These are the things we explain at the roadside several times a week, written down once. Several of them end with the advice not to ring us at all.
A spare key in a kitchen drawer, a flat fob battery, a steering lock that has not released. A good share of the people who ring us would be moving again in five minutes without us.
We would rather tell them that on the phone than drive out and charge for it. Writing the common ones down means fewer people have to ring to find out.
Where something does need us urgently — a child or a pet locked in, a car on a hard shoulder — the advice says so plainly and gives the number, rather than making anyone read to the bottom first.
What to check before you ring anyone, the two things that make it worse, and why smashing a window is almost never the cheapest way in.
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The expensive part of a key is the visit and the first programming, not the key.
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How relay attacks work, and the cheap habit that defeats most of them.
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Usually the immobiliser, not the key, and often a cheaper fix than people expect.
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Sometimes yes. Here is how to tell, before you pay for a tow.
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Every key not present is wiped from the car. Good for security, bad if you forget one.
Read itNot “somewhere in the house”. A spare nobody can find at eleven at night is the same as no spare.
A two-pound coin cell. A dying one is the commonest reason a keyless car will not unlock or start.
Overnight, near the front door, is exactly where relay thieves pick up the signal. A signal-blocking pouch stops it.
A second key made now costs a fraction of a replacement once every key is gone. It is the cheapest advice on this page.
If something here does not match what you are looking at, ring and describe it. A general article is never a substitute for someone seeing your car.
Call 0115 960 4128The two of us, usually in the van between jobs, which is why they read like someone talking rather than a marketing department.
Several of these end by telling you not to ring us. The fob battery one alone saves people a callout most weeks.
Broadly, but systems differ a lot between makes and years. Your registration tells us exactly what yours has, and that takes thirty seconds on the phone.
Yes. Most of these started as a question somebody asked at the roadside. If yours becomes an article we will not name you or show your car.
The vans cover the whole patch at the same price, seven days, until nine at night.
Open now · until 21:00 tonight
Stop reading and ring. You will get the price and a real arrival time in the same call.
