Car keys locked inside in Leslieville?
Parked in a laneway? Laneways do not always show on a map, so say which street it runs off and the nearest house number. A local technician opens the door with an air wedge and a long-reach tool.
From $95. You hear the full price on the call and nobody sets out until you agree. Open daily, 7am to 10:30pm.
Describing the spot on the call
- In a laneway
- The street the laneway runs off, the house number your garage or parking pad belongs to, and whether the van can drive in or should stop at the mouth.
- On a side street
- The nearest corner and the side of the street. Many of these streets are one-way, so say which way the technician should come in from if you know it.
- In front of a shop on the main street
- The shop name and the side of the street. Stay with the car, because stopping there is short-term.
On a one-way street nearer the lake? The Beaches covers street spots and beach lots.
Is there room to work on the driver's side?
The technician works standing beside a front door, at the top corner of the frame. A car parked tight against a garage wall, a fence or a snowbank on the driver's side is opened from the passenger side. Either door works: the long-reach tool only has to get to an unlock switch or an inside handle.
Say on the call which side is clear and whether the car is nose-in or backed in, so the van stops at the right end.
Three steps between the call and the open door
On the phone
Where the car is, the make, model and year, and where the keys are. You are quoted a figure and an arrival time.
At the car
A flat air wedge is pumped up by hand to open a gap about a finger wide. The reach tool goes through it. Nothing is drilled, and nothing is pushed down inside the door.
Before the technician leaves
Your photo ID and the ownership or insurance slip are checked, you see that the car is as you left it, and you pay the price you were given.
Laneways and snow
Can the van get down a narrow laneway?
Usually. If it cannot, the technician parks at the mouth and walks in. The lockout tools fit in one bag.
It snowed and the car is plowed in. Can it still be opened?
Yes, if one front door can be reached. Clear the snow from the top of that door and the roof edge above it before the technician arrives. If the lock itself is iced up, see frozen car lock.
Locked out in a laneway or on a side street?
Call with the street it runs off and the nearest house number.
Open daily, 7am to 10:30pm