One of those days...

[xequar]

This morning was rather interesting...

As you all know, I'm on crutches for a few months because of some complications in my leg from the accident a year and a half ago. Normally I drive a stick-shift Element, but right now I'm driving an old Astro van I bought for $800 because it has an automatic.

I love the Element. It rides well, accelerates and stops pretty well, hauls all kinds of stuff, and it has this really neat feature that prevents you from locking the doors with the keys in it.

My van...does not. I got outside this morning, and there was a bunch of ice between me and the driver's door. Being that I'm on crutches, I decided to go to the passenger door, grab the ice scraper and put my bag in the van, start it, and then go around the front to get in. As I was closing the door, I thought, you know, I might as well lock it now instead of leaning across the van to do it later (power locks don't work).

Minor issue-I had not unlocked the driver's door yet. So, I get the windows all clean, then I try to get in, and loe, all the doors are locked. All the doors are locked and the keys are in the ignition. All the doors are locked, the keys are in the ignition, and the van is RUNNING. I tried getting into my apartment to grab the spares, to no avail. I tried using an old coathanger to unlock the sliding door, to no avail (couldn't put any force into it because crutches aren't the most stable things for that). I called my roommate, and luckily, he had some time before he had to punch in, so he came and let me in with the set of keys I gave him for the van.

The strangest part of it all, though, is that my boyfriend did the exact same thing with his Neon literally yesterday morning. Luckily for him in this case, it's dirt-simple to break into a Neon.

And that's been my day so far. I'm at work, and luckily, nothing else like that has happened yet.

OK, fess up! Who else has done this or similar?

[Mickey]

OMG! Thank God for AAA! I have done this a few times,myself! Around here(Mass.) even
the cops won't help you. They have those Jimmy things to open car doors with,but they won't use them to help the general public.
It's kinda embarrassing to have to call a tow company to help you out,but you gotta do what you gotta do!

[J Schuelke]

Once I locked my keys in my truck and I had to call my dad from work to bring over his spares so I could get in. Luckily, my keys weren't in the ignition, just on the front seat. After that, we had another spare made and I keep it in my wallet in case I do it again.

[xequar]

Originally Posted by Mickey

OMG! Thank God for AAA! I have done this a few times,myself! Around here(Mass.) even
the cops won't help you. They have those Jimmy things to open car doors with,but they won't use them to help the general public.
It's kinda embarrassing to have to call a tow company to help you out,but you gotta do what you gotta do!

A bunch of police departments got sued because if you're mucking about with a slim-jim in a newer car, you're likely to f--k up the power locks or windows, or worse, blow a side air bag.

As for me, when I used to drive old GMs (like my van is), I used to keep a copy of the Oval key in my wallet. I had gotten so used to my Element that it was neither necessary nor practical. My Element has a transponder key, so it's $140 to have one made, and it's too big to fit into a wallet. Besides, it's a stick shift with remote entry, so I'd unlock the doors with the remote, and I'd have to be in the driver's seat to push the clutch in order to even start it. Supposing I bypassed all of that, there's still the feature that won't allow the doors to lock if the keys are in the ignition. The van, though, is an automatic. The power locks don't work anymore. It doesn't have that neat little feature. But, a key to the van is $1.49 at the convenience store and can fit into my wallet.

At least the rest of yesterday went ok.