Lockout Assistance

Keys inside, keys in the trunk, fob left in the car

Most lockout calls in Washtenaw County are one of three things. Keys on the seat after you locked the door out of habit. Keys in the trunk, dropped in with the groceries before the lid closed. Or a fob that was inside when the doors locked. Keyless cars try to prevent that last one, and it still happens: a fob in a bag in the cargo area where the sensor cannot read it, or a fob battery too weak for the car to notice.

All three are the same job for us: open a door without damage, hand you the keys, and go.

The fourth version is the running car, started in the driveway at 6 a.m. in January to warm up while the auto-lock did the rest. Tell dispatch the engine is running. It moves the call up the list.

What is not a lockout

We open doors. We do not make or replace keys, and we do not repair fobs. That matters in three cases.

A dead fob battery is not a lockout. The car is locked and the key is in your hand; it just cannot talk to the car. We can open the door, but a fresh fob battery is a parts-store errand, not a truck.

A key snapped off in the door or ignition is locksmith work. So is a lost key. What we can do is load the car, secure it, and carry it to the dealer or locksmith of your choice, priced as a tow before we hook up; see light-duty towing.

A child or a pet inside: 911 first

Call 911 before you call us. The inside of a parked car heats fast, even on a mild day. Police and fire are equipped to get in immediately, and a broken window is the right outcome. Once the child or the animal is out and safe, call 734-985-0010 if you still need a door opened, glass covered, or the car moved.

How we open a door without marking it

We work at the door frame, not inside the door. A padded or inflatable wedge opens a small gap at the top corner, and a long-reach tool goes through it to press the unlock button, lift the lock knob, or pull the interior handle. Nothing goes down between the glass and the weatherstrip. Modern doors are full of wiring, lock actuators, and side-airbag sensors, which is how a cheap lockout becomes a body shop bill.

Some cars take longer, and dispatch will tell you when yours is one of them:

• Frameless glass. Coupes, convertibles, and many newer sedans and SUVs have no upper frame to wedge against, so the tech works lower and slower to protect the glass.
• Soft-close doors. The latch motor pulls the door shut and resists a wedge, so the gap is opened in stages.
• Electronic interior releases. Inside handles that are buttons rather than levers need a different target.
• Deadlocked interiors. Some vehicles disable the inside handles and lock knobs when locked from outside, leaving only the unlock button.

If a car cannot be opened without risking the glass, the seal, or the paint, we stop and tell you. You decide the next step.

Why dispatch asks whose car it is

Dispatch may ask for the name on the registration, and the driver may ask to see your license and the registration or insurance card once the door is open. We are opening a locked vehicle for whoever called, and the check is how we make sure that person is you. It also protects you the day someone else points at your car and asks us to open it.

Authorization counts too. A company van, a spouse's car, a rental, a car you are collecting for a parent: tell dispatch on the first call. A short call with the owner or the person who manages the company's vehicles usually settles it. Dispatch handles those calls in English, Arabic, Spanish, German, and Romanian. If the paperwork is in the glove box, we check it after the door opens, before we go.

Where the keys usually get locked in

They cluster in predictable places. Grocery and big-box lots along Carpenter Road, Ann Arbor-Saline Road, and Washtenaw Avenue at Arborland, where the bags go in the trunk and the keys follow. Gas stations at the I-94 exits, where the door locks while you pay inside. Campus lots at Eastern Michigan and Washtenaw Community College, and the game-day lots around Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. The Ford Road retail corridor in Canton. Depot Town and the Cross Street blocks near EMU in Ypsilanti. And subdivision driveways in Saline, Milan, and Dexter at 6 a.m., where the car is running and the coffee is not.

Downtown parking structures are fine for a lockout. The entry is done by hand at your door, so a tight space does not change the job; tell dispatch the structure and the level so the tech finds you. If the dome light burned all night behind that locked door, say so, and the same tech can jump-start the car once it is open.

The flat fee and the two things that change it

Lockout is a flat fee. Dispatch confirms the number on the phone before a truck is sent, so there is nothing to renegotiate at the curb. Two things change the job. If the car cannot be opened safely and you choose a tow to the dealer or a locksmith, that is priced as a tow, hook-up plus loaded miles, quoted before we load. And if the call turns out to be a dead fob or a lost key, dispatch says so and prices the tow instead of opening a door that solves nothing.

We do not bill insurance directly. You pay us and submit the itemized receipt to your insurer.