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exception of Touchclone,
where it is one price for
everything), they tend to
have modular aspects to
them wherein the locksmith
can buy the basic hardware
and then acquire extra
functionality as and when
needed. Where they do have
drawbacks, again with the
exception of Touchclone, is
that they tend to clone onto
pre-coded transponders that
are often only available from
the distributor from which
you bought the machine,
and tend to cost more than
blank versions. Where all the
multi-functional machines
exceed the dedicated
machines is the transponders
they support, as they all offer
solutions to write to different
types of transponder to
give the locksmith a greater
choice.
Now, however, we have
launched a new machine
called Touchclone Wifi that
is available as a cut down
version of the full machine
but with built -in Wifi to
allow it to clone transponders
for those without the space
ofa PC only blank, easily
sourced transponders from a
range of manufacturers.
The future of cloning
Unfortunately, it is fair
to say the future of vehicle
key cloning is pretty bleak
with newer and more
complicated algorithms
used for protecting the data
on the key being developed
all the time. For instance,
some of the newest keys
on premium vehicles use
the same technology that
is used to keep your credit
card details online safe – so
needless to say that is not
going to be easy to crack! It
is important to remember
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THE SEP/OCT 2014 ISSUE
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though, that the technology
is only filtering down to the
mid and lower ends of the
market slowly - so there
is still a lot of potential
for money to be made by
offering cloning. To take
an example, the return on
investment for a Touchclone
Wifi device easily paid off
well within a year by doing
just a single key clone a
week.
Reasons to Progress into
Full Auto Locksmithing
Having attended a few
locksmith shows both in
the UK and abroad with
Touchclone during the past
two years, one question I
am always asked is: ‘why
should the domestic/
commercial locksmith get
involved in automotive key
programming?’
This answer to this is
simple – lost keys. It is a sad
fact that a lot of locksmith
work can result simply
by stolen keys and breakins – when locksmiths are
called upon to carry out lock
changes and/or improve
security. Often, the car keys
are stolen along with the
house keys, and this gives
‘property locksmiths’ a
chance to provide an all-inone solution to replace all
the customers taken keys.
Obviously this cannot be
done with cloning since
there is no key to clone, but
as I mentioned at the start
of this article, by getting into
cloning and provided spare
keys, the locksmith can start
to build their knowledge
base at minimal cost – with
a view to further progression
into this exciting and evergrowing industry.
www.touchclone.co.uk
AUTO BLOGSMITH
WE NEED REGULATION
TO PROTECT THE
INDUSTRY &
CONSUMERS –
BUT WHO WOULD
BE IN CHARGE?
Debate in the 3D Group office
offers up some interesting
topics and a mixture
of opinions, says Dean
Sanderson in his latest blog.
One topic has been the
availability of auto locksmith
information and tools to
anyone. ‘We aren’t talking
about experienced, qualified
auto locksmiths, we’re talking
about Joe Bloggs off the street.
Any criminally-minded person
could quite easily get their
hands on lock picking and
key coding information and
‘how to’s’ on the internet. And
then there are those suppliers
and websites that would sell a
programming machine to my
gran if she said she wanted
one! A recent example of this
is Amazon.co.uk quite happily
selling lock pick sets to anyone
who wants one.
Making these products
readily available on popular
non-trade websites may
appear to be benefitting the
consumer but it is doing
nothing to protect legitimate
businesses that are currently
operating within the industry
and ultimately, the consumer
will experience the negative
side with higher risk of breakins and car theft.
I think most of us agree that
it does need to be regulated.
The major debate occurs
when you start to discuss
who would be the governing
body: the government, the
Auto Locksmith Association
or the MLA? The government
could do a lot more to restrict
machine and tool imports
from Europe and the Far East
and ensure that machinery
and tools being imported
into this country are going to
legitimate wholesalers like
ourselves. There are some
countries that already class
locksmith tools as military
tools. Maybe we should adopt
this approach as it would
make it harder to import
machines, which protects the
consumer and automotive
locksmiths already in the
trade. It would then fall to
authorised wholesalers like us
to ensure that we only supply
these machines and tools to
legitimate auto locksmiths something we already try to
do.
Currently, the only real
winners are the manufacturers
in China and the Far East
which copy tools and
machinery making them so
cheap that kids could buy
them with their pocket money!
This is making it very difficult
for those that are trying to
progress the trade legitimately.
No sooner have you developed
a new machine or product,
then along comes China who
clones it! When thousands
of pounds are invested in
the development of a new
machine, to see it cloned and
sold at an eighth of the true
value is totally disheartening.
To read more, visit www.locksmithjournal.co.uk