What to do if you lost your car or apartment keys

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

You can get out of an unpleasant situation with minimal losses.

General rules

1. Do not panic! You and your loved ones are alive and well. Lost is just a thing. It’s unpleasant, but it’s not a disaster.
2. Look better. Turn out pockets, feel the lining of clothes and bags. Replay your route, remember the places you have been to, the people you communicated with. Often the keys are found, you just have to calm down and think a little.
3. Remember if there is a spare kit. Keeping a duplicate key at work, in the country, with parents or friends is a sign of prudence. Consider, have you ever manifested it?

Key missing announcements are bait for criminals. You should not talk about what happened to your neighbors in the entrance or parking lot, and even more so trumpet on social networks.

If no keys are found and there are no spare keys, go to plan B.

What to do if you lost your apartment keys

Step 1. Opening the door

There are several options here.

1. Contact the management company or HOA. The locksmith of the housing maintenance organization will help you get into the apartment. Plus: the service is usually inexpensive. Cons: you may have to wait a long time and then repair the door.
2. Call the Emergencies Ministry on 112. Rescuers not only save lives, but also help to return home. Pros: work fast. Minus: they are unlikely to stand on ceremony with the safety of doors and windows.
3. Call industrial climbers. A great option if you live on the upper floors, and the window or balcony is ajar. Plus: the property practically does not suffer. Disadvantages: such specialists are not available in all cities, their services are paid.
4. Contact the professionals. Having hammered into the search engine "emergency opening of locks", you will find dozens of companies. Pros: craftsmen work around the clock, seven days a week and arrive in 30-60 minutes. They guarantee the safety of property and open any locks. Cons: expensive.

Whichever option you choose, you will need to prove that you are the owner of the home. If you have a passport with a residence permit or there are a couple of neighbors who are ready to confirm your ownership, go to the third step. If the property is rented, call the landlord.

If there are no documents or witnesses, see step # 2.

Vladislav Porvatkin Head of Dzotov, Porvatkin & Partners Law Firm

There are exceptions to all the rules. There is no need to wait for the owners when it is necessary to open the lock in order to save life or property. But the damage from burglary should be less than the damage from such situations.

Step 2. Call the police

You can dial 02/102 - then the duty outfit will arrive - or call the district police officer. You can find out the contacts of the nearest police station using a special service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Law enforcement officials will authorize the entrance to the apartment and check the documents when you get there.

Be sure to write a statement to the police if there is a suspicion that the keys were stolen, and also if they are lost along with the documents.

And a note. There are lost and found tables in police stations, where conscientious citizens bring found things. Look there - suddenly you get lucky. But even in this case, it is better not to skip the third step.

Step 3. Change the locks

Even if the door remained unscathed or - lo and behold! - I found my own key, it is better to change the locks or recode the locking mechanism.

What to do if you lost your car keys

Step 1. We get to the salon

There are two options here:

1. Act on your own. If the window of one of the doors is ajar, you can open the machine with the help of skill and a simple device made of wire. If the car is tightly closed, you can use a life hack with a bank card and a rope lasso: the first one is inserted into the gap between the door and the body, and the second is hooked and the lock button is raised.
2. Call specialists. This is especially true if it's freezing outside or, for example, you are parked in a paid parking lot. The master will not only help you get into the salon, but also turn off the alarm.

Whichever way you manage to open the locks, with or without supporting documents, remember: the responsibility is not on the one who opened it, but on the one who asked to do it.

Vladislav Porvatkin

Step 2. We start the car

If you have a regular blade wrench, you can:

1. Remove the cylinder of one of the locks and contact the nearest key production service. Plus: inexpensive. Minus: it will take some time.
2. Make an impression in place. Specialists from special firms can make or pick up a duplicate key without leaving the car. Plus: convenient. Negative: extra charge.

It is more difficult when the key is with a chip. Chip keys are associated with immobilizers, which block the vehicle's control system if they cannot read the codes embedded in the keys. In this case, you have two options:

1. Contact an authorized dealer. You provide a card with the immobilizer number, a new key is ordered for you. If the card is also lost, go to the third step. Plus: a new original key, safe recoding of the car's brains. Cons: expensive and very long (from two weeks to several months).
2. Contact a specialized company. They will help to make a cheap duplicate of the lost key and recode the car electronics for it. Pros: Fast and fairly budgetary. Minus: you can run into scammers.

Step 3. Transporting the car to a safe place

While you are recovering car keys, it is better to transport it to the garage or to a guarded parking lot.

You will also need a tow truck if you need to take the car to the dealer's service center.