Locked the key in the car in Rockville, MD

This is the good version of a car key problem: nothing is lost, nothing is broken, and the whole job is one locked door between you and your key. If the key is actually gone — not visible, not anywhere — you want the lost car keys callout instead. Different job, different tools.

What this callout covers

Keys locked in the cabin at any hour, anywhere a van can reach — driveways, parking garages, gas stations, the far corner of a lot at closing time. Keys shut in the trunk. Cars that locked themselves — some do, on a timer — with the fob still inside. Engines left running behind locked doors, which turns a small problem into an urgent one at a gas pump.

How the callout goes

1. Call with the year, make and model, where the car is, and where you can see the key. Say if the engine is running or anyone is inside.
2. The cost is agreed on the phone before the van moves.
3. Stay with the car. A running car with a key inside should never be left, and staying keeps you at the meeting point.
4. The door is opened with wedges and long-reach tools, or by picking the door cylinder — whichever suits the car. No broken glass, no creased door frame.
5. Key in hand, the locks and windows are checked and the weather seals pressed back before you drive off.

What we bring

• Air wedges and long-reach tools for a clean cabin entry
• Picks and decoders for the door cylinder, for the cars where the lock is the better way in
• Film and covers, so nothing touches paint or glass unprotected
• A fob battery — a dead fob is how a fair number of these evenings start

When to call 911 first — and what not to try

A child or a pet locked in a car in heat or cold: 911, immediately, before us. Glass is replaceable. For everything else, resist the parking-lot advice. A coat hanger down the door gap finds wiring and shielding it can damage, and shreds the weather seal on the way — modern doors are built to beat it. A wedged screwdriver creases the frame permanently. And do not break a window while nobody is in danger: the smallest pane costs more than the opening, and you drive home in the weather either way.

After the door opens

Tonight was one spare key away from being no story at all. Get a duplicate cut and keep it anywhere but the glovebox. If the car locked itself, find that setting before it does it again. And when the same opening is needed with no engine running and no schedule on fire, it books as an ordinary car lockout visit through the automotive side — same tools, working hours, no callout.