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Mike won our March 2026 Free Car Key drawing. Here he is next to his 2018 Ford F150, with his brand new key, cut and programmed by A1 Lock and Safe – Treasure Valley Idaho Locksmith
Kate won our first FREE CAR KEY drawing in September 2025. In January 2026, when she was home from college, we got it made for her. Congratulations Kate! A1 Lock and Safe, Boise Idaho Locksmith
1/13/25 My New Favorite Customer
This man, I’ll call him Wyatt, was so much fun. An older gentleman with a long white beard. Hit a few bumps in the road, helping Wyatt, but we persevered with smiles and laughter.
Wyatt called today and asked how much it was for us to program a smart key he had purchased. I told him, and he said he’d be right down. He showed up at our shop at 1111 S. Orchard St, Boise, Idaho, a while later and handed me the key, so I grabbed the programmer and headed to the parking lot. He looked confused.
“The car isn’t here,” he said. “I lost all the keys.” (Apparently he’d driven down in his second car.)
Strike one!
“Well, I can’t program it if it isn’t here,” I said, smiling. “I can come to your home, but that has an extra fee.”
He agreed, but wanted it done today if possible, and he seemed amused that a female locksmith was going to come program his car. (I get that sometimes!)
When I arrived at his apartment in Boise, Idaho with the work van, there were no parking spots on the road, so I parked in the parking lot, in spite of the sign that said vehicles without a permit would be towed. Wyatt was standing outside by the car. I asked him if my van would be ok there and he said, “Sure. If anyone messes with it, I’ll kick their *#%*.” Now, . . . I mentioned previously that Wyatt was an older gentleman with a long white beard. To describe him a little better, he was fairly short and not as nimble as he probably once was, but, he’s also a retired marine, so . . . I wasn’t going to question his ability to defend my van.
We walked over to his car with my programmer and, to my dismay, I noticed the doors were locked.
“We’re locked out?” I asked, stating the obvious.
Now some of you might say, “Of course you were locked out, Kathy!” but that isn’t always the case. Often someone loses their keys, but the car door is unlocked so they can still access the interior of the car. This was not the case for Wyatt.
Curious, I asked if the keys were, perhaps, inside the vehicle, and he said no because he didn’t think the car would lock with the keys inside. (Some newer cars have that feature, but most don’t.)
Regardless, it shouldn’t have been an issue that we were locked out, because locksmiths are the ones you call to break into your car when you’re locked out, RIGHT?!
Well, . . . yes, . . . but . . . it was a Monday, and over the weekend when I’d been running errands, I’d moved the lockout tools into my personal car just in case someone called while I was away from home. And . . . I’d forgotten to put them back in the work van! So, I didn’t have the lockout tools!
Again we laughed.
Strike 2.
I drove home, picked up my tools and drove back.
Wyatt wasn’t outside the apartment building at this point, and I had no idea what apartment was his, so I proceeded to work on opening the vehicle hoping he’d come out while I was working.
A woman walked by and asked if I was locked out of my car.
“No,” I replied. “I’m the locksmith. A man who lives here called me to help.”
“Oh,” she said and walked slowly away. The next time I looked up, she was taking a picture of me working on the car. !!??!! Oh well, hope my hair looked OK!
I got the car open and sat inside where it was slightly warmer. There I found the keys in the center console. Go figure? I used them to lock and unlock the doors. They worked fine.
I called Wyatt and he said he’d come outside. While I waited, the doors locked themselves, with me and the key sitting inside, so . . . double proof this car WILL lock with the keys inside.
Wyatt was somewhat dismayed he’d missed the whole ‘break-in’ sequence and made me pose outside his car so he could prove to his buddies that I’d been there.
I gave him his old keys and asked if he still wanted the new key programmed. At first he said no, but then he called his wife and she said, “Yes!” (Smart woman!)
Wyatt, of course, wanted to be present for the programming, so (after a few minutes trying to locate the new key fob that ended up being in his pants pocket) we climbed into the car, with his friendly dog. (I have a few wet, dog nose spots on my glasses to prove how friendly this dog was!)
The key programmed easily, for which I was very grateful! Really didn’t want to strike out for Wyatt! He didn’t end up needing to defend my van, for which I was ALSO very grateful!
I left him with my business card and a few more laughs!
A crazy comedy of errors, but I’m so glad to have met Wyatt!
