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Car Lockout

Car lockout service in Chicago. No locksmith needed.

If your keys are locked in the car, you do not necessarily need a locksmith, and you almost certainly do not want to pay locksmith prices. The operators we send carry professional automotive lockout tools, long-reach kits, air wedges and lever sets, and unlock most non-electronic car doors in five to ten minutes. For modern push-button-start vehicles where the key is locked inside and the car cannot detect it, they can still get the door open, and from there you can usually drive away. This is what tow companies do every day, whether it is a weekend night in River North or a Tuesday afternoon at Orland Square.

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Quick Tow Chicago technician using a long-reach lockout tool to unlock a sedan in a Chicago shopping center parking lot

What's included in car lockout service?

  • Professional long-reach lockout kits for all major vehicle makes
  • Air-wedge and lever entry for tight or damaged door frames
  • Push-button-start vehicle lockouts (we get the door open, you grab the key)
  • Trunk-only lockouts and rear-hatch entry on SUVs and crossovers
  • Lockouts at home, in parking lots, downtown, or on the highway shoulder
  • If the key is broken in the ignition or door, the operator tows to a locksmith
  • If a window is broken or the lock is damaged, we coordinate with a glass company
  • Discretion and verification - we confirm you own the vehicle before opening

When do you need car lockout service?

  • Keys locked inside the car at home, work, store, or restaurant
  • Keys locked in the trunk and the rear seat does not fold down
  • Push-button-start car with the key fob locked inside
  • Toddler or pet locked in the car (call 911 first, then us)
  • After a night out downtown, keys locked in the car near a restaurant or bar
  • Key fob battery is dead and the manual key inside the fob is locked in the car
  • Working AAA card but the wait time is over an hour and you need to get home
  • Locked out at O'Hare or Midway with a rental car

What do drivers ask about car lockout service?

How much does a car lockout cost in Chicago?

Quick Tow Chicago's lockout service is quoted before we dispatch. Locksmiths in the Chicago area often charge significantly more for the same job, with an after-hours upcharge on top. Whatever your call costs, you hear it on the phone first.

Are tow companies allowed to unlock cars?

Yes, it is a routine roadside service in Illinois. We verify ownership, a driver licence and registration or a clear vehicle-to-driver match, before opening any door. We do not pick locks, we do not duplicate keys, and we do not work on cars where ownership is unclear. For an abandoned-vehicle situation, we follow the standard local recovery procedure.

What if I have a push-button-start car?

We can still open the door. Push-button-start vehicles use a key fob that has to be inside the car for the car to start, but the door lock itself is mechanical or uses a passive entry sensor. Either way, our long-reach tools open the door. Once the door is open, you grab the fob and start the car normally.

Can you make me a new key?

No, the operators we send open doors, they don't program keys. If your key is lost, broken, or stolen, the right call is an automotive locksmith or your dealer. They can open the door so you can reach your spare, but if there is no spare, you need a locksmith next.

What if a child or pet is locked in the car?

Call 911 first. Local police and fire will break a window if a child or pet is in danger, and a car in a Chicago summer heats up fast, just as a Chicago winter turns cold dangerous within minutes. Once first responders are on scene, call us as a non-destructive backup, we may arrive in time to open the door without breaking a window. Never wait on us if a child is in immediate danger.

Will you damage my car?

We use professional automotive lockout tools designed not to damage paint, weatherstripping, or door electronics. In rare cases an air-wedge can leave a faint mark on weatherstripping that wipes off. We've opened tens of thousands of cars; the damage rate is effectively zero.

Service area

Where do we offer Car Lockout in the Chicago IL metro?

We provide car lockout in every city and community across the Chicago metro. Pick your city for local details and service specifics.

Chicago City Sides Car Lockout in The Loop & Near North This is the one place in the metro where a missing car is as likely to have been relocated as impounded, and the Central Auto Pound sits at 500 E Wacker Dr, Lower Level, right in the middle of it.
Chicago City Sides Car Lockout in North Side Lakefront Lakeview and Lincoln Park hold roughly 171,000 residents between them in mostly permit-zone street parking, which makes this a lockout, jump-start and residential-tow side rather than a heavy-recovery one.
Chicago City Sides Car Lockout in Northwest Side Belmont Cragin is 78 percent Hispanic and Hermosa nearly 85 percent, and the Kennedy runs diagonally through the whole side with the arterial overnight ban posted along Milwaukee, Irving Park and Cicero.
Chicago City Sides Car Lockout in Southwest Side Nine community areas here run between 59 and 89 percent Hispanic, which is why Spanish on this site is a first-class page and not a translation afterthought, and the Stevenson and Midway sit on top of them.
Chicago City Sides Car Lockout in South Side Auto Pound #2 at 103rd and Doty Avenue is physically on this side and runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which makes getting a car out of that specific pound a real local question rather than a generic one.
North & Northwest Suburbs Car Lockout in Evanston Northwestern's campus sits on the lake in a city that runs strict residential permit parking and its own municipal impound, so a tow here is a village matter, not a Chicago pound matter.
North & Northwest Suburbs Car Lockout in Des Plaines Two tollways cross this city, O'Hare is immediately south, and Rivers Casino runs around the clock, so the demand here does not stop at business hours.
North & Northwest Suburbs Car Lockout in Schaumburg Woodfield Mall plus the office and hotel lots around it make Schaumburg the biggest private-property towing market in the northwest suburbs, and every one of those tows is governed by the Illinois relocation law.
North & Northwest Suburbs Car Lockout in Elk Grove Village One of the largest contiguous industrial parks in North America sits against O'Hare here, which is why this is a heavy-duty page: box trucks, tractor units and delivery fleets, not sedans.
West Suburbs Car Lockout in Oak Park Oak Park runs some of the strictest overnight street-parking enforcement in the metro, so the dominant local tow story here is the village impound rather than a private-lot relocation.
West Suburbs Car Lockout in Cicero More than 89 percent of Cicero is Hispanic, the highest share of any municipality in Illinois, and dense blocks with almost no off-street parking keep residential tow and relocation friction constant.
West Suburbs Car Lockout in Naperville The wealthiest large market on this map, on the Reagan Tollway, with the Route 59 retail corridor supplying the lot volume and newer vehicles driving flatbed-only requests.
West Suburbs Car Lockout in Aurora The second-largest city in Illinois and 41.5 percent Hispanic, with a working BNSF rail yard and a cargo airport on top of I-88, which makes it the second real home for Spanish content on this site.
South & Southwest Suburbs Car Lockout in Oak Lawn Advocate Christ Medical Center is one of the largest hospitals and a Level I trauma center in Illinois, which means crash-damaged vehicles arrive in Oak Lawn even when the crash happened somewhere else.
South & Southwest Suburbs Car Lockout in Tinley Park The Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre puts about 28,000 people into lots on a summer night, which is the most predictable towing-demand event anywhere in the south suburbs.
Will County Corridor Car Lockout in Joliet I-80 and I-55 cross at the largest inland port in North America, which makes Joliet the heavy-duty capital of this service area and a third of the city Hispanic on top of it.
See car lockout in all 35 cities
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Serving the Chicago IL metro

Need car lockout in the Chicago IL metro?

Line answered 24/7. Price quoted before anyone rolls.

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