A licensed Sacramento locksmith, answering the phone at any hour
A 24 Hour Locksmith works across Sacramento and the surrounding cities, on homes, businesses and vehicles. The company is licensed by the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services under License No. LCO 6830, and is insured and bonded. California regulates this trade for a reason, and you are entitled to ask any locksmith for their number and check it before work starts.
What we are usually called for
Four things account for most calls. Somebody is locked out of a house, a business or a car. Somebody has just moved in and does not know how many keys are in circulation. A lock has started sticking and has finally seized. Or every car key is gone and the vehicle will not start. Each of those is a different job with a different answer, which is why no single price can describe them all honestly.
What to have ready before you call
Your exact location, including the garage level and bay if you are parked underground. What kind of lock or vehicle it is, with the year, make and model if it is a car. Whether any key exists anywhere. And identification, plus something linking you to the property or vehicle, because you will be asked for it before anything is opened. A locksmith who does not ask for proof of ownership is a locksmith you should not be using.
Rekeying, replacing, and knowing which you need
Rekeying changes the pins inside a cylinder so every old key stops working, while the hardware stays on the door. It is the cheaper answer and it is usually the right one after a move, a lost key or a change of tenant. Replacement is for locks that are worn, damaged or genuinely low-grade. Either way, the strike plate matters as much as the lock: screws long enough to reach the framing stud rather than just the door casing are one of the cheapest meaningful upgrades available.
Car keys, and why they cost more than house keys
Almost every vehicle built since the late 1990s carries a transponder chip that has to answer the immobilizer. Cutting the metal is quick; teaching the vehicle to accept the key is the part that takes equipment and time. A spare cut while you still hold a working key costs a fraction of an all-keys-lost call later, which makes it the single cheapest insurance in this trade.
On timing and pricing, plainly
No response time is promised on this site. Traffic, time of day and what else is running all affect it, and anyone guaranteeing a specific number of minutes before knowing where you are is guessing. No flat price is published either, because the same advertised figure cannot honestly cover a three-lock rekey and an all-keys-lost replacement for a modern proximity fob. You get an estimate on the phone, before anyone is dispatched, and you are told what would change it.
