‘I never knew such a job existed!’ I have heard this so many times. ‘How long have you been in this workshop? I never knew you were here’. Well an Auto Locksmith, or car key man, is a starnge and interesting job. We get to meet people who really need help, but many of then just don’t know what to do. At Lincoln car key man we try and make your terrible day a bit easier, and wanted to share what we do. If you’re wondering where we are, click here to find us on google maps.
Lincoln Car Key Man Diary - June 2023
This week we used an unusual method to unlock two cars, both in the same week.
In the first story we used some Lincoln Car Key Man photography to rescue a customer. The car was a 2007 Vauxhall Zafira
Our customer was a gardener and had placed his only car key next to the strimmer as he was loading his car with gardening equipment. He’d done this 100 times before without any drama.
As he closed the door, the car locked! We’re never really sure why this happens. Maybe he accidently knocked the lock button just before the door shut? So now his only key was locked inside the car, and he didn’t have a spare car key.
When we got to the car, we could see the key, next to the strimmer head so we decided to photo the key blade!
Once we had a good photo that showed the key contour, we zoomed in as much as possible so that we could see the undulations. It’s quite tricky and if we zoomed in to close the image was blurry.
Then we guessed at the shape of the key and cut a fresh new door key! No mess, no damage and we let the customer keep this in case it happened again.
More photos from a distance
In the same week we got a long distance call from London, when a company working away from home did a similar thing. This time the driver had left the keys in the ignition and quickly popped out of the cab. As soon as he shut the drivers door, the van locked. Why did it do it on a brand new Ford Transit? Who knows?
Sometimes vehicles just play up, misbehave. Anyway, so now he’s miles from home and well and truly stuck! We asked the company if they had a spare back in London and they did, so they emailed it to the Lincoln Car key Man.
This was much easier to measure and copy. Within the hour we’d driven to our customer, put the key in the door and unlocked the van.
Sometimes you have to think outside the box, and these two jobs are good examples of different methods we have. We hope it’s been interesting, and make sure you get a spare key!
Lincoln Car Key Man Diary - May 2023
This week we saw a chance to be a hero, or a villan, depending on the outcome. Our customer had been knocked back by many key cutting shops who wouldn’t cut a key he wanted. To be fair, this key was very special and they had seen the problems with cutting eBay keys.
This key was special because the customer had spent six months sourcing it from overseas!
So the pressure was on! Rather than chance copying this key, we recommended to the customer that we cust a boring metal key first, one without the chrome and bling. We cut it oon our computer controlled machine which doesn’t copt the old key. When we tell the computer the key code, it cuts it fresh out of the factory, as if the car was brand new.
The problem we find with copying old worn keys is that you just end up with a new worn key! It will have all the imperfections and mis-shape that the old key has.
Once we knew that the ordinary metal key worked the locks perfectly, then he came back with the Chrome key. Here at Lincoln Car Key Man, we believe that it’s better to get things right rather than rush them.
We even left the plastic bag on the head ot the key so that it didn’t get scratched by the swarf. For ten pounds and after just thirty seconds and a few missed heartbeats, the machine cut it perfectly and the job was doone. Watch out for a Nissan Skyline cruising the streets of Lincoln sometime soon.
