Key Found! The Saga Ends (I Hope!)


What once was lost has now been found... the spare car key that disappeared into the snow in January and began a saga that ended up costing me $130 and could have cost considerably more.

It seemed like a never-ending saga, the saga of my car keys.

On January 8, as I was trying to leave to catch an 8 a.m. train to New York City, I dropped my primary set of keys somewhere in the snow on the street. After digging around for a while I finally went to my neighbor (with whom I had some time ago deposited a set of keys to my apartment, after locking myself out several times), got the house keys, got into my apartment, and picked up my spare set. Then I had to dash off to catch the train. By the time I returned (around 3 a.m. January 13) it had snowed nearly a foot more, and the snowplows came, so that set of keys could be in Timbuktu for all I know.

A few days later, on January 15, I was going out for a water exercise class I have (therapeutically warm pool, about 98 degrees -- thank you, no, I would not have gotten into a cold pool after being out in subzero temperatures for a million dollars). My driver's side door lock was frozen shut, so I went to open the passenger side. That side was up close to a snow bank and I could barely get the door open and at first could not get in. So I went around to try to unlock the driver's side again. No luck. I was afraid I might break the key off in the door (I did that once, with another car). Went back around and this time was able to slide in. Got the driver's side door open. Somewhere between that and going around to the driver's side again, the car key came loose from my key ring and dropped into the snow. Fortunately I did not lose all the keys, because I hadn’t yet given my spare keys back to my neighbor and would have had to wait until my landlord could get over to the building in order to get back into my apartment.

A neighbor from down the street came by and tried to help -- we dug around in the snow for a while. But it was so cold I was afraid we'd end up with frostbite.

The next day I got a friend to drive me to Hoselton Chevrolet (my car is a Geo) and I got a new key. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. The folks in the parts department at Hoselton said that probably a previous owner (I bought it used from someone else who bought it used) had the locks changed. They said it would cost upwards of $350 for me to replace the locks.

Blanching at that, I called the person I bought it from; she said she hadn't changed the locks. I called the dealer she bought it from; they said they had no record of a lock change, but that didn’t mean it wasn't done by someone else.

I thought I would give the search one more try, and I went out and tried digging around for about an hour. But my fingers and toes got so cold they ached, in spite of fur-lined boots and double-layer leather mittens. I decided that losing digits to frostbite just wouldn't be worth it.

The next day (on the advice of a locksmith), I had another friend drive me back to the dealer to have them double check the code they used to create the new key. Well, I ended up getting a refund on the key, because the code was correct.

The locksmith I had called earlier was swamped with jobs. And he didn’t want to work outside in sub-zero temperatures anyway.

He finally came out Saturday morning 8 o'clock. I was barely awake. Anyway, he took the key code I got from the dealer and re-cut the key for me. Guess what? The key worked. The damn parts department at Hoselton didn't cut it right. Cost me $65 for the locksmith.

But then, the car wouldn’t start. So I thought, ok, in the meantime while I've been trying to get this key thing sorted out, the car has been sitting in the bitter cold for several days. So I called a tow truck for emergency road service. He arrived quickly, but the driver said there was nothing he could do. The engine turned over but it wouldn’t start up. He said there could be all kinds of problems with it. I said that didn’t make sense because the car was working just fine before. He said it could be my gas line was frozen. Or all kinds of other things. So he towed the car to the mechanic I use who is only about four blocks away. Charged me $65 to tow the car.

I called Sam Lovetro (the mechanic), hoping to leave a message on a machine telling them my car was there and that I would be over with a key Monday morning. I didn’t want to give my only key to the tow truck driver! But luckily Sam was there. He said to come on over and bring the key. He was catching up with work from earlier in the week. So I hiked over there. Yes, hiked. The snow banks were very high and it was nearly impossible to negotiate the sidewalks; so after struggling in the snow for a while I ended up taking my life in my hands by walking in the streets -- very busy main streets.

When I arrived at Lovetro’s, I thought, hell, why not give it one more try? If I could get the car started it would save me paying a mechanic for nothing. So I got into the car, and the engine turned over and huffed and puffed a bit. But it sounded to me like it would start if I just kept trying. So I tried a few more times, and lo and behold, the engine revved up and I was off!

So I was out $130 because the damn dealership couldn't cut the key right and because the damn tow truck driver didn't know his a** from a hole in the ground. Well, I'll get some of that money back from my emergency road service insurance that I have with my regular car insurance. But they have a limit of $50 on the towing.

After all of that, several more feet of snow fell, and with bitter cold temperatures it all froze into hard-packed ice. I figured I wouldn’t find the key until after the snow melted, come spring. I worried that some dishonest person might find it and steal my car -- it’s the only Geo on the street.

The warm temperatures of this last week made most of the snow disappear, and I had been keeping my eyes open for that key, with no luck. Fortunately, today one of my downstairs neighbors found it. It has joined the three other keys I now have to make a fourth.

Maybe I'll have a couple more made and put one in a safe deposit box...

Posted: Wed - March 3, 2004 at 09:24 AM          

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