Car keys and safes

Two jobs that people think only a dealer or a manufacturer can do. Most car keys from the last twenty years can be cut and programmed at the roadside with the right machine and the car's own diagnostic port, for a fraction of the dealership price and without a tow; and most domestic safes can be opened by someone who does it every week, without the angle grinder.

Ffion does the car keys. A spare cut and programmed while you have the original is from £95; a remote fob from £145; an all-keys-lost, where the car's memory is cleared and a new key coded, from £180, at your home or wherever the car is. Most Ford, Vauxhall, VW group, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Kia and Hyundai keys are done on the day; some newer keys with dealer-only coding are not, and we say so on the phone rather than at the car.

Safes: a forgotten combination, a lost key, a jammed bolt or a safe that came with the house. Gareth opens most domestic safes by manipulation or a small drilled hole that is then plugged and warranted, from £120, and fits a new lock or combination so the safe is yours. We also supply and bolt down safes for documents, cash and medicines, from £160, and will tell you honestly which cheap ones are not worth the floor bolts.

What is included

• Car keys cut and programmed at your car, most makes
• Spares, remote fobs and all-keys-lost
• An honest word on the phone if a key is dealer-only
• Safes opened without damage wherever possible
• A new lock or combination fitted
• Safes supplied and bolted down

What it costs

Car keys: a cut-and-programmed key from £95, a remote fob from £145, an all-keys-lost from £180, at your car, most makes. Safes: opened from £120, a new lock or combination from £85, a new safe supplied and bolted down from £160. Including VAT and the call-out within ten miles of the shop. The prices page has every job by day and by night; the lock guide explains the grades your insurer asks for.