Locked Out of Your Car — What to Do

What to do right now if you are locked out of your car

Work through this checklist in order. Each step takes a moment, and each one makes the next step easier. The locked out of your car in Solihull page covers door lockouts, boot lockouts and central locking faults in full.

• Call the emergency car locksmith in Solihull on 07367 634032. Say where the car is, what make and model it is, and what has happened. You get a clear quote before any work starts.
• Stay with the car if you can. Keep yourself somewhere safe and visible, especially at night, and keep your phone charged and with you.
• Never force a door or a window open. A bent frame and a broken lock leave a repair bill dearer than the lockout itself.
• Have photo ID ready. The locksmith may ask you to prove the car is yours before opening it, and a replacement key needs the V5C logbook too.
• When a child or pet is shut inside, ring 999 first and then the locksmith, making plain that a child or pet is inside, so the visit jumps the queue.

Stay safe while you wait for your car locksmith

A lockout at night, in a quiet car park, or at the roadside needs a little care. Move to a well-lit spot near the car, somewhere you can be seen, and stay there. If the car is on a busy road, stand clear of the traffic, behind a barrier if there is one, and keep the car in sight.

Keep your phone charged, and keep it with you. If the battery is low, send the location of the car to the locksmith by WhatsApp before the phone dies, so the locksmith can still find you. Tell someone where you are, if you can, and let them know when the locksmith arrives.

If you feel unsafe where you are, move somewhere safer and tell the locksmith where you have moved to. The car can wait. You come first, and a locksmith would rather find you safe than find you standing in a risky spot next to a locked car.

In wet or cold weather, get under cover if you can: a shop doorway, a station concourse, or the entrance of a car park. Cold and wet make a wait feel far longer than it is, and they make it harder to think clearly about what to do next. Keep the car in sight if you can, but do not stand in the rain next to it when shelter is a few steps away.

Child or pet locked in the car: call 999 first

When a child or pet is shut inside a car, the emergency services come first, above all in warm weather. A parked car warms up with frightening speed, and this counts as an emergency. Ring 999, then ring the locksmith on 07367 634032, making plain that a child or pet is shut inside, so the visit jumps the queue.

Stay beside the car and keep talking to the child when they can hear you. Never walk away to search for help elsewhere while a child or pet waits inside, and never sit back to see whether the child wakes or the pet settles. Wait with the car for the emergency services and the locksmith together.

This is the only situation on this site where 999 advice is given. For every other lockout, the locksmith is the call to make, and 999 is not the right route.

What not to do when you are locked out of your car

A locked car invites bad ideas, and most of them cost more than the lockout itself. Do not force the door, do not try to bend the frame, and do not push tools through the window seal. Modern cars resist all of that, and the damage left behind is a bent door, a broken lock, or a window that no longer seals.

Do not break a window unless there is danger, such as a child or pet locked inside in hot weather, and call 999 first in that case. A broken window is expensive to replace, it leaves glass everywhere, and it leaves the car open until the glass is repaired. A locksmith opening the car without damage, wherever possible, is cheaper and safer.

Do not accept help from a stranger who offers to open the car for cash, and do not hand your keys or your documents to anyone you have not called yourself. A genuine car locksmith asks for proof of ownership, gives a quote before travelling, and tests the key with you before leaving. If any of those four are missing, stop and check.

• Citizens Advice on rogue traders
• Action Fraud on vehicle fraud

How a car locksmith opens a locked car

A locked car is opened at the roadside by a mobile car locksmith, using entry methods that do not damage the car wherever possible. The locksmith works on the door or the boot lock, never by breaking glass. Which method fits depends on the vehicle, so no method is described here, and no technique is named.

The point that matters to you is the outcome: the car is opened, the keys are back in your hand, and the lock still works afterwards. Non-destructive entry is the aim on every lockout job, wherever possible. It is not an absolute promise: a damaged or seized lock may need a different approach, and the locksmith will explain that before doing anything.

If the key is lost rather than locked inside, the job becomes a car key replacement in Solihull. A new key is cut and programmed from the vehicle, and the old key can be removed from the memory of the car where the vehicle allows it. The lost all your car keys in Solihull page explains that job, and the proof of ownership for car keys page explains the documents. The lock is tested with you before the locksmith leaves.

Locked out of your car in a Solihull car park

Lockouts in Solihull car parks are a regular part of the work. Touchwood and Mell Square see keys locked in boots while loading shopping. The NEC sees keys locked in cars during events and exhibitions. Birmingham Airport sees keys lost in the terminal on the way back to long-stay car parks, and fobs that died while the car sat for two weeks. The service covers the whole borough, from car locksmith in Shirley to car locksmith in Marston Green by the airport.

When you call from a car park, say which car park you are in, and which level, zone or row, if the signs show one. Note the car park name before you call: it saves a lot of walking around. Have your parking ticket or booking reference ready if you have one, and keep your phone with you, because the signal is patchy in some car parks. Multi-storey car parks are the worst for signal, so send your location by WhatsApp while you still have bars, and tell the locksmith which floor you are on.

If you are locked out at the NEC or Birmingham Airport, the locked out at the NEC or Birmingham Airport page carries the full detail, including what to tell us about long-stay, short-stay and multi-storey parking.