Making a copy of a car key

Today I decided to get a key copy for a Miata. For whatever reason my other key just wasn't working right after I picked up my car from the shop. I had made a key before at pepboys, but I looked at it closer and noticed that it didn't have the right notches as the one that actually worked. So I went to home depot and had them make a key. It's been a long time since I had a key made and I found out that they have these new key laser machines which is pretty cool. They just scan your key and the computer does the cutting. Except that I also found out what happens when a database has the wrong information, well at least for what they tried or maybe it was just due to the wrong year. The system didn't have my car year to begin with. Apparently they start around 1995 and my car is a bit older than that.

Anyway, the guy tried it and I guess he just used the earliest year that was on there. Sure enough, the key got cut, but I found out that the key being cut was the key for the trunk. Yup, he used the ignition key, but the machine still cut a trunk key. Needless to say I could not get a new key. So they suggested and old time locksmith. Which brings me to my next problem, apparently they have been disappearing due to all the new boxes replacing them. I guess this is exactly what happened at pepboys and I didn't realized it at the time. Now I got 2 extra trunk keys. Walmart and Lowes uses the same system so I got nowhere no matter where I went. Sometimes new technology just can't cut it. LOL

These are the new machines being used today in case you haven't seen them. They're actually pretty neat.