Car Lockout Service
FAQs
How fast will the car locksmith arrive?
When you need a car lockout service, you need it now. Our mobile locksmiths can be at your location in 15 to 30 minutes. This depends on a few external factors such as, how busy our technicians are with other customers at the time, the technician’s location in relation to you, how remote a location you are in, etc. There is no need to worry though, because we will be there to help no matter what. You can be sure that our technicians will arrive as soon as they can, and inform you of their estimated time of arrival before you fully commit to the service.
How long will it take to unlock car door?
A traditional car lockout takes approximately 5 minutes to remedy. After that, you will be back in your car and on your way to fun and excitement. If your car has more complex security than a standard vehicle, then the time needed to gain entry will adjust relative to the difficulty of the job. However, there is no need to worry, because our locksmiths will get you in as quick as possible without harming your vehicle.
Will it damage the vehicle to unlock car door?
No. Painstaking effort is made on the part of United Locksmith to assure that no car lockout results in unnecessary damage. There are very rare circumstances with some cars where a deadlock feature combined with keys that have been left in the trunk, may require some drilling. However, that hole will be covered by your reinstalled license plate, in the rare instance that you need that very particular service. We understand that your car is precious, and that is why we do our utmost to ensure that all automobiles under our care are protected from harm.
What is the cost for a car lockout?
The standard car lockout service cost starts at $35 dollars. Several factors will determine if the price needs to be higher. It comes down to the difficulty of the job both in terms of the skill and time required. United locksmith is dedicated to providing top quality service at competitive rates. Our locksmith service call is only $15, and after that, it is up to you if you would like to continue having our technician assist you, or if you would like to look for a better deal. A car lockout can be very stressful, so our company likes to take a little bit of that sting away with a fair price.
Can’t unlock car door. What do I do?
Stay calm. Be sure that you are not standing around the car in a way that is putting you at risk. Look around and assess if you are blocking traffic or at any risk of being struck by a passing car. Areas like parking lots are not safe to be pacing around. Stay by the vehicle until help arrives. If a car is approaching make sure that you make eye contact with the driver so that you can be sure that they see you. There are several DIY methods of gaining entry to your car, but they do run the risk of damaging the vehicle. Determine for yourself if you have the skills required to solve the car lockout without professional assistance.
Can you open a deadlocked car?
Yes. There are several varieties of deadlock and United Locksmith can open a car with any of them. If your car door won’t open from the inside or out, call us. Most often BMW, Land Rover, and High-end Ford models will have some type of deadlock function. These have industry standards, and as a result, only require the knowledge of the bypass, and the practice needed to achieve success. In the event that you have installed a non-standard deadlock system into your car, our locksmiths still have enough knowledge to troubleshoot the issue and get you back into your property. If it rolls, we can open it.
Is it ever impossible to unlock car door?
If it is, United Locksmith has yet a case where they could not unlock car door. There is no such thing as perfect security. It is impossible to make anything completely secure, which is good news for you. It means that an unlock car door is possible no matter what. This does not mean that you have bad security. In fact, if it takes a professional locksmith a while to open, then that means that most criminals would be turned away. Don’t think of it that your car is imperfect. Think of it as, United Locksmith being amazingly talented.
Unlock Car Door
Can’t unlock car door? No problem. Here at United Locksmith, we have specialized technicians with the skill and experience to get you back into your locked car no matter what the circumstances are. With our expert technicians, there is no car lockout that cannot be solved. We have the tools, resources, and professionally trained workers required to open any locked car. There are many ways they can approach a car lockout.
Each technician learns the science needed to quickly unlock car door. From there they work on the art. With all aspects of locksmithing, there is craft required. Beyond the know how there is a need for the locksmith to feel and finesse the locks.
Perhaps it is a love of the industry that causes me to give this type of praise and interpretation to locksmithing, but there is certainly a case to be made for the beauty of security. It is only right that beauty should need something as beautiful to be its undoing. And there is no one better than undoing beautiful security than United Locksmith.
Car Lockout Tools
Locksmiths need their tools in order to perform an unlock car door. The usage of one tool over another is left to the discretion of the locksmith. Because of the artistry that locksmithing requires the individual insight of a particular locksmith, a lot must be left up to that individual. Beyond the technician’s preference, there are certain tools that lend themselves to a situation.
A good locksmith will know what tool to use and when a tool is not appropriate for the job. A modification on a car may also prevent a standard type of entry tool. This decision centers on the situation and the intuition of the very locksmith that will have to perform the service. Some of the tools they may use include:
1. Wedges
A wedge is used to create a gap between the frame of the car door and the very door itself. These wedges can fluctuate depending on the discretion of auto locksmith. These variations include, but are not limited to, wooden wedges, plastic wedges, rubber wedges, and air wedges. Wooden and plastic wedges are likely to be hard, so it is important to lay down some sort of towel or rag as a buffer between the car and the tool.
This will keep the paint from getting scratched, and protect the weather stripping and plastic coating around the window glass. Softer rubber wedges are relatively uncommon, but there are locksmiths that feel very comfortable with them. This material will not scratch or damage the car as it slides between door frame.
The most common professional wedge is the air wedge. This is a cloth pouch that has a small rubber bladder attached to it by a length of tubing. The wedge is inserted while flat, into the door jam. Then the bladder is pumped so that the pouch expands.
No matter what type of wedge is used, it must not be left in the gap for too long. A gap that is maintained for an extended amount of time can cause lasting harm to the door. That is why our locksmiths handle a car lockout quickly and efficiently. In the same vein as the time precaution, a gap can be made too wide, which might break the glass or just damage the door.
All of these issues with wedges are reasons that you should leave a car lockout up to professional locksmiths. This method also requires a probe tool to be inserted through the gap. Simply opening the door slightly will not be enough to open it. The end goal of this entry method is to manipulate the interior door locks in some fashion.
2. Probes
Once a wedge has been installed successfully into the doorway, it is time to use the probe. A probe is a thin and long tool that is used to manipulate the interior door locks. It must be inserted from the outside of the car, so the material needs to be sturdy and thin.
The professional probe tools have a balance of strength, which is necessary to manipulate the interior door locks, and malleability, which is needed to better reach the different types of locks.
Probing a doorway can take a bit of time, especially if the lock buttons are inopportunely placed. For this reason, it is not always better to use a probe, even though it may seem like the best way. A trained locksmith will know if a probe is the right choice for your car lockout.
3. Slim Jims
A slim jim is a tool that Hollywood often depicts as the panacea for a locked car. These tools are flat lengths of metal often with a plastic handle on one end, and a hook shape on the other. The slim jim is used very rarely nowadays for a car lockout because it does not work on every car, and it takes quite a bit of skill to work successfully.
This skill is important because of the potential damage that the tool can cause to your car. A slim jim works by being slid into the door between the glass of the window and the weather strip. It goes into the inside of the door and manipulates the locks from there. Though there are countless ways to use a slim jim on different makes and models, the most common is to find a place on the inside of the door that moves a post lock.
A post lock is the upright style lock that you can see from the window of your car. When it is pressed down the door locks, and pulling up will unlock the door. By moving the slim jim around inside the door, the post lock will be seen to move at certain points.
This is a wire that must be hooked and pulled upwards. There are many wires inside a door, so pulling the wrong one can start to get expensive very quickly. That is why you should always consult with a trained professional before attempting these methods yourself.
4. Specialized Closed Doorway Tools
Other than the variety of slim jims that exist, there are other types of closed doorway entry tools. The defining characteristic of these tools is that they do not rely on opening the door to any degree. They are not considered to be a probe.
Secondly, they are not a slim jim, because they do not open the lock while inside the door. These tools are placed between the weather strip and the window glass, go into the door, but then resurface on the inside of the car.
After the resurfacing, these tools will manipulate the door lock buttons on the car’s interior. The reason that these tools must be specialized is because there must be pre-existing bends. The shape allows the tool to enter the door while closed, resurface and then have the proper shape to still use the locks on the other side.
All of this requires precise measurements and angles for every length and bend. The trick with these tools is knowing which works for what type of car. Other than that they are relatively intuitive to use, but problems can occur from misuse.
5. Auto Lock Picks
Automotive lock picking is not very common. It takes quite a bit of skill and a significantly longer amount of time than most other methods. Due to the emergency nature of a car lockout, very few people are willing to wait those few extra minutes. With that being said, it is still a method that is used.
Sometimes it is the best choice for the particular car lockout. The picks that are used will most likely be a blend of rakes and single pin picks. The hope is that raking will be enough to get lucky and open the lock.
If there are false gates in the lock, then the locksmith will need to single pin pick the lock. With most wafer based locking systems this will not be an issue, but for slider locks, this type of precautions is sometimes taken. If you are not an experienced lock picker, do not attempt to open your own car door this way.
Picking locks that are in use requires a knowledgeable technician to make certain that the lock is not broken or damaged by picking process. Also, there may be other tools required, such as a plug spinner and/or an auto tensioner tool.
6. Tryout Keys
If you happen to have an older car that uses wafer locks, then tryout keys may be able to open your doors, and perhaps even start the vehicle. Tryout keys, which are also referred to as auto jigglers or jiggle keys, look like fake keys. They are flat strips of metal with no wards on them, and they have very odd shapes to them.
These keys come in a ring and are placed into the car lock one at a time. Once the tryout key is in the lock, it is jiggled around. (This is where the term auto jiggler or jiggle key comes from.) There is no need for a tension wrench when it comes to these keys, and if one does not work, the locksmith merely tries the next one. Due to the trial and error required for this method, it is not used very often in the event of a car lockout.
Modern Car Lockouts
There are Apps and security systems that can open your car when you say “Unlock car door”. You can remotely start your car as if you were unlocking it with your key fob. Your car can text you with updates about itself. This is truly an amazing era of technology that we live in. So how do these modern cars affect a car lockout?
They certainly complicate things, but that is why you have professional locksmiths. Our profession is dedicated to finding the ways to help you back into your car no matter what gadgets you have installed. We stay up to date and have the ability to learn quickly with the information we get from onsite experience. You could not be safer in the hands of a locksmith than you are when you call United Locksmith.
The Professional Difference
There is a large difference between how a professional handles a car lockout and how a novice approaches a car lockout. The biggest difference is experience. When you do not know what you are doing, you make mistakes. Sometimes that is pulling something too hard, too soft, or not even pulling the right thing. Tools that are mishandled can damage the car, so it is important to stay calm and collected.
When you contact a professional the key word is quality. There is a track record of dependability and even accountability. Locksmiths are held to a higher standard than just your average lock enthusiast. There are stakes for a professional. It is after all their profession, and is, therefore, their livelihood. Doing the job yourself is great, but it is most certainly different from getting the assistance of someone who has made it his or her life’s work.
