Locked out of your car in Everton Park

We use air wedges to create a small gap at the top of the door frame, then a long reach tool through that gap to work the handle or the unlock button inside. Nothing touches the glass and nothing is forced past the weather seal, so the car is exactly as it was when we finish.

The damage people fear comes from slim jims dropped inside the door cavity. On anything built in the last twenty years that cavity is full of wiring, airbag sensors and the window regulator, and a tool blindly hooked around in there does real harm.

That is a different job and it is still one we do at the kerb. We read the lock and cut a key to it with no original needed, then program that key to the immobiliser so the car will actually start. For most makes on Australian roads this happens where the car is parked rather than on the back of a tow truck.

A small number of very recent models are locked to dealer equipment. We check the make, model and year while you are on the phone and tell you then, rather than arriving, poking at it and handing you a bill for the visit.