1999 Toyota Camry
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in Ventura County

1999 Toyota Camry Metal Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

I got a call out to West Simi Valley, near the library off Stearns Street. Guy had a 1999 Camry, one key left, and it was bent. He had already been to a hardware store and had a copy made. The copy didn't work.

I looked at the hardware store cut next to his original. The original was so worn down on two cuts that the machine had basically read the wear as the actual depth. The copy was cut to a worn key, which means it was wrong from the start. That's the trap with these older Camrys. The original key has often been in use for over twenty years and the cuts have softened. Copying it straight gets you a soft copy.

I decoded the lock cylinder directly off his driver door lock instead. That gave me the true, as-manufactured depth, not the twenty-five-year-worn version. Cut the replacement blade to that, tested it in the door, tested it in the ignition. Turned clean both ways.

He had already paid the hardware store for a key that never worked. That money was gone. What I could do was get him a key that actually matched his car, done in his driveway, for a fraction of what the dealer wanted just to look at it.

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