Broken key extraction in Rockville, MD
Half the key is in your hand and the rest is somewhere inside the lock. Stop there — every tool from the junk drawer pushes it deeper, and we can usually bring it out in one piece.
A snapped key looks like the end of the lock. It rarely is. Keys break because the metal finally tired, or because a binding cylinder asked for more force than the brass could give — and in both cases the fragment can come out and the lock can carry on.
What broken key extraction covers
Keys snapped in door locks, trunk locks and ignition barrels. It covers the aftermath too: a fresh key cut from the two halves — the cuts almost always survive the break — and a proper look at why it snapped in the first place. A key rarely breaks in a healthy lock. Either the blade was worn thin at the shoulder, or the cylinder is binding and will eat the next key the same way. Fixing only the symptom means doing this twice.
How the visit goes
- You call and say where it snapped — door, trunk or ignition — and whether any of the fragment is showing.
- The cost is agreed before the van moves. Keep both halves if you have them, and stop using the lock.
- The cylinder is flushed and lubricated, and the fragment is hooked or gripped out with extraction tools — not drilled out.
- The lock is tested and the cause identified: a worn key, or a cylinder that binds and needs attention before it claims another.
- A fresh key is cut — from the halves, or by code if they are too far gone — and proved in every lock it serves. Ownership documents are checked before any car key is cut, snapped original or not.
What we bring
- Extraction hooks and spiral picks sized for automotive cylinders
- Lubricants and cylinder tools, because the lock that broke the key is often the real patient
- A cutting machine, so you leave with a working key rather than two halves and an apology
- Replacement cylinders and column tools, for the breaks that finish what wear had already started
When to call straight away
Call before improvising. Pliers on a flush break push the fragment deeper and chew up the one edge tools need to grip. Superglue on a matchstick — the internet's favorite — wicks into the wafers and turns a small extraction into a lock replacement. If the break is in the ignition, stop trying to start the car; each attempt rotates the fragment further from reach. And if it has happened after dark with the car somewhere it cannot stay, say so when you call — extractions run out of hours on the emergency line too.
After the key is out
If the key snapped from wear, the spare at home is usually the same age and heading the same way — a fresh duplicate cut by code resets the clock. If the fragment was your last key, the job becomes a car key replacement, handled at the same visit. And if the extraction showed the ignition itself is binding, ignition replacement stops it claiming the new key too.
Other things we handle on the same visit
One call usually covers more than one of these.
Tell us which door it is
One phone call, about a minute. You will know what the job involves and what it costs before a locksmith sets off.