Team VADA eViews
The Digital Newsletter of Your Virginia Automobile Dealers Association
March 2008
Not too long ago, a customer who lost a car key could go to the local hardware store and have a new one cut. Today, because of the sophisticated nature of many vehicle keys, they must be duplicated by dealerships. How secure is your dealership’s key duplication procedure?
Most dealerships put the parts department in charge of key duplication. Is your parts department key duplication log current? No key should be duplicated without being entered into a log that should list the date, the time, the customer and the vehicle for which the key is cut, and the employee who made the duplicate.
Does the dealership have an identification procedure for customers requesting a key? The risk of theft is too great to allow just anyone to request a key: Require identification; Know who is requesting that a key be duplicated.
Is there a procedure in place to ensure that the customer requesting duplication owns the vehicle? What proof do you have that a customer seeking duplication of a key owns the vehicle? Require evidence of vehicle ownership before duplicating a key.
Is the key duplication process secure? Do you have control of the machinery so that you don’t have personnel operating “after hours” to duplicate keys?
Inventory blanks. Make sure no blanks are “lying around”. With the expensive keys today, many dealerships are inventorying them like other parts. Key inventories should be checked regularly just as dealers check inventories for expensive accessories such as sound systems and GPS units that can walk out the back door.