Whether you’re out partying with friends or on a frantic last-minute errand run, it’s easy to lose your car keys in the whirl of events — or even lock them inside. This is a stressful situation even in daytime circumstances but, at night, it can be cause for panic. But before you allow fear to cloud your judgment, it’s imperative that you look out for your wellbeing first — then consider employing the help of a locksmith.

As soon as you notice your keys are missing, take a moment to stifle any feelings of panic, take a deep breath, and focus on your surroundings. Don’t pull out your phone until you’ve taken note of the nearby area — this could leave you vulnerable to unseen threats. If you’re in a safe, well-lit area, and if your keys don’t appear to be locked in your car, it might be worth doing a quick search: check every pocket, your bags, and the immediate area in case the keys were simply dropped nearby. If you can, try to think back to possible locations you may have left your keys, and contact any friends and family in the nearby area to see if they can help you retrieve them.

If it’s clear you won’t be able to access your keys, or if you’re alone in a parking lot or enclosed area, it’s imperative to prioritize your safety. Before taking any further steps, try returning to your previous location. Most businesses stay open at least an hour after closing, and the employees would likely allow you to stay inside until you can find a ride home. Even if the last place you visited is fully closed, it might be worth looking for other nearby businesses that are still open, as long as you’re aware of your surroundings.

However, depending on the location or time of night, you might not find a safe space, or feel secure moving from your car. If this is the case, contact your friends and family immediately, let them know your location, and see if you can find someone trusted to give you a lift home. If no one is available, consider using a ride-share service.

In the case that no one is available to assist you, or if your car is stuck in a location where it’s likely to be removed, you can also call a 24/hr tow service, roadside assistance, or an auto locksmith like Pop-A-Lock. Though people associate towing with car removal, many tow companies offer emergency roadside assistance, providing a great fallback option should all your other contacts fall through.

No matter which option you choose, however, you should still find someone to call while you wait for help. Talking with someone on the phone makes you less of a target, in addition to freeing your eyes to be aware of your surroundings.

After your car is back in your possession, or once you’ve found a safe location to pass the night, it’s time to consider your next course of action. If you recovered your keys, consider getting a spare ignition key or a duplicate smart key — a great way to avoid any future predicaments. But if your keys are lost for good, it’s probably necessary to have your car rekeyed or your locks replaced so you can be reunited with your ride as soon as possible.

Being locked out of your car at night is incredibly stressful, but we’ll do all we can to help. No matter the hour, if you call Pop-A-Lock’s 24/7 roadside locksmith service, we’ll dispatch a technician to help open your car. And if you need us to rekey your car or create a key duplicate, we’re here for that too. Check out these services and more on our website.

Accidentally locking your child in a vehicle can be one of the most traumatic and guilt-inducing experiences for a parent — but it happens more than you would think. Between work, errands, and tending for their kid’s needs, adults have a whirlwind of obligations to keep track of. So much so, it’s easy to lose track of the child themselves. 

That said, being trapped in a car poses serious risks to young children, especially during hot summer months. Read on to mitigate the risk of locking your child in a car, and the immediate steps you should take if this unfortunate event happens to you.

You’re rushing to the grocery store — the eggs went bad again. Of course, there’s not much time. Allison has her dance recital at 7, after all, and the cupcakes for the should have been in the oven 30 minutes ago. Yes! A parking spot near the entrance opened up. Grabbing your purse and keys, you leap out of the car and rush into the store. It’s only when you’re on the dairy aisle that you stop dead in your tracks. Where’s Allison? 

The vast majority of car-related deaths for children aren’t due to malicious intent or neglect: they happen when parents become absentminded due to adult demands, like in the hypothetical presented above. According to KidsandCars.org, an organization that tracks car-related child deaths, more than 900 children have died in hot cars since 1990. On average, 38 kids perish in cars yearly — that’s one every ninety days.

Though no parent desires to leave their child in a car unsupervised, leaving a young child in a car for 5 minutes or so seems like an innocent mistake, when it could in fact be a fatal one. The average ages of children who die from vehicular heatstroke range from 5 days — 14 years old, with more than half the deaths occurring in children under 2 years of age; a child’s body temperature rises 3 to 5 times faster than an adult’s. This means that when a kid is left in a hot car their temperature could shoot up rapidly, and they could die within minutes. Being in Texas, where summer temperatures can rise to the triple digits, it’s also important to note that heatstroke begins when the body’s core temperature reaches 104 degrees, while a core temp of 107 is lethal. 

Of course, the best way to handle a car lockout situation is to avoid it entirely. KidsandCars.org recommends taking the following precautions: 

• Make a habit of opening the back door when parked (this can be aided by placing a valuable like a phone or purse in the backseat) 
• Keep your car doors locked at all times so kids can’t enter on their own
• Never leave keys within a child’s reach
• Teach your kids to honk the car horn if they happen to be locked in

If — heaven forbid — your child ever becomes stuck in a locked car due to a door jamb or another malfunction, or if you happen to notice a child trapped in a car push aside feelings of panic and follow these steps:

Call 911

Before anything else, get a 911 operator on the phone. Once you detail the situation, police and fire personnel will be immediately dispatched to your location. If your phone is missing, find someone nearby or run into a nearby store to get help.

Call a 24/7 Emergency Locksmith

While you wait for emergency personnel to arrive, call the nearest or the first emergency locksmith service you can think of. Often, emergency locksmiths will arrive before police or firemen, but even if they don’t, it never hurts to have a backup plan in a crisis.

Block Direct Sunlight

Using any resources at your disposal, such as blankets, towels, or tarps, try to cover the windows of the car in order to block out as much direct sunlight as you can. This will help prevent the car’s internal temperature from rising any further.

Keep Track of the Time

The locksmith or emergency personnel may want to know this information. Additionally, time can be a good indicator of your child’s internal temperature. If you think too much time is passing, it might be time to break in a window.

Remain Calm

Though this might seem impossible given the circumstances, it’s important that you extend yourself some grace: you’re only human after all, and none of this was intentional. Additionally, remaining calm will help you keep a clearer head, allowing you to make quick, rational decisions in this emergency situation.

Getting locked out of your car can be a stressful and frightening experience, especially in situations where you do not know the area you’re in well, or when it is late at night. If you find yourself getting locked out frequently, don’t worry! Pop-A-Lock is here to help with some reasons why this might happen, as well as some useful tips on how to prevent locking yourself out of your car.

Locking yourself out of your car is usually an accidental mistake. Though technical issues can play into it, misplacing car keys or simply forgetting them inside the car is more common than you would think. Here are some reasons why someone might lock themselves out of their vehicle:

1: Force of Habit

If you’re one to keep your keys in a pocket or purse at all times, taking them out and placing them in the car can cause you to forget them when you’re exiting the vehicle. Since you’re so used to already having them on your person when you leave the car, it can be difficult to remember to take them with you otherwise.

How to prevent this: If you do have to take your keys out of your pocket or bag, be sure to place them somewhere visible within the car. This will make it easier for you to see them, preventing you from forgetting to grab them before you get out.

2: Your Car is Keyless

Not having to worry about putting the key into the ignition and taking it out to turn your car off can also cause you to forget to take your keys when you leave the car. Having a keyless car means you rarely find yourself using the key, making it easy to forget to grab a set of physical keys on your way out.

How to prevent this: Be mindful of grabbing your keys before you leave your car, even if they are on your person. If you remind yourself to check and make sure you have them every time before getting out, it will become a subconscious, automatic process in no time!

3: Your Key Fob Died

Having a keyless car also means that your key fob battery is destined to die at some point. If you get so unlucky as to have it die when you are not in your car or close to someone who can help, you may find yourself in a sticky situation.

How to prevent this: Making sure your key fob has a sufficient amount of battery life left can seem complicated, but in fact, most keyless cars have a notification or warning light that will appear on the dashboard if your key fob battery is running low. From there, changing the battery in your key fob is an easy task.

4: Your Keys are Easy to Misplace

Having keys that are not noticeable enough to catch your attention when you are looking for them can cause you to forget them when exiting the vehicle. If your car keys are on a simple ring with nothing to help you find them, it is possible to frequently misplace them, and not even just in your car.

How to prevent this: Put your keys on something that is bright, colorful, or otherwise noticeable. This can be a lanyard, a carabiner, or even a fun keychain. Having something that helps you see your keys clearly will serve as a reminder to grab them before exiting the car.

5: Being in a Hurry

Maybe you’re late for an appointment, a soccer game, or a family dinner. Rushing to get somewhere is a normal part of the human experience. The fact is, rushing can also cause forgetfulness. And when you’re rushing out of the car to get wherever you need to go, grabbing your car keys can easily slip your mind.

How to prevent this: This is where being mindful, even in moments of stress, comes into play. To avoid locking yourself out due to being in a rush, take a second before getting out of the car and ask yourself if you have everything you need. This can prevent you from forgetting your keys, thereby causing you extra stress later on.

In the unfortunate event that you do end up locking yourself out of your car, Pop-A-Lock’s automotive locksmiths will be there to help! To speak with one of our expert locksmiths, call or visit our website to learn more about our automotive locksmithing services!

In recent years, ridesharing has exploded as a popular transportation option, bolstered by easy-to-use apps like Lyft and Uber. Just as ridesharing has become a simple fix for pedestrians in a pinch, it’s also an easy way for everyday drivers to make some extra bucks with their vehicles. 

But everyday people transporting strangers to and fro raises important safety concerns. As a rideshare driver, you should look out for your rider’s safety, as well as your own. Luckily, several must-have gadgets can prepare you for any situation that arises. 

• Hands-free phone mount: Since rideshare drivers rely on GPS navigation to map to new locations and provide the fastest routes, phone mounts are a safety essential. These nifty devices contain an adjustable clasp that latches onto your smartphone, leaving just enough room for your charging port so you can hook up to your aux as needed. Attached to the clasp is a suction that  holds the rig in place on your dashboard or windshield. The whole setup allows for a worry-free navigation, where your hands can remain on the wheel at all times and you need only glance at an eye-level map to keep on-course. You can find a variety of hands-free phone mouns online, with Amazon and WeatherTech being the most popular sellers. 

• Dash cam: As most rideshare veterans can attest, dash cameras can be a lifesaver in cases where you need to dispute a customer claim or, heaven forbid, provide evidence of unruly customer conduct. Like phone mounts, dash cameras easily attach to dashboards or windshields through a suction device, and contain a surveillance camera that records all in-car activity.  

• First-aid kit: We all know humans can be messy, especially if they’re hauling luggage into a car or squeezing between other passengers. Since cars are confined and roads are often bumpy, it’s always possible riders could get injured on their route or fall victim to motion sickness. Keeping a small, well-stocked first-aid kit within your glovebox or tucked into a backseat pocket can help customers tend to their injuries in a flash, and prevent your car from looking like  a crime scene. The same goes for sickness bags, which customers can use if they’re feeling nauseous. Even if the malady is only a paper-cut, your rider would certainly appreciate being offered a band-aid — and may give you an extra tip as a result!

• Spare tire or flat kit: You never know what could happen on the open road. In the case a tire goes flat while completing your routes (or during any drive!), you’ll want to keep a spare tire and car jack in your trunk so you can remove the flat, attach the spare, and get back on the road in a jiffy. 

• Battery jump kit: Similar to spare kits, battery jump kits help re-start your car if your battery dies, and can be easily stored in the car itself. In the past, these kits would include jumper two jumper cables: one that attaches to the dead battery, and one that attaches to a running car battery. Things are a little different these days. Online, you can sort through an array of battery jump kits that hook to a rechargeable high-voltage battery, no second car required.  It’s an insanely quick fix that’ll save you from ever being stranded on a roadside again. 

• Location tracker: We often hear location tracking apps advertised to customers of rideshare services since they’re hopping into cars with  complete strangers, but we forget that drivers experience the reverse of this scenario. Though they trust their passengers, there’s always the possibility that the stranger in their backseat could be using a substance, concealing a weapon, or intending to rob the driver. For these reasons, it’s a good idea for drivers to use a location tracker like FindFriends or Life360, and share their whereabouts with friends and family. Your safety matters, and if you happen to get stuck or are forced to drive to an unintended location,  your circle would be able to locate you through these apps and get help. 

Despite the convenience, cars can be a big hassle. They break down, keys get lost, doors get jammed. We may not be able to fix up your engine, but Pop-A-Lock is here for all your car’s lock related needs. We offer car-fob copying, re-keying, and 24/7 roadside locksmith services. Hop on over to popalock.com to learn more, and add our roadside assistance number to your contacts. You never know when you’ll need a smithy to save the day!