It’s never a good time to need a locksmith. With a bit of advance planning and preparation, though, you can reduce the bill you need to pay. Here are a few ways to minimize your locksmith charges without compromising your safety and security.
If you are like most people, you take vehicle security seriously. You probably lock your car doors whenever you park, and you may even have a passive or active security system. Yet what if we told you that someone else might have keys to your car—not through theft, but through a quirk in the way that car key combinations are assigned? In fact, you may have heard about this on the news. Let’s take a look at the odds of your car keys having twins, and what you should do about it.
The News Story
A few years ago, there was a big news story on twin car keys. As the story goes, a family had two Hondas, an Odyssey and an Accord, that were purchased two years apart from different dealerships. The son accidentally grabbed the keys to the Accord, and he was able to open the Odyssey. This set off a wave of public concern over the possibility that someone else might have keys to their locked car.
The Reality
It is true that twin car keys exist. In fact, major car manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota, and Ford use approximately 3500 distinct key combinations. Therefore, the odds are reasonably good that someone else out there may have the same keys you do.
While this sounds ominous on the surface it actually is not as bad as you may think. The family in the news story notwithstanding, the odds of encountering the owner of your car keys’ twins are astronomically low. Even if you did, how would the two of you ever know it? Most people don’t make a habit of trying their keys in other people’s cars.
Collecting a bunch of car keys would make little sense for would-be car thieves either. Roaming the streets with a handful of keys would attract exactly the type of attention that bad guys prefer to avoid. And again, the odds of one of those keys just happening to match a car in the area the thief is working are incredibly low. If a car thief wants to access your car, he will go the low-tech route of smashing a window—making a security system vital.
Staying Safe
Even if the worst happens, and someone out there manages to open your car door, starting the engine is a whole different ballgame. Today’s keys have unique chips that must interact with the ignition in order to actually start the car. Someone else’s keys will not also have the same chip that is needed to drive your car away.
If you are truly worried about someone accessing your car, despite the very low odds, you can always have a new lock installed. Texas Premier Locksmith can help you sort through your options and decide which lock is best for your needs.
Texas Premier Locksmith is known as one of the premier locksmith companies across the state of Texas. If you are ready to form a relationship with a reliable, trustworthy locksmith, please give us a call today at (866) 948-8188.