Try not to panic if you have lost your car keys or locked them in your car. Simply call a locksmith. Many people use make-shift attempts at unlocking a car but these can be quite damaging even if you do not see the results right away. Using a tow truck driver to pry the corner of your door open and using a long rod to attempt to hit the unlock button will damage your car door and you won’t realize it until you hear the wind at the edge of the door when you’re driving down the road.  Also, police...

By Melissa McKinney Original post here MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -It can happen anytime, anywhere. Locking yourself out of your house or car is–no doubt–a hassle. But if you’re not careful, your locksmith could make the situation worse!After 15 years with a local locksmith company, Chris Craft knows how long it takes and how much it costs to unlock someone’s house or car.“I would say within the first 10 minutes you should be able to pick it,” he says.It’s little facts like these he and his coworkers at American Lock and Key on Troy Highway fear customers don’t understand and wind up...

Most locksmiths are honest. A few are not. According to a new warning from the Better Business Bureau, these untrustworthy locksmiths are “ripping off consumers” across the country. The BBB says this “nationwide locksmith swindle” has already resulted in more than a thousand complaints. “We know that there are thousands more people across the country who have been victims and don’t even know it,” says Alison Preszler with the Council of Better Business Bureaus. The BBB blames most of the problem on two companies: Dependable Locksmith (New York) and Basad Inc. (Englewood, Colo.). These two firms also operate in other...

Joan Scott felt her gut drop when she lifted the door handle of her 1998 Ford Escort last month. Scott was locked out, and the engine was running. A phone-directory search of locksmiths yielded a company that quoted a $35 service charge plus a fee of $15 that could go up if her vehicle “is a newer car which could be harder to open.” When the locksmith arrived in an unmarked truck, he said the job would cost $134. “I told him I’d rather throw a rock through my window,” said Scott, who eventually accepted a “discounted” price of $85....