The auto manufacturers are constantly on the move and often require expensive programming machines to generate keys.
A vent Window cost about $100.00 to replace these days, so why pay a locksmith $150-$200 for a service call to open a locked car with keys inside? That doesn't count all the damage the average Locksmith butcher will cause to linkage, airbag, electronics installed in the door. I saw one clown trying to use a slim jim on a late model BMW and the fool didn't even realize the doors would re-lock themselves after a foiled attempt at opening. It was quite humerous.
"Duhhh,,,why these @#$%^&*( doors keep locking themselves is beyond me!!!"
So was breathing, but that is another story.
Then we have Home Depot and yet I know I can't get the same quality/grade of lockset at Depot that I can from a Locksmith. But who really cares? One smashed window and the quality of lockset is a moot point.
Seems to me that locksmithing is a dead career, although Foley Belsaw won't admit it. The amount of idiots out in the field each day that call themselves locksmiths is staggering.
I would rather take my chances with a DIY kit form Depot than have a butcher destroy a $900 oak door.
FWIW I unloaded a whole pile of crap that my 86 yo dad had purchased from Belsaw and other companies. They conned him into thinking he would be a great locksmith.
Sold it to some idiot named Bradley who was a real live one. He was interested in running his business using Linux which I have never heard of.
I think the real money to be made in locksmithing is in the selling of tools/supplies and manuals to idiots who want to run their own businesses as locksmiths.
Now that is where the real cash is!!
GK