You’ve locked your keys in your car, or your boot. It’s a very easy mistake to make! But if you do this somewhere miles from home, you might be stranded. And as most people attach their house keys to their car keys, if you lock yourself out of your car you might also lock yourself out of your house.
So what can you do? Let’s take a look.
Locked Keys in Car: Breaking In
Don’t try and break into your car. Don’t try and force any locks, and don’t break any windows.
As we’ll soon see, if you’ve locked yourself out of your car, it’s actually quite easy to fix the issue. But if you break any locks or windows, then you’ll ultimately have to pay a lot more for repairs than you’d have paid to get back into your car. Plus, you may invalidate your car insurance, and you could even ultimately fail your MOT!
If you’ve locked your keys in your car, the best thing to do is leave it to the professionals.
It’s time to call for help.
Who To Call If You’ve Locked Keys in Car
You have two options here. First, if you have breakdown cover, you could call for roadside assistance. Alternatively, you can call a specialist car locksmith.
Your breakdown providers should be able to get you into your car. And if they have the right tools to hand, they might be able to fix any broken locks and provide you with replacement keys.
A car locksmith will certainly have the tools to hand to get you out of your fix and into your car.
In either case, you’ll probably have to wait awhile for help to arrive. So keep yourself as safe, as warm and as dry as you can while you wait.
Should I Call My Insurer?
This shouldn’t be necessary. Some insurers offer key cover as part of their comprehensive car insurance policies. However, this is mainly to cover you for replacing lost or stolen keys.
If you’ve locked yourself out of your car, then you probably don’t need a new set of keys. You just need to get into your car!
How To Prevent Yourself From Locking Yourself Out Of Your Car?
You’d be surprised at how many people manage to lock themselves out of their cars. And a lot of the time, it happens for the same reason. Many modern cars have buttons on the key fobs to unlock the boot. In some more advanced models, pressing this button will even cause the car’s boot to open automatically.
When you’re carrying heavy shopping across a rainy car park, this feature might seem invaluable. You don’t have to worry about setting your shopping down on the wet tarmac as you scramble for your keys. How convenient!
Locking Keys In Your Car Boot
Unfortunately, this feature usually unlocks the boot, and only the boot. It’s all too easy to absent-mindedly toss your keys in with the shopping, or throw a jacket into the back of your car with the keys still in the pocket. After this, if you close the boot, you’ll have unwittingly locked your keys in the car, and yourself out of the car.
To prevent this from ever happening, perhaps it’s best to avoid using your car’s automatic boot function – no matter how helpful it might be. Or, you could just make a point of unlocking your car and your boot, or else make a point of never putting your keys down when loading or unloading your boot.
And if this does happen to you – don’t feel bad! Like we say, it’s a lot more common a problem than you might think. And as we’ve seen, you can fix this issue without too much trouble.
At Go Girl, we offer optional key insurance and breakdown insurance which can be added to our comprehensive car insurance policies. So if you ever have trouble with your keys, we’ll be able to help you out – whether you need a replacement, or just a bit of help to get back in your car.
Get in touch to get a free quote in minutes.
