Buick Key Replacement in Milwaukee

Buick keys for Enclave, Encore, LaCrosse, and older models

Buick key replacement in Milwaukee covers two very different groups of cars. One is the newer Enclave, Encore, Envision, LaCrosse, Regal, and Verano. The other is the long line of older Buicks still on the road around town: LeSabre, Park Avenue, Century, and Regal sedans from the 1990s and early 2000s, many kept by one owner for years. We make keys for both groups, at the car.

VATS keys on older Buicks

Many older Buicks use VATS, a GM system with a small resistor pellet set into the key blade. The car measures the pellet, which has one of 15 values, and lets the engine start only when the value matches. A key with the right cuts and the wrong pellet turns the switch and still does not start the car.

VATS is on the 1992–1999 LeSabre, the 1991–1996 Park Avenue, the 1998–2005 Century, and many Regals and Rivieras of the same years. The 2005 Century was the last GM car built with it. With a working key, we measure the pellet and cut a new key with the same value. With no key, we find the value with a VATS tester at the car. VATS needs no programming tool, so the job is mostly cutting and testing.

Passlock and chip keys

Some Buicks from the 1990s and 2000s use GM's Passlock instead, where the security sensor sits in the ignition switch and the key has no chip; the Rainier SUV and the mid-1990s Skylark are examples. A Passlock key is a cutting job. Later Buicks carry a chip in the key head and learn new keys through the diagnostic port, with the GM security wait of about 10 or 30 minutes on many models. The Chevrolet keys page shows how Passlock and the wait work.

Flip keys and smart keys

Many Buicks from the 2010s use a flip key, the blade folding into the remote: the 2010–2016 LaCrosse, the 2011–2017 Regal, the 2012–2017 Verano, and the Encore without a start button through 2019. The Enclave used a chip key with a separate remote through 2017 and a smart key from 2018. Push-to-start smart keys are also on many Encore, Encore GX, Envision, and newer LaCrosse trims. A flip key starts at $129, and a smart key at $159 (smart keys).

A second key for an older Buick

Many older Buicks are down to one key, and that key is worn thin after twenty years in a pocket. A spare starts at $69 (spare car key). If the worn key barely turns, we cut the new one by code rather than copying the wear, so it matches the original cuts. Plan on 15 to 60 minutes at the car.

Many calls about older Buicks come from a son or a daughter setting up a key for a parent's car. That works fine: the owner, or the person named on the registration, meets us at the car with a photo ID and the title or the registration.

All Buick keys lost

With nothing left, we open the car (car lockout) and cut a key from the door lock or from the GM key code for the VIN, after we see the paperwork. From there it depends on the system: a VATS car needs the pellet value, a Passlock car needs only the cut key, and a chip key is programmed through the port. All keys lost for a chip key starts at $119, and smart keys cost more (lost car keys).

Buick remotes

Older Buicks often have a separate remote on the ring, programmed on its own from $119 (key fobs). On an Enclave up to 2017, the key and the remote are two pieces, and a lost ring usually means both.

For other makes, see car keys by make. GMC keys follow the same GM rules.