It’s happened to everyone. You get to your car with a bunch of packages or a supermarket cart filled with groceries. You unlock your trunk, and, in the process of loading your items in, you place your car keys on the floor of your trunk. Everything is loaded inside, and you close the lid. Only when you go to get into the car do you realize that the keys are locked inside the trunk. This can be especially painful if you are in an extremely hot or cold climate. Here are some steps you can take to remedy the situation.
Call an Automotive Locksmith
This will generally be the quickest solution and is least likely to cause frustration and possible damage to your car. The car locksmith near me is specially-trained to open locked car doors and arrives within minutes, so this is the way to go. Be sure to tell your technician that your keys are locked in the trunk, and not inside the passenger compartment. Depending on the car’s security features, it may require a different method to open the trunk than if your keys are simply locked inside the car.
Try to Unlock Your Car Door Yourself
This method can work if your car has an interior trunk release that is not electrically powered, or if your car has rear seats that fold down from the passenger compartment to expose the inside of the trunk. Attempting to unlock one of your car doors is much easier than attempting to open the actual trunk lock. If you have a suitable tool on hand and a little patience, you should be able to unlock one of your car doors and then either pop the trunk with the trunk release or fold down the rear seat and crawl into the trunk to retrieve your car key.
If you have a wire hanger or some similar piece of flexible but firm metal that can be molded into the shape of a long strip with a hook on the end, you may be able to slip that between the door and the doorframe and hook the end around the door’s manual lock. If you can do that, a gentle tug should pull the lock into the open position. Of course, if you are not in the habit of doing this, it will probably take some time to figure out exactly how to bend the metal to the right curve to reach the lock and then several attempts to grab it with the hook. It can be a frustrating process and patience is required.
Retrieve a Spare Key
Most cars come with two sets of keys. If you are the only driver, then store the spare key someplace where it will be handy in an emergency. This can either be in your home, or with a friend. If you choose a friend, consider that friend’s schedule and the likelihood that he or she will be available to bring you your spare key when you may need it. With people’s busy schedules, it may be hard to find someone like that. Another option is to store your spare key at home and take an Uber or Lyft car back to your home to retrieve your spare and then take you back. Depending on how far you are from your home, this can become an expensive and time-consuming option. It is not advisable to store a spare key anywhere on your vehicle. Any place you can think of to store the key, a car thief will also be sure to look.