Useless locksmith was useless

So future mom-in-law visited for the holidays, loaded up the car today, went to leave and couldn't find her keys. We tore the house apart, and dug thru the car. No luck. I finally decided that the only remaining place was the trunk. Probably sat them down to rearrange stuff and forgot.

Problem is, she disabled the inside release with a knob inside the trunk (Kia something) and the seats won't fold down from inside the car. Crap.

Called a locksmith, their 25 minute response time took over an hour, then dude-bro that showed up says he can't open the trunk without making a whole new key to the tune of $225 (his supervisor dropped it to $195 by phone supposedly). Crap x2. With all options exhausted we said do it, I'd even pay for it if she couldn't.

I took one more look around the house and found them under a bunch of stuff next to a chair. I told her to go out and stop him quickly, hoping he hadn't gotten far. Turns out he was getting ready to tell us he couldn't get the right key code anyway.

$25 for the call and we sent him packing. Seriously, he had no way to open/pick the lock?

I just had this happen on a Kia Spectra.

Flip up/remove the rear seat cushion, unbolt the side bolster (one bolt on bottom and yank up), and you can fish around with your hand until you find the seatback release cable.

We had the key. Stuff in the trunk popped the lever off of the lock cylinder.

Running by the hardware store to have a flat key made for the Focus. Wife locked the key in a few weeks ago and that cost me $160. My locksmith was able to pop the door, though. That's all I needed. The new cars are just getting too complicated. Sometimes I want one, sometimes I don't. For now, we're sticking with the old. Maybe when we have a kid we'll get a new car.

Most people think it's good when you can't break into their car.

My bud is a mechanic and has a set of lock picks

$25 for the guy to say he could not help you? Seriously? You could have called me and I could have done that...

It wasn't even the car itself, she had unlocked all the doors (manual no auto stuff on this car). I asked him couldn't he just pick the damn lock? I had a friend in highschool that made picks from an old Walkman headset, simple tension tool and another that pushed in the pins.

I've NEVER been foiled by a door lock with a set of Slim Jim's at my disposal (not the nitrate-filled faux-jerky kind).

In reply to ebonyandivory:

I could eat a Slim Jim right about now.

All I need is a tennis ball.

that one could use some explaining

ebonyandivory wrote: I've NEVER been foiled by a door lock with a set of Slim Jim's at my disposal (not the nitrate-filled faux-jerky kind).

aren't some doors now considered to be slimjim proof ? with guards or something in between the locking mechanism and the window seal ?

You know what he is shouting.

When I need to get into a locked vehicle I "SNAP INTO IT". Works every time.

Keith Tanner wrote: Most people think it's good when you can't break into their car.

At first glance, its a good philosophy. The other side of the coin- if somebody wants stuff from the inside of your car, they break glass and take it.

Its really a pisser when you leave the doors unlocked and they break the window anyway.

wbjones wrote: aren't some doors now considered to be slimjim proof ? with guards or something in between the locking mechanism and the window seal ?

No manual lock button so no linkage from it to the lock, and no control rods for the door handles - everything gets to be cables and if you try the hood cable trick where you just pull on the cable itself in the middle, it dislodges instead of doing anything useful.

That assumes that the door handles aren't electric as well.

Sine_Qua_Non wrote: All I need is a tennis ball.

Vacuum locks huh?

My buddy's Audi had such slack trim near the end that you could pry the feed lines out from the outside of the car and blow into them with your mouth to unlock the rear doors.

ebonyandivory wrote: I've NEVER been foiled by a door lock with a set of Slim Jim's at my disposal (not the nitrate-filled faux-jerky kind).

This. Older cars are shockingly easy to get into using just household items

noddaz wrote: $25 for the guy to say he could not help you? Seriously? You could have called me and I could have done that...

now that is funny

1st gen Hyundai excels could be broken into with a piece of cardboard. Just pull the weather stripping back and push down with the cardboard

i'd be breaking out the drill and take a half inch drill bit to the lock cylinder before paying anyone $200 to make a key...

Hell, the glass is probably less than $200 at a wrecker.

Keith Tanner wrote: Most people think it's good when you can't break into their car.

Nobody that's locked their keys in the car thinks that.

It's not as easy to pick a lock as it looks in the movies, even with a set of picks.

Zomby Woof wrote: Nobody that's locked their keys in the car thinks that.

Indeed. Part of the joy of owning old Japanese and German cars is that they are easy to open if you lock your keys inside. Part of the horror is that... they are easy to open.

I was super pissed when someone broke into one of my Mazdas. Not just that they stole a bunch of stuff, but that the destroyed both doors by punching the locks. You freakin' morons, if you have a screwdriver you can deleted. But then, I suppose that if they had two brain cells to rub together, they wouldn't be thieves,