Where the car usually is
A lot of cars here spend the night on the street or in the alley behind the house, and either spot works for us. Upas Street, the numbered streets between University Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard, and the blocks around Ray Street are all easy places to set up. Text us the cross street and the color of the car and we will pull in behind it.
Off the street, the car may be in the public garage on 29th Street near North Park Way or a lot at Morley Field, on the Balboa Park edge of the neighborhood. Call first with the level or the lot, since the van has to fit and the rules for a service vehicle vary.
Instead of the ride up the 805
The Kearny Mesa auto row is where North Park drivers get pointed for a key, up the 805 or the 163 to Balboa Avenue and Convoy Street. That is an easy trip while one key still starts the car. Without one, the car rides up on a tow and sits in the service lane until a technician gets to it.
We price it the other way around. Toyota smart keys run $249 here, and a dealer typically bills $500. A Mazda chip key is $135 against $245. A Volkswagen flip key for an older Jetta or Golf starts at $209 against $380. Each of those figures covers the trip, the blade, the pairing and twelve months of warranty.
The Heights, South Park and the keys we expect
University Heights along Park Boulevard, Normal Heights along Adams Avenue and South Park around 30th and Juniper are on the same route at the same price, and so are Burlingame and the edge of Golden Hill. Nothing on the bill changes between them. Only the arrival window moves, and we give you that on the phone.
The keys we expect to make most on these blocks are everyday ones: Honda and Toyota chip keys for older Accords and Camrys, Subaru keys for the Outback and Forester, Mazda3 keys, and Volkswagen flip keys cracked at the hinge. A spare key made while you still have a working one avoids the $60 all-keys-lost add.