4Keys Locksmith
NASTF VSP · Mobile Only · 24/7

Do locksmiths have a shop, or come to you?

For anything involving a vehicle, they come to you, because the vehicle has to be there for the work to happen at all. 4Keys is mobile only: no shop, no counter, by design. The fair question underneath is how you trust a company with no address, and that is answered below rather than dodged.

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4Keys Locksmith Mobile Service

FL Licensed · GA Registered

Two registered entities

15,000+ jobs completed

Same Day Solutions

Rapid Mobile Dispatch

Arrival in 30 min

NASTF VSP

Vehicle Security Professional

9-sec avg phone answer

ALOA Certified

Pro Certified Technicians

25 technicians on rotation

There is no shop, and that is the point rather than a gap

Programming a key means connecting to the vehicle. Changing a lock means being at the door. A storefront would be somewhere to wait, not somewhere the job gets done, and its rent would end up in the price of the job. What matters is not whether a company has premises, it is whether you can verify it before it arrives.

Verify any locksmith in 60 secondsSee the published price list

Why this trade moved to the customer and stayed there

There was a time when a locksmith was a counter you walked up to with a key in your hand. That model works for copying a house key and almost nothing else that people call about today.

A modern vehicle key is not a shape, it is an identity stored in a module inside the car. Cutting the metal is the small half of the job; registering the key to the vehicle is the rest, and it cannot happen without the vehicle connected. Meanwhile the reason you are calling is usually that the car will not start or will not open, which is to say it is not going anywhere.

So the equipment travels. A cutting machine, a stock of blanks, and the programming hardware fit in a van, and the van goes to the driveway. The same reasoning covers house and business locks, where the door is the thing that cannot be moved.

What mobile means in practice

Four things that are true when the workshop drives

Not a promise about speed. A description of how the work is actually structured.

The van is the workshop

Key cutting machines, blanks, and the programming equipment ride with the technician. Nothing is fetched afterwards and nothing is finished back at a bench, because there is no bench.

The programming happens at your car

Writing a key into the module that stores key identity needs the vehicle physically present. That is the whole reason this trade went mobile: the car cannot come to the equipment, so the equipment goes to the car.

Wherever it stopped

A driveway, an office parking lot, a garage level, the side of a road. The address you give the dispatcher is the address the van drives to, and it does not need to be your home.

Dispatch runs around the clock

A shop has opening hours and a mobile unit has a schedule. Lockouts and dead keys do not respect either, so dispatch answers at night and at weekends, with a surcharge stated on the same call.
How a visit runs

From the call to the car starting

Four steps. The third is the one a company without authorization cannot do.

  1. 1

    You call and describe the vehicle and the problem

    Year, make and model, plus what actually happened. That decides which blanks and which equipment need to be on the van, which is the difference between one visit and two.

  2. 2

    You get the total before anyone is dispatched

    Including the after-hours surcharge if it applies. A mobile company that cannot tell you the number before it drives is telling you something, and this is the step where a storefront would have given you a counter to stand at instead.

  3. 3

    The technician verifies the vehicle is yours

    For key work this is not optional. The manufacturer channel releases security data for a VIN only against proof of ownership. It is the step that feels like friction and is actually the protection.

  4. 4

    The work is done and tested where the car is

    Cut, programmed, and checked on the spot: start, lock, unlock, and the remote functions. Nothing is taken away and nothing is finished later.

The fair concern, answered

How to tell a real mobile locksmith from a bait and switch

Wanting a storefront is a trust instinct, and it is not wrong. These are the three signals that actually separate the two, and none of them is an address.

They will not name the company on the phone

A real operation answers with its own name. A call center that answers "locksmith service" and then subcontracts the job to whoever is nearest is the model behind most of the bait-and-switch stories, and it is the reason people want a storefront in the first place.

The price changes when they arrive

A quote of a small number on the phone followed by a much larger one at the curb is the classic pattern. Ask for the total before dispatch, including any after-hours surcharge, and treat a refusal to give one as the answer.

Nobody asks who owns the vehicle

This is the one most people never think of, and it is the most revealing. A company authorized to request key data has to verify ownership before it can. If nobody asks, either they are not authorized, or they are willing to make a key for whoever is standing there. Neither is good news.

What you can check on us in two minutes

A legal company name, a Florida license, insurance in both states, and NASTF Vehicle Security Professional authorization, which is issued only after a background review, proof of expertise, a verifiable legal entity and insurance in force. Georgia does not issue a state locksmith license at all, so anyone claiming one there is worth a second look before you let them near your car.

Our NASTF VSP credentialWhat dealer-level authorization coversAbout 4Keys

FAQ - Shop or Mobile

Got questions? We have answers. If you don't see your question below, call us anytime - we're available 24/7.

Both models exist, but for anything involving a vehicle the work comes to you, because the vehicle has to be present for it. 4Keys is mobile only: there is no shop and no counter, by design. For house and business locks the same logic applies, since the door cannot be brought anywhere either.
Because the work cannot be done in one. Key and immobilizer programming needs the car physically connected, and a lock change needs the door. A storefront would be a place to wait rather than a place the job gets done, and the cost of running it would end up in the price of the job. The van carries the workshop instead.
Not on its own, and it is a fair question to ask, because the absence of an address is also the cover a bait-and-switch operation uses. The distinction is not premises, it is verifiable identity: a named company, a license or registration you can look up, insurance, an authorization number, and a total quoted before dispatch. All of those take a couple of minutes to check, and a storefront proves none of them. Run the checks on us rather than skipping them with somebody else.
Ask three things on the phone: the legal name of the company, the license or registration number, and the total for the job including any after-hours surcharge. Then check that the technician who arrives represents the company you called. We publish a step-by-step version of this check, and we would rather you ran it on us than skipped it with someone else.
There is nowhere to bring it. That is not a limitation in practice, because the usual reason you are calling is that the car will not start or will not open, which means it is not going anywhere. Moving the workshop is cheaper and faster than moving the vehicle, and for more than one vehicle it is not close.
Wherever the vehicle is. A driveway, a street, an office parking lot, a parking structure. Give the dispatcher the location and any access detail that matters, like a gate code or a garage level, because a technician circling a building is time you are paying for.
Yes, and for the same reason: the door cannot travel. Rekeying, lock changes, and commercial hardware are done at the property. The only thing that differs is the equipment on the van that day, which is why the dispatcher asks what kind of job it is.
It depends on where you are and what time it is, and the dispatcher will tell you rather than guess. What we will not do is quote you a number that sounds good on the phone and then leave you waiting, because the wait is the part you actually experience.
Miami-Dade in Florida and Metro Atlanta in Georgia, with the neighborhood and city breakdown on our locations pages. If you are on the edge of a coverage area, say where you are on the call and you will get a straight yes or no rather than a van that turns back.
Cash only is a warning sign in this trade and it is worth knowing why: it is the payment method that leaves no record of who did the work or what you were charged. Ask any locksmith what they accept before they are dispatched, and be careful with any answer that is cash and nothing else.
We are licensed in Florida and insured in both states we operate in, and we hold NASTF Vehicle Security Professional authorization, which is granted only after a background review, proof of expertise, a verifiable legal entity and insurance in force. Georgia does not issue a state locksmith license, so anyone claiming one there is worth a second look.
Yes, dispatch runs 24 hours in both markets. After-hours work carries a separate surcharge, and it is stated on the same call rather than discovered on the invoice.

What the van actually does when it gets there

Each automotive service has its own page with the process and what arrives with the technician.

Car Lockout

Mobile car lockout 15-30 min, no damage

See service

Lost Car Key Replacement

Mobile cut and OEM programming on-site

See service

Car Key Programming

Transponder, smart key, proximity fob pairing

See service

Smart Key & Key Fob

Push-to-start, proximity fobs, 2014+ vehicles

See service

Ignition Repair

Cylinder replacement, Mercedes ESL, BMW EWS

See service

Broken Key Extraction

Snapped key removal without drilling

See service

Car Key Duplication

Spare keys, copies, transponder cloning

See service

Trunk Lockout

Mobile trunk opening 15-30 min

See service

ECU & Module Programming

ECU, BCM, PCM, TCM flashing and coding

See service

Luxury Key Programming

Mercedes, BMW, Range Rover, Audi, Porsche, Bentley

See service

Related Reading

Checking a credential, the authorization behind vehicle key work, and where we cover.

How to verify a locksmith in 60 seconds

Three checks to run on the phone, before anyone is dispatched to you.

Read guide

Do locksmiths have dealer software?

What NASTF VSP authorizes, and why most locksmiths do not hold it.

Read guide

Is my key fob deprogrammed or broken?

Four checks that separate a dead coin cell from a real immobilizer fault.

Read guide
24/7 Live Dispatch

Check us first, then tell us where you are

Ask for the company name, the license, and the total including any after-hours surcharge. Then give the dispatcher the address and the vehicle, and the van comes to it.

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