2018 Buick Encore
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in Ventura County

2018 Buick Encore Smart Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

There's a street out in Sunset Hills where the road just ends at a dirt trailhead. No cul-de-sac, no room to turn a big vehicle around. A documentary filmmaker had parked his 2018 Encore down there, and somewhere between a hike and a long editing session he'd lost his only fob. No spare. No way to move the car.

He called the dealer first. They told him he'd need to tow it in before they could do anything. He called a tow company and they laughed at the street. There was no way to get a flatbed down there without it being stuck worse than the Encore.

He found me, and I drove out to Thousand Oaks with my gear.

I parked where the pavement ended and walked the rest of the way down with my bag. The car was sitting there in the afternoon shade looking completely fine except for the fact that it had no valid key in the system. I ran the all-keys-lost sequence through the OBD port using my diagnostic equipment, cleared the old fob from the immobilizer, and registered a new one. Built the fob on site. Tested every button. Tested the start. Walked the door handles.

He drove it out himself. The car never touched a flatbed.

The dealer route would have cost him a tow he couldn't even arrange, plus a wait for parts and a shop appointment. He saved a good chunk, and honestly the bigger saving was just not having his car stranded on a dead-end street for three days.

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