Escaping The Car Lockout: 5 Car Lockout Scenarios You Might Find Yourself In

by Hugo Reed

If you have ever been stuck in a lock out, you know just how frustrating and time consuming it can be. There are many unforeseen circumstances that can throw you in the midst of such precarious situations and none of them are exactly pleasant. Let’s take a look at some of the common car lockouts that occur and we’ll show you how to bypass each and every one. After all, we are here to help you out, even if it’s to help you escape from a car lockout.

1. Losing Your Keys At Home

Today is Monday, and your body is gradually recovering from having an awesome weekend hanging out with your friends. You guys don’t get to see each other as much as you used to, so you cherish every moment of it and have fun. Well, the fun’s over now and you have to get back to work. You’re having a slow morning so if everything works out ideally you should arrive at work just on time. Going through your regular routine helps shake off sleep: shower, get dressed, eat breakfast and grab everything you need for work before you walk out the door. After all this, you finally start to feel like you’re awake, maybe Monday won’t be so bad after all. Silently, you’re wishing that the traffic on the road won’t be so bad either because you’re on the verge of being late, but if you get there right on time then you’re not late (grey areas). Let’s do this! You’re standing outside now, hands rummaging through your pockets/purse/backpack/ trying to find your keys. “I know I grabbed them after I had breakfast”, you say to yourself, but did you?

You look at the time and see that you’re running late. In addition to this, you can’t find your car keys. Like any sane person would, you run back into your house/apartment frantically looking for where you put them last. Where did you put them? Where could they be? After searching and scouring through every plausible location, you resign yourself to the fact that maybe, just maybe, you have lost your car keys. The frustration begins to set in, gradually, and then all at once. By now, you’re late for work so you have to call in and say you’re going to be late and that’s not a good look. Breathe In, breathe out. Try and stay calm because there is a solution to your problem.

2. Losing Your Keys at Work

You have been waiting for this day all week, practically salivating at the thought of it, and you deserve the fact that it is finally here. No one can take that away from you. You worked all week to make it to Friday and it’s finally here. Today wasn’t a bad day at all either. Work was great and you got the chance to grab coffee with that attractive person on your break. The wave you’re on right now isn’t crashing anytime soon. It’s time to go home and get the weekend started right. Goodbye work, see you on Monday. You feel triumphant walking out of those doors, you feel unstoppable and seeing your car in the parking lot ready to whisk you away to freedom lifts your mood higher than it already is. Time to go! Your hands reach into your pocket/purse/briefcase and pull up nothing but air. Everything abruptly slows down, that high of excitement you were on ebbs away faster than it came, and you’re left with the stark realization that your weekend has come to a halt.

The next logical step is to retrace your steps and try and figure out where you left your keys. They’re not in your office or the break room or even the bathroom. The plans you had of starting your weekend off right slowly fade into oblivion as it dawns on you that you might be in the parking lot for a while because you’ve lost your car keys.

3. Locking Your Keys In The Car

Your job is of the utmost importance to the foundations of love, without you, people couldn’t be married. You’re the officiating minister and you have been ordained by God and state to bind people together for life (as depressing as that sounds). Today is another day on the job where you get to enjoy the blossoming of young love and you want to be there on time to make sure the wedding goes off without a hitch. While driving you realize you need to stop to get some more gas and also probably grab a quick gift to give to the happy couple, and use the bathroom while you’re at it. Nothing worse than needing to go in the middle of someone’s vows. You pull up to the closest gas station you can find and park next to the first available pump. Stepping out of your car, you make sure you press the manual lock button because you pride yourself on safety, and you’d rather not make it easy on anyone who is trying to break into your car. You take about three steps before you realise something is wrong. The sound of the familiar jingle of car keys doesn’t happen with each of those steps. Walk forward one more step…no sound. Ok, walk back one step…still no sound. You slowly turn around and walk up to your car window, not wanting to look inside for fear of what you might find there.

There your keys are, resting serenely on the driver seat waiting for you to grab them. The only problem is, you locked the car door. Don’t freak out, I mean, of course, the wedding is drawing closer and you are a vital part of it, but don’t freak out. Breathe in, breathe out, and calm down. A thought hits you like a brick, and your spirits rise for just a brief second, you have a spare key! Oh, nevermind, it’s in the glove box. Now you can freak out just a little.

4. Locking Your Keys In The Car While The Engine is Running

Supporting local businesses is a part of who you are. You firmly believe in the foundations of entrepreneurship and hard work, and so you strive to support establishments with these ideals as much as you can. This is the reason why you are currently in your car en route to this rather outstanding taco shop at midnight. See what I mean by hard work? How many establishments are still open at midnight? Before you know it you’re there and the only thing on your mind are those carne asada tacos you could smell a mile away. Staying warm is also on your mind because it’s really cold outside. You park and decide to leave the car running so that the heat can continue circulating while you order and wait on your tacos. Muscle memory kicks in as you put the car in park, grab your wallet and lock the car manually so no one can make off with it. As you step out and the door closes behind you, a thought occurs. It was probably sparked by the quiet yet deafening sound of the door closing. Your car is on, it’s still running, which implies that your keys are in the car. That’s not really a problem, except you remember you locked the car as a force of habit. It’s after midnight, the air is filled with the smell of carne asada tacos. It’s cold outside and you are locked out of your car while the engine purrs happily in the background. These things happen.

5. Breaking Your Key In The Lock

Bob is a rather infuriating person. He may not realise it but he is, and you gave him a piece of your mind. Good for you! He deserves to know how you feel, maybe that will teach him to trivialize your feelings. Regardless of what you said, he is an infuriating person, and as such you are quite frustrated and on the verge of being angry. You “woosah” to yourself a few times to calm down even though it has very little effect. Well, it’s time to go, the sooner you get in your car and drive away, the faster you’ll calm down. You can see your car from the other side of the parking lot and that helps relax you a little bit, but you’re still mad at Bob. As you continue to walk to your car, you pull out your keys and press the unlock button on your keys to open the car before you get to it. It normally gives off a little *chirp*chirp* when you hit the button. This time around, it greets you with silence. That’s perfect, Bob is annoying, and now so is your car. It decides today is the ideal day for the battery in your key fob to die. Fine, you’ll do this the old school way and use they key to open the door.

Inserting the key into the locking mechanism feels completely foreign to you, since it’s not something you do very often. You turn the key and you’re greeted with a lot of resistance that shouldn’t be there, but then again how would you know? You hardly use the key to open the door. In that moment all your issues pile on top of each other and you would really like to catch a break: from Bob, from your dead key fob and from the traditional key not turning in the lock. You turn the key harder as your emotions rise and ultimately hear a resounding click. Eureka! You managed to do it. Wait, actually you didn’t. You just broke your key off in the lock. Oops.

Read more: Escaping The Car Lockout: 5 Car Lockout Scenarios You Might Find Yourself In

Related Article: How To Unlock a Car Door With a Cell Phone In Seconds