Trying to Break In After Being Locked Out? Why You Should Not DIY

Being locked out of your car or home is a stressful situation — so much so that the advantages of kicking down a door or breaking a window appear to outweigh the resulting damage. While these seem like favorable alternatives to waiting around for help, especially if you’re in a hurry or stuck in an unsafe location, it’s almost never worth it. Read on to see why DIY’ing your entry in a lockout situation puts you at risk for injury, burglary, and even unsavory run-ins with the law.

When squaring-up your door or car window, thinking only of getting inside, it’s easy to overlook the costs. Forcing open a door or breaking glass inevitably results in damage to your property — the repair costs from which are almost always more expensive than calling a locksmith. Depending on how much force you use and the quality of the locking mechanism, these costs can be brutally high. Now add to this the costs of rekeying. Additionally, with breaking in, you risk harming yourself on door debris or broken glass. Imagine now dealing with a medical emergency on top of losing your keys on top of repair expenses. It’s a triple-whammy anyone would want to avoid.

Breaking open a door or window leaves your property vulnerable to theft, no matter how quickly you’re able to mend the problem. If you break down your door, it’s likely that it won’t be able to shut properly once you’re inside. It’s even less likely that the locks will work. Broken windows, on the other hand, allow for easy entry, in addition to tipping-off any passersby to the fact that. If you’re unable to fix this damage right away, your home or car becomes a greater target each day you leave it sitting unfixed. Once again, in any of these cases, calling a locksmith will be easier than replacing property or dealing with the trauma of a home invasion.

Imagine for a moment you’re a kindly passerby. You notice someone reaching through a shattered car window, straining to grab the keys left in the ignition. Or, alternatively, you spot your neighbor’s door slightly ajar, one of the hinges broken. As a good Samaritan, you alert law enforcement of these break-ins immediately.  However, stepping out of this perspective, both cases happened to be instances of home or car owners trying to gain access to their own property. If law enforcement arrives on the scene, they would immediately profile the perpetrator of the break-in as a thief and arrest them, even if they’re the rightful owners of the home or car. There typically isn’t enough time to produce the proper documentation if you’re interrupted while breaking in. If you’re caught, you’d have a lot of explaining to do, and could even wind up in some legal trouble.

If you’re in a safe location and locked out of your home or automobile, your first course of action should be giving Pop-A-Lock a ring (number). While we trust you’re strong enough to break down a door or window, our 24/7 locksmith services and roadside assistance will get you back inside just as quickly — minus the damage.