only to the new key. In other words, every previous key will become obsolete since it will no longer be able to unlock your lock anymore.
Replacing a lock with a new one is obviously possible. But that would be both tedious and very costly. Since rekeying does not mean replacing a lock but changing the type of key that will work inside of it, this procedure tends to be cheaper and faster.
Rekeying is most commonly associated with purchasing a second-hand car. But this is actually not the only situation when rekeying is needed:
A professional locksmith should be able to assess your door locks, your ignition lock, or any other locks you wish to be rekeyed and provide you with new keys. You are in total control of which part needs to be rekeyed, by the way some car owners prefer to rekey everything to ensure maximum security. Others only do the door locks and ignition to minimize costs.
Considering the costs of your car compared to the possibility of theft and break-ins, the price you need to pay for rekeying is insignificant. Not only will you be sure that no one can gain access to your car, but you can avoid potential trouble in the future by eliminating the risk of getting a duplicate key from your car.
Your second-hand car can have an unknown number of duplicates somewhere out there, regardless of the fact that you fully trust the seller. To be sure that nobody can gain access to your car except yourself, consider getting it rekeyed as soon as you have bought it. You will not regret it.
It is necessary to mention that rekeying is focused solely on solving your problems with multiple car keys and nothing else. Thus, it does not fix any problems with your lock hardware nor does it replace the lock. It also has nothing to do with electronic security of your car, so if your car's lock hardware fails, that would be a different task, but when you need to deal with too many keys, then rekeying will help you do that.
Since rekeying is most commonly required for newly acquired cars, it would be best to do that as soon as you have bought it. That way, you won't have to worry about losing or lending your keys to somebody who could make a duplicate. It also helps to prevent any problems from happening before they appear.
Practical, low-cost steps to reduce key-related theft risk.
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