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Originally Posted On: https://carkeyssanantoniotx.com/lost-car-keys-what-can-you-do/

 

In 2020, the so-called “smart” keys that come with most new cars are smarter than ever before. You can use them to lock and unlock your car, remote-start your car, and more—all with the push of a button.

But no matter how smart your smart car keys might be, they’re obviously not going to do you much good if you lose them. In fact, lost car keys could potentially put you and your car at risk if they happen to fall into the wrong hands.

To keep yourself and your car safe, there are a series of steps you should take when you realize that you can’t find your car keys. By springing into action right away, you can prevent lost car keys from becoming anything more than a minor inconvenience.

Take a look at what you should do the second that you notice your car keys might be lost.

Begin by Taking a Deep Breath and Trying to Relax

When you first realize that you can’t locate your car keys, you might not be too worried about it. You’ll casually walk around your house or your workplace saying, “Where in the world did I put my keys?”

But after a little while, reality will start to set in as you come to the realization that your keys might actually be lost. It’s one of the worst feelings in the world, especially when you’ve checked all the usual places where your keys might be.

Your mood will often change in an instant, and it won’t be long before you’re freaking out while tearing up your house or your office looking for your lost car keys. Panic mode will set in, and your stress levels will go through the roof.

It’s at this moment that you should close your eyes, count to 10, and take a few deep breaths. The last thing you want to do is lose your keys and your mind. You want to do your best to stay calm so that you can make smart decisions and get yourself back behind the wheel of your car.

Look Around for Your Lost Car Keys

Even though you can’t find your car keys, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re “lost.” It might just mean that they’re not in any of the usual places where you like to keep them, like on the ledge by the front door in your house or in your handbag hanging over your chair at work.

There is, however, a good chance that they might not be far from where you’re looking for them. You might be surprised to learn that most “lost” items are found within 18 inches of where people started looking for them. So you should set out to search for them in your home, your office, or wherever else it is that you might be.

Maybe your car keys fell off the ledge where you usually put them and landed underneath the table by your front door. Or maybe they slipped out of your handbag when you were in the cafeteria at work and are sitting underneath the table where you ate lunch.

Spend some time trying to remember the last time you saw your lost car keys. Retrace your steps and go back to some of the places where you may have had your keys to see if they got left there.

And of course, don’t be afraid to run out to your car to see if you may have accidentally locked them inside of it. Car keys might be “smart” these days, but they’re not smart enough to let people know when they’ve been left behind in a locked car (not yet, at least!).

More than 4 million people still lock their keys in their cars every year. Yours could very well be sitting in your ignition or on the floor of your car waiting for you to find them.

Accept That Your Car Keys Are Lost

Have you looked everywhere for your lost car keys and come up empty?

It wouldn’t hurt to check your house or your office for them one more time or to peek in through your car windows again to see if you might be able to spot them. But at some point, you’re going to have to pull the plug on your search-and-rescue mission and accept that your car keys are gone.

It’s important not to wait too long to do this. If you do, you could give someone else out there time to find your keys and go rummaging around in your car.

If you’ve spent an hour or two looking for your lost car keys and haven’t found any sign of them, you’re going to need to consider having them replaced. It’s better to do this sooner rather than later for the sake of your car and, maybe more importantly, for the sake of your own sanity.

See If You Have a Spare Car Key Somewhere

Do you have a spare car key for your vehicle lying around somewhere? Now would be the ideal time to pull it out and start using it.

You should not start using your spare key as your primary key and forget all about your lost car keys. You don’t want to continue using the same key for your car once you’ve lost a key and been unable to find it.

However, your spare key will allow you to continue living your life while you figure out what to do next with regards to your lost key. Your life won’t have to skip a beat simply because you can’t find a car key when you have a spare key available.

Gather Information About Both Your Car and Your Car Key

Once you’ve accepted the fact that your car keys are lost, you’ll need to work on getting replacement keys for your vehicle. You can do this by either contacting your local car dealership or by reaching out to a local locksmith that offers car key replacement.

Either way, you’re going to need to provide them with some basic information about your car. This includes the make and model of your car, the year your car was manufactured, and more. You should go about gathering as much information about your car as you can so that you’re ready to give it to a car dealership or an automotive locksmith.

Additionally, you should be prepared to tell a car dealership or a locksmith about what kind of key you were using for your car. Some people with older cars are still using traditional car keys. But those with more modern vehicles often have transponder keys with special chips in them.

Call on an Automotive Locksmith for Car Key Replacement

As we mentioned a second ago, you will have two main options when you decide to have lost car keys replaced. You’ll be able to get in touch with either a car dealership or an automotive locksmith to get new keys for your car made.

Both of these options will leave you with new keys for your car in the end. But more often than not, hiring an automotive locksmith is going to be your better option.

Professional locksmiths can come right to your home or business to help you obtain the car keys that you need. They can also respond to calls 24/7 so that you can get back on the road, no matter what time of the day or night it is.

And as if all that wasn’t enough, locksmiths tend to provide much better prices on car key replacement than car dealerships. You can save quite a bit of money when you utilize a locksmith’s services and make losing your car keys a less traumatic experience overall.

Invest in More Than One New Car Key

If you’re going to call on an automotive locksmith to come out to your home or business and cut new car keys for you, here’s a useful tip. Have them make more than one new car key.

You should always keep a spare car key around, whenever possible. It’ll come in handy if you ever happen to get locked out of your car.

But you might want to take it a step further and have a couple of extra spare keys made as well. You can stick one on your spouse’s keychain and one in your desk drawer at work to make sure you have all your bases covered.

Since you’ll be working with a locksmith anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to have a couple of extra spare car keys made. You’ll be glad if you ever find yourself in a similar position to the one you’re in now at some point in the future.

Start Keeping Your Keys in a Safer Place

Most people have specific places where they keep their keys at all times to avoid losing them. They’ll stick them somewhere near their front door when they’re at home or in their bag while they’re at work.

If you do this already, that’s great. It’s an effective way to steer clear of having to deal with lost car keys. But if you don’t do this now, it would be beneficial to begin doing it as you move forward.

By keeping your car keys in the same place all the time, you shouldn’t have to look too hard to find them day in and day out. You’ll sleep better at night knowing where your car keys are.

Stick Key Finders on Your New Car Keys

Are you the type of person who always seems to be losing something regardless of how hard you try not to? You’re not alone, as there are lots of people out there who struggle to keep tabs on all their personal possessions all the time.

Fortunately, technology has made it easier for people who have this problem to keep track of their things. One way technology has helped limit the number of lost car keys is by providing people with newfangled key finders that are made to help you find your keys if you ever lose them.

You can put one of these key finders right on your keychain along with the rest of your keys. You can then sync your key finder up with your smartphone so that you can see where your car keys are at any time.

From there, all you’ll need to do is take a quick look at your phone the next time you lose your keys to see where they’re hiding. Whether they’re under your couch or halfway across town, they’ll be easy to track down.

Some of these key finders also have a function that allows you to use them to find your phone if it ever goes missing. If you lose your phone in your house or at work, you can press a button on your key finder so that your phone starts beeping.

This makes key finders essential tools for those who have trouble keeping track of both their car keys and their phones. You should think about investing in one, even if you’ve never misplaced your keys before. You never know when they might get lost.

You Don’t Have to Let Lost Car Keys Ruin Your Day

Losing a set of car keys is, hands down, one of the most frustrating things in the world. It can prevent you from using your car, and it can also force you to pay a car dealership a large sum of money in exchange for new car keys.

You don’t have to allow lost car keys to ruin your whole day, though. By calling on an experienced automotive locksmith for help, you can have car key replacement done and get things back to normal in no time.

If you just lost your car keys and don’t know what to do next, begin by calming yourself down and looking for your keys. If you can’t find them, we would then encourage you to get in contact with us so that we can come out to your location and make new car keys for you.

Reach out to us today if you can’t find your car keys and need to have new ones made.