Cutting a car key and removing a hotwire on ZA-Z
On ZA-Z you can cut your own key for any car parked inside your safehouse: stand next to it with a blank key and a file, right-click the car and pick Cut a Car Key. It takes Electrical 3 and Mechanics 4, about half a minute, and the blank key is used up. You can also pull a hotwire back out of a car with a screwdriver, so the car needs a key again.
#How do I make a key for my car?
- Park the car inside a safehouse you own or belong to. Any car standing in the claim counts, a housemate's car too.
- Carry a Blank Key and a File (in your pockets or a bag).
- Right-click the car and pick Cut a Car Key. The tooltip lists what you still need in red.
- File for about 30 seconds next to the car. You get the car's own key, named after the car and coloured like it.
| You need | Notes |
|---|---|
| Electrical 3 | Hotwiring needs only 1 |
| Mechanics 4 | Hotwiring needs only 2 |
| Blank Key | Used up |
| File | Kept |
| The car inside your safehouse claim | Owner or member |
The Burglar trait does not help here: it lets you hotwire without the skills, not cut keys. Cut as many keys as you like, one blank each, and hand the spares to your housemates.
#Where do I find blank keys?
Blank keys sit on the key-making shelves of hardware and tool stores, and in the back of locksmith vans. Files are common in toolboxes, garages and tool stores.
#How do I remove a hotwire?
Stand next to a hotwired car with the engine off and nobody in the driver's seat, carry a screwdriver, right-click the car and pick Remove Hotwire. About 10 seconds later the wires are back in the dash and the car starts with its key only, or with a fresh hotwire.
It needs the same skills as hotwiring (Electrical 1 and Mechanics 2, or the Burglar trait) and works anywhere. A broken hotwire comes out the same way.
#Why bother?
A car is yours in the eyes of the Knox County Court while you hold its key or while it stands in your safehouse claim. A key in your pocket makes that plain, and a car with its hotwire pulled cannot simply be driven off by the next person who climbs in. Taking a car out of someone else's claim, or one whose key another survivor holds, is motor vehicle theft. See Vehicles and driving for everything else about driving on ZA-Z and Safehouses for claims.