It happens to almost everyone once. The door clicks shut, and the keys are sitting on the seat, still in the ignition, or zipped into a bag in the trunk. It feels like an emergency, but most car lockouts end without a scratch on the car, as long as you avoid the few things that turn a lockout into a repair job.
Here is the order we would go through if it were our car.
Step 1: If a child or a pet is inside, call 911 first
Before anything else: if a child or a pet is inside, don't wait for a spare and don't wait for a locksmith. A closed car heats up fast in summer and gets cold fast in winter. Call 911, tell them someone is locked inside, and stay by the car.
Step 2: Check every door, the trunk and the hatch
Before you call anyone, walk all the way around the car. It sounds obvious, but a surprising number of lockouts end right here.
- Try every door handle, including the passenger side and the rear doors.
- Try the trunk or the rear hatch. On some cars the rear seats fold down from the trunk side, which puts the cabin back within reach.
- Look for a window that is open even slightly, but don't try to force it down or reach through a narrow gap.
- If the fob is locked inside a car with push-button start, still try every handle. Many cars are designed not to lock with the fob inside, and a door may have been left unlocked.
Step 3: Look for a spare before you call
A spare key is still the fastest way back in. Think about who has one: someone at home, a family member nearby, a coworker who borrowed the car last month.
- If someone can bring the spare to you, that is usually the simplest answer.
- If your car came with a connected app from the manufacturer and the service is active, it may be able to unlock the doors from your phone.
- If you keep a spare in the house and the house keys are on the same ring as the car key, you have two lockouts, not one. Say so when you call.
Step 4: Don't force the door or the window
Online videos make it look easy with a coat hanger or a slim jim. On a modern car it almost never works, and it very often causes damage: scratched paint, torn weatherstripping, bent door frames, and cut or unplugged wiring inside the door.
Modern doors also hold side airbags, speakers, sensors and window motors. Pushing a length of metal down past the glass is a good way to find one of them. The repair outlasts the lockout by weeks.
Step 5: Call a mobile locksmith and have four things ready
What you say on the phone decides what goes in the van. These four details help most:
- Where the car is: an address, cross streets, a parking lot or a garage level.
- The make, model and year of the car.
- Where the key is: on the seat, in the ignition, in the trunk, or lost altogether.
- Anything unusual: an alarm that keeps going off, a dead battery, a door that was already hard to open.
If the key is lost rather than locked inside, that is a different job, because a new key has to be cut and programmed to the car. In most cases we do that at the car as well.
Stay safe while you wait
- If you don't feel safe where the car is, wait somewhere well lit and public nearby, such as a store or a gas station, and keep an eye on the car from there.
- Don't accept an offer from a passer-by to get the door open for you.
- Keep your phone charged and let someone know where you are.
- If you ever feel in danger, call 911.
What to expect when we arrive
We will ask for a photo ID and proof that the car is yours or that the owner said you could use it: the registration or the title usually does it. That check protects you, and we do it on every car.
If the registration is locked in the glove box along with the keys, tell us when you call. Other paperwork can show the car is yours, such as the title or an insurance card that lists the vehicle.
Then we open the car at the lock or the door, with the aim of leaving no mark at all. If the key turns out to be lost, or the fob has stopped working, in most cases we can cut and program a replacement right there at the car.
How to avoid the next one
- Keep a spare key with someone you trust, not hidden on the outside of the car.
- Replace the fob battery as soon as the range starts dropping.
- Make it a habit to have the key in your hand before the door shuts.
- If you only have one key, have a second one made now. Replacing the only key is a bigger job than copying one.
