Car key questions, answered by the locksmith who does the work.

Same day across Winnipeg and southern Manitoba. I send you an ETA in the written quote — not a fake "30 minutes" promise that ignores traffic and where the call before yours is. The hours badge at the top of the page shows my set hours, 5 a.m.–7 p.m. Winnipeg time.

No appointment system — text 204-599-5117 with your year, make, model and where the car is. I come out the same day across Winnipeg and southern Manitoba, and I text you the time window. Not urgent? Pick a time and I’ll book it — early mornings and weekends included, inside my every-day 5 a.m.–7 p.m. hours. Either way the written quote comes first. Step by step: the how-I-work page →

No — towing is the step I exist to delete. The whole job happens where the vehicle is parked: lockouts, spare keys, and full all-keys-lost replacements cut and programmed at the car. That includes when no working key exists at all. The one time a tow enters the picture is a vehicle-side fault that has nothing to do with keys — a dead starter, say. Otherwise: leave the car where it is and text me the year, make, model and location.

Yes — I work weekends the same as weekdays, every day, 5 a.m.–7 p.m. Winnipeg time. Weekend jobs are priced exactly like weekday ones: car lockout $120, spare keys from $90+, all-keys-lost from $280+, all plus tax, no weekend surcharge. Text 204-599-5117 with your year, make, and model and I'll send a written quote, with any travel past the Perimeter in it, and come out the same day anywhere in Winnipeg and southern Manitoba.

Year, make, model. What you need (spare, AKL, lockout, fob programming). Where the car is. A photo of any existing key helps. Whether the vehicle's in your name. Takes 30 seconds to text and the quote comes back fast.

For AKL or new-key generation: yes — the registered owner has to be there at the start (ID check) and end (key test). The 30 minutes in between you can grab a coffee. For a spare key with an existing master, an authorized family member with written authorization can sometimes proceed.

I don't leave until the key cuts, programs, starts the car, and operates the locks — if something's off, I fix it first. The one exception: if the car can't be programmed because of a fault on the vehicle's side that isn't mine — a pre-existing electrical issue, say, or another underlying condition that blocks the work — or if the job is cancelled after I'm on the road, or no one's there when I arrive — a $45 + tax service-call fee covers the trip, my time, and the diagnosis. If I can complete the job, there's no fee. If the key fails because of something I did, that's on me, not you.

Spare key: 30–40 minutes. Lost all keys: 1–3 hours (decoding and ownership checks add time). Fob programming: 10–15 minutes. Lockout: 5–10 minutes. Some vehicles run a 10–15 minute security timer before the immobilizer accepts a new key — that's the car running its checks, not me running them.

No — the number I text you is the number you pay. I lock the quote in writing before I dispatch, so there's no surprise when I arrive. If the vehicle or key turns out different from what you told me — a proximity Smart Key where you said a basic transponder, say — I show you the corrected number first, and you decide whether to go ahead. The one exception that carries a fee is if the vehicle can't be serviced at all for a reason that wasn't shared up front — or if the job is cancelled after I'm on the road, or no one's there when I arrive: then a $45 + tax service-call fee covers the trip and diagnosis, never the full job price. How the service-call fee works →

E-transfer is the most common. Tap on a portable terminal handles debit and credit (Visa, Mastercard). Cash is fine. Receipt every time.

Yes — I work across Winnipeg and southern Manitoba: travel is free inside the Perimeter; past it I charge $2/km, and the whole of southern Manitoba is my everyday range (Selkirk, Steinbach, Portage la Prairie, the Interlake, the Pembina Valley), with farther trips booked ahead, northwestern Ontario included. The travel line is named in the written quote before I drive out. Details on the service-area page.

Government photo ID matched to vehicle ownership proof. The ID stays with you so that part's easy. For ownership: vehicle registration (paper or PDF), or proof of insurance in your name. If every document is locked inside the car, I can do the lockout first so you can pull the registration from the glovebox before any key programming starts.

I work it out with you before I dispatch. Spouse's car: they need to be present or text me written authorization plus a photo of their ID. Parent's car: same. Recent purchase where registration hasn't transferred: bring the bill of sale and the signed transfer form. What I won't do is program a key on a vehicle nobody at the scene can prove they own.

Yes. I have the same dealer-level access manufacturer dealerships use for key programming, on most makes on the road — which is why the car doesn't need to be towed to a dealer just to get a working key. There's no provincial locksmith licence to check in Manitoba: licensing in Canada varies by province, and Manitoba doesn't require one. So the thing worth checking is that I verify ID and ownership before I program anything. See what I check before cutting a key for the full breakdown.

Proof of insurance in your name works as ownership proof, and you can request a duplicate registration if you need one. If everything is locked inside the car, I can do the lockout first and you pull the registration from the glovebox. Tell me what you have when you text and I'll sort it out before I dispatch.

Real local. RAXO Locksmiths is a DBA of RAXO Group Inc., a Winnipeg, Manitoba corporation. The 204-599-5117 number is my actual cell. I'm the one who quotes you, drives over, and does the work — every job, start to finish. There's no dispatcher, no subcontractor, no 1-800 routing. See About Leo for the longer answer.

Me, every time. RAXO is a one-person shop — I'm the only one who quotes, drives over, and does the work, so you're never rolling the dice on which tech turns up or how experienced they are. The person who answers your text is the person at your car. It also means I own the result: if something isn't right, there's no "that was a different guy" — it's on me to make it right. The honest trade-off is that I'm one person with set hours (every day, 5 a.m.–7 p.m.) — a 7 p.m.–5 a.m. callout adds a flat $120 after-hours fee on top of the regular price, plus tax — but it's always the same hands on your vehicle.

No. On a lockout I use proper auto-locksmith entry tools made for modern vehicles to open the door without damage: no broken windows, no pried trim, no scratched paint. The damage to watch for comes from amateur shortcuts like slim-jims or coat-hangers on modern cars, which can crack a window or harm the door's wiring — so if someone can't tell you how they'll open your specific car, that's your cue to stop. On key and fob work I go through the vehicle's own systems the way the manufacturer intends, so nothing is forced. If a job genuinely can't be done without risk, I tell you before I start — not after. More on non-destructive entry on the car lockout page.