GM VATS Key Replacement Cost in Granbury, TX (2026)

Q: How much does a GM VATS key cost in Granbury?

As of October 2026, copying a working pellet key runs $75 to $125. Making one with no working key runs $100 to $300, because the pellet value has to be determined at the car. You get the price before we start.

There is a small black or grey pellet set into the blade of a lot of General Motors keys from the late 1980s and the 1990s. It is the whole reason a copy from the hardware store unlocks your Corvette, Camaro, or Cadillac and then refuses to start it. Call or text (817) 214-2934 with the year and model and we will tell you what your key needs before anyone drives out.

Quick Answer

As of October 2026 in Granbury, copying a working GM VATS (PASS-Key) resistor-pellet key costs $75–$125. Replacing one when no working key exists runs $100–$300, because the pellet value has to be worked out at the car before a key can be cut. If the key is fine and the fault is in the lock, ignition cylinder repair or replacement is $150–$350. Mobile service anywhere inside 25 miles of Granbury is included in the quote, and you get the number before we start.

What VATS Is, in Plain Terms

VATS stands for Vehicle Anti-Theft System. General Motors introduced it on the 1986 Corvette, and later renamed and revised it as PASS-Key and PASS-Key II. All three work on the same idea.

The key blade carries a small resistor pellet. When you insert the key, two contacts inside the ignition lock cylinder touch the pellet, and a module in the car measures its electrical resistance. If the reading matches the value the car expects, the starter and fuel are enabled. If it does not match, nothing happens when you turn the key, the SECURITY light comes on, and the module refuses any further attempts for a few minutes.

There are fifteen possible pellet values, and on later systems the lowest one was dropped. The values are fixed at the factory. Nothing is "programmed" in the modern sense. The car is built expecting one value, and every key for that car has to carry a pellet of that same value.

That is the entire system, and it explains every VATS complaint we hear:

A blank with no pellet opens the doors and trunk and will not start the car.
A blank with the wrong pellet behaves exactly the same way.
A correct key with a worn or dirty pellet starts the car on some days and not others.
A correct key in a worn cylinder does the same thing, for a different reason.

Which Vehicles Have It

VATS and PASS-Key pellet keys were fitted mostly to GM cars rather than trucks. The ones we see around Hood County:

Chevrolet Corvette from 1986 through the fifth-generation cars.
Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird from roughly 1989 through 2002.
Cadillac models from the late 1980s through the 1990s.
Large Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac sedans and coupes of the same period.

The full-size trucks took a different route. A 1988–1998 Chevy or GMC pickup has a plain mechanical key, which we cover in our C/K 1500 and Suburban key guide. Late-1990s and newer GM vehicles moved to PassLock, which has no pellet in the key, and then to chip keys.

You do not need a chart to know which you have. Look at the blade. If there is a visible pellet set into the metal about halfway along, with a contact on each side, it is a VATS-type key. If the blade is plain metal, it is not.

What It Costs in Granbury

Job	Typical Granbury range (October 2026)	Notes
Copy a working pellet key	$75–$125	Pellet measured, matching blank cut and tested in the car
Pellet key made with no working key	$100–$300	Value determined at the vehicle, blade cut from a decoded lock
Plain door-and-trunk key with no pellet	$75–$125	Useful as a lockout spare; it will not start the car
Broken pellet key extracted from the ignition	Low end of our $75–$350 range	Quoted after we see the break
Ignition cylinder repair or replacement	$150–$350	Includes a key cut to the new cylinder
Car unlocked with keys visible inside	From $50–$75	See car lockout service
Mobile service inside our 25-mile radius	Included in the quote	No separate trip or call-out fee

These are the same bands published on our classic car key replacement cost guide. A pellet key is not priced higher than any other older key. The pellet adds a step to the job. It does not add a programming fee, because there is nothing to program.

What Changes the Price

Whether you have a working key

This is the biggest variable. With a key that still starts the car, we measure the pellet with a meter, pick the blank with the matching value, cut it, and test it. That is the $75–$125 job and it is quick.

With no working key, two things have to be found: the cut of the blade and the value of the pellet. The cut comes from decoding a lock on the car. The value has to be determined at the vehicle, and the system makes that slow on purpose. Every wrong value is followed by a lockout of a few minutes before the car will consider another one. That waiting is the main reason the no-key job sits in the $100–$300 band rather than the copy band.

Whether the key is the actual problem

About half the "my VATS key stopped working" calls turn out to be the car, not the key. If a key that has started the car for years begins failing on and off, the usual suspects are:

The pellet contacts on the key. Dirt, corrosion, or a pellet worn smooth. A new key cut with the right value fixes it.
The contacts inside the lock cylinder. They are small spring fingers and they wear. A new key will not help, because the cylinder is misreading a good pellet.
The fine wires that run from the cylinder down the steering column. On a tilt column they flex every time the wheel is adjusted, and after thirty years they break inside the insulation. The classic sign is a car that starts with the wheel in one position and not another.

We test for this before selling you a key. Measuring the pellet takes seconds. If the pellet reads correctly and the car still does not accept it, a new key is the wrong repair, and we will say so.

The condition of the ignition cylinder

These cars are thirty to forty years old. A cylinder that is sticky, that lets the key come out in any position, or that needs a wiggle to turn is close to the end of its life. When the cylinder is replaced, the new one carries its own pellet contacts and wiring lead, which often clears an intermittent no-start at the same time. That is the $150–$350 ignition band, and it includes a key cut to the new cylinder with the correct pellet.

How many keys you want

A second key cut on the same visit costs less than a second trip. On a car where the no-key job involves waiting through lockouts, leaving with two good keys is the cheapest insurance there is.

What the car has been through

A car that has had its column apart, its cylinder swapped for a used one, or a resistor spliced into the wiring by a previous owner takes longer to sort out. None of that is unusual on a car this age. It is the reason we ask about the car's history on the phone.

Why the Hardware-Store Copy Fails

This is the most common VATS call we get, so it is worth spelling out.

A key-cutting kiosk or a hardware counter copies the shape of the blade. Most carry plain blanks that fit the keyway, and a plain blank has no pellet. The copy turns the door lock, turns the trunk lock, and turns the ignition cylinder. The car then sees no resistor at all, lights the SECURITY lamp, and will not crank.

Some counters do stock pellet blanks, but there are many values and they have to be matched by measurement. A blank pulled off the peg because it "looks the same" has roughly a one-in-fifteen chance of being right.

The copy is not wasted. A plain key that opens the doors is a reasonable thing to keep in a wallet for lockouts. It just is not a spare key in the sense that matters when the only working key breaks.

How We Make One With No Key

When the only key is gone, the job runs in this order.

Proof of ownership. Title or registration matched to the VIN and to your ID, before anything else.
Decode the cut. We read a lock on the car, usually a door cylinder, to get the blade cuts. No VIN lookup is involved on most cars this age.
Determine the pellet value. This is done at the car with test equipment that presents one value at a time. The car's lockout timer sets the pace.
Cut and test. The blade is cut on the matching pellet blank, and the key is tested in the ignition, the doors, and the trunk.
Cut the second key. While the value is known and the machine is set up.

Expect the visit to run longer than a plain mechanical key. We give you a time estimate on the phone once we know the model.

Is It the Key or the Car? A Short Diagnosis

Before you pay anyone, these checks cost nothing.

Look at the SECURITY light. If it comes on or flashes when the car will not crank, the anti-theft system is what is stopping it. If the light behaves normally and the car still will not crank, look at the battery, starter, and neutral safety switch first.

Wait, then try once. After a failed attempt the module ignores the key for a few minutes. Turning the key over and over resets nothing and can extend the wait. Leave the key out for five minutes and make one clean attempt.

Clean the pellet. Wipe both faces of the pellet with a dry cloth or a pencil eraser. If the car starts, the pellet or the cylinder contacts are marginal and the problem will return.

Try the other key. If a second pellet key starts the car every time, the first key is worn. If neither key is reliable, suspect the cylinder contacts or the column wiring.

Move the tilt wheel. If the car starts with the column in one position and not in another, the wires in the column are breaking. That is a cylinder and wiring repair, not a key.

If the car that will not start is an older truck with a plain key, the diagnosis is different. See our guide to a truck key that won't turn in the ignition.

About Bypassing the System

Owners of these cars often ask about wiring a fixed resistor into the harness so that the car no longer reads the key. It is a well-known modification, and on a car with broken column wiring it will get the engine running.

Two things are worth weighing before doing it. It removes the anti-theft protection the car was built with, and theft of older performance cars is not a thing of the past. The National Insurance Crime Bureau continues to track vehicle theft nationally, and older vehicles without modern immobilizers remain on its lists. It also leaves the underlying fault in place, so a worn cylinder keeps wearing.

Our preference is to repair the reading circuit by replacing the cylinder, so that the car works the way it was built and a pellet key still means something. If you want to talk through the options for your car, we will, with proof of ownership in hand.

Buying or Inheriting One of These Cars

A lot of the Corvettes and Camaros around Lake Granbury changed hands in an estate or a driveway sale, and the key situation came along unexamined.

Count the pellet keys, and start the car with each one. A ring of four keys may hold one key that starts the car and three that only open the door.
Ask for the pellet value if the seller knows it. Some owners wrote it in the manual. It saves time later.
Check the title against the VIN plate. We need a clean match before making a key, and the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles needs one to transfer the title.
Have a second pellet key made in the first week. The copy job is the cheap one. The no-key job is the slow one.

If the car has been sitting, expect the locks to be stiff. Our guide to a classic car door key that won't turn covers what is safe to try on a dry cylinder. If the car came with a mixed set of keys for the doors, trunk, and ignition, having all the locks rekeyed to one key is usually done on the same visit.

What to Send Us Before We Come Out

A photo answers most of this. Text these to (817) 214-2934:

Year, make, and model.
A close photo of any key you have, showing the blade and the pellet.
What happens when you turn the key, and what the SECURITY light does.
Whether the steering wheel tilts, and whether its position changes anything.
Where the car is: garage, storage unit, driveway, or roadside.
Proof of ownership: title or registration. We check it on every job.

We come to homes in Granbury, DeCordova, Pecan Plantation, Acton, Tolar, and Glen Rose, and to storage lots and shops anywhere inside our 25-mile radius.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a GM VATS key cost in Granbury? As of October 2026, copying a working pellet key runs $75–$125. Making one with no working key runs $100–$300, because the pellet value has to be determined at the car. You get the price before we start.

Why does my copied key open the door but not start the car? The copy was cut on a blank with no resistor pellet, or with the wrong value. The lock turns, the car reads the wrong resistance, and the anti-theft module blocks the starter. The key needs to be recut on a blank with the matching pellet.

How do you find the pellet value if I have no key? It is determined at the vehicle with test equipment that presents one value at a time. The car locks out for a few minutes after each wrong value, so the job takes longer than a plain key and is priced in the $100–$300 band.

Does a VATS key have to be programmed? No. The car expects one fixed resistance value. A key with the right pellet and the right cut works immediately. There is no programming step and no programming fee.

My VATS key works some days and not others. Is it the key? Sometimes. A worn or dirty pellet can cause it, but so can worn contacts in the ignition cylinder or broken wires in a tilt steering column. We measure the pellet first. If it reads correctly, the repair is in the cylinder, not the key.

How long do I wait after the SECURITY light comes on? A few minutes. The module ignores the key after a failed attempt, and repeated tries do not shorten the wait. Remove the key, wait about five minutes, and make one attempt.

Do Chevy and GMC trucks from the 1990s have VATS keys? Generally no. The 1988–1998 full-size trucks use a plain mechanical key with no pellet. Pellet keys were fitted mostly to Corvettes, Camaros, Firebirds, Cadillacs, and large GM sedans.

Do you come to the car, or do I need a tow? We come to the car. Mobile service anywhere inside 25 miles of Granbury is included in the quote, and a key can be made with the car sitting in a garage or storage unit.

Get the Right Pellet the First Time

A VATS key is a simple thing once the value is known, and an annoying one when it is not. Send us a photo of the key or tell us the year and model, and you will know whether this is a quick copy, a no-key job, or a worn cylinder before anyone makes the drive. Call or text (817) 214-2934, weekdays 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, Saturdays 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with 24/7 emergency availability for lockouts. You can also request service through our contact page or read about our car key replacement service in Granbury.