No one sees a lockout coming. Part of their nature is their unpredictability. Even if there are warning signs, such as you misplacing your keys or your key sticking in your lock on a frequent basis, most lockouts happen seemingly out of the blue. With our lives becoming increasingly more hectic and busy, lockouts are a common problem. The following preventative measures can save you the hassle of having to deal with a frustrating lockout emergency.
No matter which type of lockout you might find yourself involved in, the most important word of advice is to remain calm and not panic. Even if you normally consider yourself fairly level-headed, it’s easier than you may think to lose your cool. If, despite the following tips, you do find yourself in a lockout situation, consider reaching out to nearby family members, friends, or coworkers using your phone for help if you have a spare key in another location.
Preventing Automotive Lockouts
Automotive lockouts are the most frequent form of lockouts. We receive calls for assistance with this type of lockouts on a weekly basis, usually from frantic vehicle owners who are just trying to get to work or are stuck in a parking lot at midnight. While locksmiths have many tools for getting back into your vehicle during a lockout, it’s always less stressful (and expensive) to prevent a lockout to begin with. The following tips can assist you in maintaining easy access to your vehicle.
- Have a Spare Key Made: If you have a transponder key, high-security key, or remote key fob, some locksmiths can duplicate these keys for you at an affordable rate. Be sure to ask specifically if the locksmith can replicate your particular style of vehicle key. If you’re not sure what kind of key you have, a locksmith should be able to tell you using simple identifying information about your make and model.
- Keep Your Backup Key Nearby: It’s not enough to have a spare key made. Where you keep your spare key is vital to whether or not it will be helpful during a lockout. It’s often recommended to keep your spare key in your wallet or purse, if you carry one. However, you may want to keep it in a more secure place, such as a hidden area of your office desk or with a friend. Wherever your vehicle’s spare key ends up, you want to be able to access it when you’re locked out.
- Check Your Locks & Keys for Damage: If your key begins to stick in the lock, or you have difficulty inserting the key into the door or the ignition cylinder, those are warning signs that tell you something is amiss. Inspect that
Preventing Home Lockouts
Home lockouts are more common than you may think all across Georgia, including in the Atlanta area. Usually they happen due to the homeowner or renter getting distracted and forgetting their keys inside when they rush out to run errands or get their kids from school. The following tips can help you prevent embarrassing yourself in front of your neighbors by getting locked out.
- Get in the Habit of Ensuring You Have Your Keys: Train yourself to stop and pay attention every time you’re leaving the house to ensure that you have your keys. A new habit, according to behavioral psychologists, takes 21 days to become engrained. So you have to mindfully acknowledge that you have your keys when you leave every day for about three or so weeks.
- Keep a Spare House Key in a Safe Place: It’s very inexpensive to have a locksmith make a copy of your house key. Security experts recommend this step, but with a caveat. You want to make sure that any spare keys are kept in a safe place that only you have easy access to. Avoid using gadgets such as hollow rocks outside and instead keep your key with a neighbor or another protected location.
Preventing Business Lockouts
A business lockout can be particularly worrisome, as it can cause you not only inconvenience, but potential lost revenue if you have to turn away customers. Whether you have an important meeting that day or another obligation, a commercial lockout is a time-sensitive emergency that needs to be resolved right away.
- Maintain Your Locks: It’s always important to maintain your lock hardware, but not everyone thinks about it when they have so much else on their minds. If your commercial property has been the site of an attempted break-in, even if the criminal was unsuccessful in their attempt to breech its security, be sure to have any damage to your doors and locks replaced right away to prevent future ramifications.
- Keep Electronic Locks Well-Maintained: If you notice your electronic locks operating ineffectively, contact a security professional right away for repairs, before it escalates into a system failure. This way, any repairs or updates can be done after business hours at your convenience.
- Write Down Your Pin Number: If your business is one of the many that uses keypad locks instead of manual locks and keys, make sure that you write your pin number down in an accessible place that no one else has access to in case you forget it. This is especially important if you change your pin number frequently or have multiple numbers for different doors.
If You Encounter a Lockout
If, despite your efforts to prevent one, you happen to find yourself facing a lockout from your home, business, or vehicle in Atlanta, Georgia for any reason, it’s best to contact a professional locksmith company. A locksmith will be able to get you back inside your home without having to unnecessarily break a window or damage your door in most cases. However, there are many potential locksmiths to choose from and for the best results, it’s important you find a qualified locksmith company, such as Suwanee Locksmith LLC, to assist you. By saving the phone number of our locksmith company before a lockout or another locksmith emergency occurs, you’ll have fast access to professional assistance when and where you need it.
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