Ever shut your car only to discover your keys are inside? Has the door – or boot – ever slammed shut with something you really need inside? Like the kids?

You might think it’s something that won’t happen to you, but think again. Although vehicle lockouts are on the decrease according to the RAC almost 50,000 people still manage to get themselves locked out of their car each year. In addition, with Electric Vehicles you have the additional factor of electric car batteries you need to take into account!

So what should you do? In a collaborative post I asked some fellow bloggers for tips and here’s what they said.

5 easy ways to unlock your car without your keys

1. Use a doorstop and a metal rod. This works best for vehicles with electronic locks. Insert a door stop (preferably wooden) into the top part of the driver’s side of the door, creating a small opening. Insert the metal rod in this opening and use it to push down the unlock button. If you have a car with a manual lockset near the window, you can use the door stop to open the small opening and then lift the lock with a crimped plastic strap.

2. Use a blood pressure cuff. “If you have access to a blood pressure cuff, work the cuff between the top of the window and the door frame, and inflate – this will give you a big enough gap to use a wire hanger to push the button that opens the door or window,” says Elizabeth at The Homemakers Journal.

3. Buy an Auto Lockout Kit. There are a variety of auto lockout kits on the market, but you need to choose the one that is suitable for your car. Car lock pick sets can be used to unlock your car in the safest way possible, and are extremely helpful in emergency situations. These kits include tools like slim jims, jigglers, door wedges, decoder tools and so on.

4. Visit the nearest police station. “I did this before and they got back into it for me,” says Emma at Devon Mum.

5. Go in through the boot. If you own a hatchback or a crossover with manual locks, then there is a chance that the boot might be open. If this is the case, you can open the boot and make your way to the front of the vehicle by pushing back the passenger seats.

Preventing lockouts from happening again

1. Use the key fob to lock and unlock the car. That way you will always have your keys with you – although don’t do this when your kids are already in the vehicle because while the number of people getting locked out of their car is decreasing the number of child fatalities locked inside cars are increasing).

2. Make sure someone has a spare. “My mother has a spare set we got cut especially as when my now five-year-old was three he locked himself into his Dad’s van. I was frantic. We had to break the window – now we keep a spare set to cover all eventualities!” says Laura at The Mama Fairy.

Have you ever been locked out of your car? How did you get back inside? Do you have any top tips?

This is a collaborative post.

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