Stuck in Kingman, AZ after locking my car keys in the trunk of my car. Called AAA roadside assistance and they sent out their contracted tow truck guy with a slim jim/air bladder/bent wire abut he gave up after about 10 minutes, was afraid he would damage the car doors. He suggested I call a locksmith. I called AAA again, but their contracted locksmith (Sterling Steele Locksmith) was on another job, in Bullhead City, which is quite some distance from Kingman. I put in a request to send their locksmith when he was finished with his job in Bullhead City, and the dispatcher told me it would be about 2 1/2 hours wait time. I did not want to wait as I had made plans for early afternoon in Prescott, a few hours drive.
So instead of waiting, I stubbornly tried to make other plans and called another roadside assistance guy, an independent in Kingman who said he could come right away (10 min.) and he was almost positive he could get the door open, but if not I would still have to pay his service fee ($50). Another failure. Nice guy, and now he knows that he cannot get into a Lexus LS460.
I had a doomsday scenario worked out. I could rent a car, drive to the nearest Lexus dealer (Henderson, NV) and wait to have a key shank cut. Five hour round trip and a few hundred bucks for the car rental and the key. The other option I thought of was rent a car, drive 7 hours home to get the other car key. Depressing to think about that one.
So my last good hope was that the locksmith contracted with the auto club could get the door open, get the trunk open, and retrieve my keys. But I wasn't very optimistic about it.
Sterling Steele Locksmith rolled in to the motel lot under two hours from my phone call. The owner, Sterling, is a young mountain of a man and he was very cordial and optimistic and put my mind at ease. AAA had told him that the call out was for a lost key, not a lock out. He told me that he could order a key fob/key shank and have them delivered to him and he could cut the key and program the fob and I would be on my way by mid-day tomorrow.
I informed him that I didn't need a key, I just needed to get my own key out of the trunk. He went right to work, using the same entry tools as the other two guys, but apparently with a much better technique. He popped the lock and had the door open within 5 minutes. Then he used another tool to allow the trunk to be opened. And he was smiling and friendly the entire time. He knows what he is doing and he got me out of a big jam; without his help I would be writing this from Kingman. I am now in Prescott, thanks to Sterling Steele Locksmith.
Don't know if I'll ever need a locksmith in Bullhead City or Kingman again, but if I do then I know who I will be calling.