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Locksmith answering service: a child in a locked car is never just a lockout
Short answer
A locksmith answering service picks up when you’re already at a lockout across town. Ours is 100% AI: it answers as your shop, says it’s an AI and asks first whether anyone is in danger, including a child or a pet locked in a car. If so, the caller hears your 911 line before anything else and your on-call locksmith is alerted. Other lockouts go straight to whoever’s on call, rekeys and lock changes are booked, and you get a summary of every call.
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Example call: a toddler locked in a car
Brass Key Locksmith · A toddler locked in a car
Urgent
- AI
- Brass Key Locksmith, this is AI Receptionist, the AI assistant. How can I help?
- Caller
- I locked my keys in the car and my son’s inside. He’s two.
- AI
- Please call 911 right now; they’ll get him out fastest. I’m alerting our locksmith too. Where are you?
- Caller
- Grocery store lot on Linwood Avenue. Yesenia, 555-0140.
- AI
- Thanks, Yesenia. Hang up and call 911 now.
Summary sent to you
- Urgent
- two-year-old locked in a car in a parking lot. Caller told to call 911 first.
- Caller
- Yesenia, grocery store parking lot on Linwood Avenue, 555-0140.
- Done
- on-call locksmith alerted at once with the location. No price or arrival time given.
When locksmith calls come at the wrong time
It’s 11:30 on a Saturday night in Charleston. You’re kneeling at a car door in a hotel parking lot with your tools out and a customer watching, and your phone keeps buzzing in your jacket.
A man locked out of his house in his socks. A landlord who wants three units rekeyed on Monday. A restaurant whose key snapped in the lock at closing. A woman who wants her locks changed tonight because her ex still has a key. On voicemail, those four calls sound identical. They aren’t.
How the call goes
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It answers as your shop
The AI says: “Brass Key Locksmith, this is AI Receptionist, the AI assistant. How can I help?”
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It asks about danger first
A child, a vulnerable adult or a pet locked in a car, or anyone in danger right now, gets your 911 line and an urgent alert to your on-call locksmith.
The AI says: “Is anyone locked inside, or is anyone in danger right now?”
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It asks what’s locked, and where
A home, a car or a business, and whether the caller is locked out right now. In a parking lot, it asks for something your locksmith can find in the dark.
The AI says: “Where exactly are you? A cross street or a store name helps.”
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It reads your ID line
If you check that the caller lives at the address or owns the car before opening anything, the AI tells them what to have ready, in your words.
The AI says: “Our rule is to see an ID with this address before we open the door, so please have it ready.”
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It routes the call by your rules
Lockouts go to your on-call locksmith, put through or alerted at once. Rekeys, lock changes and new hardware are booked into your calendar and confirmed only once the booking is saved. Night calls follow the after-hours triage protocol; the rest of our scripts are in the call protocol library.
The AI says: “I’m putting you through to our on-call locksmith now.”
What counts as urgent
This is the urgent list a locksmith starts with. You decide every row.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Child, vulnerable adult or pet locked in a car, or anyone in danger | 911 line first; on-call locksmith alerted at once |
| Break-in with the intruder possibly still there | 911 line first; then on-call locksmith to secure the door |
| Locked out of a home or car right now | Urgent: on-call locksmith, by your rule |
| Business locked out, or a key broken in the lock | Urgent: on-call locksmith now |
| Caller afraid someone else has a key, wants locks changed tonight | Urgent by your rule; 911 line if they’re in danger now |
| Rekey after a move, cylinder change, new deadbolt | Booked into the next open slot |
| Safes, access control, master key systems | Estimate booked, or a message for the office |
What it never says on these calls
- How to get into a car or a home without a key.
- That the door will be opened without the ID check you require.
- A price, an after-hours rate or an arrival time you haven’t approved.
- That a child or a pet in a hot car can wait for a locksmith.
- Any advice about the person a caller is afraid of. That’s for 911.
What you decide
- Your urgent list, including whether every home lockout is a night call.
- Your ID line: what the caller needs to show before you open a door or cut a key.
- Your after-hours rate: read out on the call, or left for your locksmith.
- Cars: whether you do car lockouts and car keys, and which makes.
- Who’s on call, and who’s the backup.
- Your service area, and the polite answer for calls outside it.
We set it up the way you want and you approve the final version.
Why this works for locksmiths
Our call protocols come from nearly two decades of running phone reception for small businesses, and locksmith calls show why one word isn’t enough. “Lockout” can be a child in a hot car or a key someone lost last week.
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It escalates real emergencies: danger gets 911 first, then your locksmith, never the other way round. It never promises what you don’t: no phone price that changes at the door, and no opening without the ID check you require. The reasoning behind both rules is on our method. If you also repair garage doors, the garage door answering service page has its own urgent list; all ten trades are on home services.
What it costs
Lockouts don’t come on a schedule, and the bill shouldn’t punish you for that: every answered call is billed at one price whatever the hour, and the unit is the call, not the minute. On Pay As You Go there’s no monthly fee: $0.99 for each answered call. The 50-Call Plan is $29 a month with 50 calls included. All plans are on pricing.
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Your month, by plan
Best fit: 50-Call Plan, $29.00
- Pay As You Go Best fit $29.70
- 50-Call Plan Best fit $29.00
- 100-Call Plan Best fit $49.00
What the month would cost on each plan: the monthly fee plus each call past the ones included.
Questions locksmith owners ask
What does a locksmith answering service do with a 2 a.m. lockout?
It checks whether anyone is in danger, finds out what’s locked and exactly where, reads your ID line, and puts the caller through to your on-call locksmith or alerts them with the details at once. As a 24/7 locksmith answering service it takes several calls at the same time, so a busy Saturday night doesn’t leave anyone stuck in voicemail.
Will it quote my prices?
Only the prices you approve, in the words you approve, such as your service-call fee or your after-hours rate. Without an approved price, it tells the caller that the locksmith will confirm the price before starting. It never gives a low number to win the call.
How does it handle a child locked in a car?
By your 911 line, first. It asks whether anyone is locked inside, and if a child, a vulnerable adult or a pet is in the car, it tells the caller to hang up and call 911, then alerts your on-call locksmith with the location. It doesn’t judge whether the heat is dangerous; your line decides.
Is an AI receptionist for locksmiths good for booking rekeys?
Yes. Rekeys, lock changes and new deadbolts are booked into the slots you allow, confirmed only once saved; landlords with several units get the details passed to the office. As your locksmith phone answering service, it keeps routine work booked while you handle lockouts. More on appointment scheduling.
Will it tell callers they need ID before you open the door?
Yes, in your words. Before you open a home or a car, you need to see that the caller lives there or owns it, so the AI tells them what to have ready: an ID with the address, or the car’s registration. Your locksmith doesn’t arrive to an argument. If the caller says they can’t show it, the summary says so and you decide whether to go.
Stay on the lockout you’re already at
Press “Get started” and tell us your urgent list, your ID line and who’s on call at night. We turn that into your locksmith protocol during the free setup (how it works), and no call reaches it until you’ve approved it.
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