This is a piece I really should not have to write, but all too often, people call me out for reasons that could easily be avoided or they have called me out too late for an expensive repair, when avoiding the problem was possible.

Common reasons to avoid using a locksmith:

So, let’s start with cars. If you are going to lose your car keys, or lock them inside your car, the chances are, you are going to do it when your spare key is stuck back home at the opposite end of the country.  I have done a fair few jobs now where people have been on holiday/visiting distant relatives/doing distance work, etc and they leave their spare car key at home rather than bring it with them to leave in their temporary accommodation. Car entry is not cheap, and it might mean you lose a half day waiting for the auto locksmith to arrive, which will put a downer on your holiday, or might mean you have to see those distant relatives for longer than you wanted, or that you lose the sale you travelled halfway across the country to get. At the same time, please remember to actually remove the spare key from your car when you arrive at your destination. If you are locked out of your vehicle, having the spare in the glove box is no help.

The next common one with cars, is not having a spare. When I am cutting keys at local boot sales, people ask me about prices and sometimes, the spare key is as nearly as much as their second hand car cost them in the first place. But why buy a car with only one key, especially when that key is on its’ last legs? A bargain vehicle only remains a bargain if you can drive it. I also get to see some very sorry looking remote fobs for cars. Cloning a remote fob before it gets to be useless can be a lot cheaper than generating a complete new key from scratch, especially with Fords that must always have two separate keys programmed when starting from new. And, as I said above, a spare is useless if you keep it in the glove compartment.

Never, never, never put your car keys down in your boot area. So many people open their boot at the supermarket, put the keys just inside the boot and then load the shopping. They then close the boot, having not unlocked the rest of the car and are now locked out, often with the spare in the glove compartment! (Have I mentioned that common mistake?) If you are approaching your car, when you unlock your boot, make it a habit to unlock the doors as well. And do not put your keys down anywhere in your vehicle. It might not be cool to hang your keys from a belt loop, but it might just save you the cost of a weekly family shop if you don’t have to call the locksmith. When in and around your car, only let go of the keys when they are in the ignition, and you are sat comfortably ready to drive.

People make just as many mistakes in the home. Children should never be given keys to play with. Besides the whole hygiene issue, they have a nasty habit of sticking keys into keyholes that they were not built for, thus breaking the key and often the lock as well. While on the subject of kids, if you have a bathroom lock that is getting a bit stiff, have it repaired or replaced before a small child locks himself/herself in and you are faced with hours of panic waiting for the locksmith to arrive. I recently went to a job where a toddler had locked himself in the bathroom and the lock disintegrated, with the broken bits obstructing the bits that needed to move. You can imagine the stress that poor child was under when I came along with my noisy drills and hammers, taking my time to ensure nothing flew open into the child’s face.

Got a night latch (Yale type latch lock)? Don’t trust the snib to hold that latch back even if you are just popping into the garden for a few minutes. Take your key. Pets and children are very good at closing doors with enough vibration to release the latch and lock you out with themselves on the inside and pans on the cooker (it can and does happen).

If you have a door with a multipoint locking system, oil it twice a year. Make it part of your routine when you change the clocks in spring and autumn. Use a good quality lubricant and squirt it everywhere you can see moving parts (lift the handles up and down with the door open to see) and then, when you hold the handles down to retract the latch, you will see a small gap the allows you squirt more lubricant into the heart of the mechanism. Give this about a five second squirt and work the handles up and down a few times to get the lubricant into those moving parts. This simple exercise can save you a very expensive visit from your locksmith.

Lubricate all other locks as well. They get full of grit. Insects make nests behind handles and in lock cavities. Regular lubrication will keep your lock clean and lasting longer.

Finally, I get a lot of calls from customers telling me their key works on one side of the lock (Chubb/mortice locks), but not the other. My first reaction is to tell them to try a different key and more often than not, that sorts out the problem. They have just managed to bend a prong on the key itself. Always check other keys before thinking your lock is broken. Not all locksmiths will give you a free solution over the phone.

If you have any questions regarding the information above, or have any other issues, please get in touch via my contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

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