Do you need one of the locks in your home repaired? Are you locked out of your car and trying to find a way to get back into it? Or would you like to have an access control system installed in your business?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’re going to need to go through the process of hiring local locksmiths sometime soon. They’ll be able to provide you with the necessary residential, commercial, or automotive locksmith services.
It’s not always easy to track down the right local locksmiths, though. With more than 22,000 locksmith companies scattered throughout the U.S. right now, it can be challenging locating the best locksmiths in places like Dallas-Fort Worth.
One of the most effective ways to do it is by looking around for a local locksmith that has the right qualities. Here are ten of the factors you should think about when you’re attempting to find a locksmith to cater to your specific needs.
1. Experienced
You wouldn’t hire a mechanic who just started working on cars last week to rebuild your engine or an HVAC specialist who just started working on AC units last week to replace your AC unit, right? So why would you even think about hiring local locksmiths who don’t have any experience to work on the locks in your home, business, or car?
One of the first things you should do when you’re considering a local locksmith is check to see how much experience they have. If they aren’t equipped with at least a few years of experience, they’re not going to be a good fit for you.
You don’t necessarily need a locksmith on your side that’s been installing, repairing, and replacing locks for 50 years now. But a locksmith’s “About Us” page should indicate that they have five years or so of experience.
You’ll feel so much better about having a local locksmith working on the locks to your home, business, or car when they have a wealth of experience under their belts.
2. Licensed, Bonded, and Insured
Right after you’re done checking to see how much experience a local locksmith has, the next thing you should do is make sure they’re licensed, bonded, and insured. It’s important for them to be all three of these things.
When a locksmith is licensed, you’ll know that they’ve gone through the proper channels to legitimize their business. When they’re bonded, you’ll know that they have obtained the services of a bonding company that will cover the costs of any damage done to your home, business, or car. And when they’re insured, you won’t have to worry about being responsible for medical bills racked up as a result of an accident.
If a local locksmith balks at all when you ask them whether or not they’re licensed, bonded, and insured, find a new locksmith. They’re not going to be the right choice for you.
3. Skilled
What exactly are you going to be hiring local locksmiths to do? You should figure that out before you call on them and make sure they’re able to extend the locksmith services you need.
There are some locksmiths that only offer residential services and others that focus primarily on commercial services. There are also locksmiths that spend almost all their time fielding calls from those with automotive problems.
In a perfect world, your local locksmith should do all three. They should also take things one step further by offering a wide variety of specific residential, commercial, and automotive services.
Some of the residential locksmith services they offer should include:
- Lock repair
- Home lockouts
- Security audits
Some of the commercial locksmith services they offer should include:
- Access control systems
- Lock rekey
- Deadbolt locks
And some of the automotive locksmith services they offer should include:
- Car lockouts
- Car key replacement
- Ignition switch repair
You shouldn’t have too much trouble tracking down a local locksmith that can serve as your one-stop-shop for all your locksmithing needs—both now and in the future.
4. Reputable
Studies have shown that more than 90% of people read online reviews for businesses before calling on them these days. You should definitely do this prior to hiring local locksmiths.
You can learn so much about a local locksmith simply by browsing through all the online reviews they’ve accumulated over time. You can find out:
- How reliable they are about responding to calls quickly
- What kinds of prices they offer to their customers
- Whether or not they do great work when performing services
- How likely people are to work with them again after working with them once
If a local locksmith doesn’t have a great reputation within your community, they’re probably not going to be the best bet for your home, business, or car. You’ll regret hiring them later and be the next person to post a negative review about them.
That’s not to say that you should automatically trust a local locksmith that has positive reviews. You should still do your due diligence and research them before bringing them on board to do a job.
But it’s safe to say that a local locksmith with nothing but positive reviews is often going to be a safer choice than one with a slew of negative reviews. They deserve your consideration when you’re thinking about hiring local locksmiths.
5. Close
There are going to be times when you aren’t going to need to have a local locksmith come out to your home, business, or car right away to provide services. If, for example, you’re having high tech locks installed in your home, you aren’t going to need to rush to do it.
But there are also lots of times when it’ll be imperative for a local locksmith to come to your home, business, or car immediately to set you up with services. When this is the case, your local locksmith is going to need to be, well, local.
They should be close enough to respond to your request for service within just 30 minutes or so. That’s not always going to be possible if their office is in a neighboring city or town.
Check out a local locksmith’s address on their website and see how close it is to you. If it’s not close enough, it’ll be time to call on a different locksmith for assistance.
6. Available
It’s important for you to contact a local locksmith that’s situated close to your home, business, or car when reaching out to them for emergency locksmith services. But if a locksmith company doesn’t make themselves available 24/7/365, it won’t matter how close they are to you—it’s not going to do you much good.
You should always look for local locksmiths that specialize in providing true emergency services. These companies can respond to your request for service on a whim and have someone come out to take care of your problems in a hurry.
Most locksmiths that offer 24/7/365 service to their customers are more than happy to broadcast it on their website. If you don’t happen to see anything about it, they may not be able to come to you as quickly as you need them to.
7. Safe
Thankfully, there aren’t as many home burglaries taking place these days as in years past. But there are still about 2 million of them that occur every year throughout the country.
This means that safety should be one of your top priorities when you’re calling on a local locksmith to help beef up your home’s security. They should know all the different ways in which they can make your home safer than it is now.
In some instances, this will call for them to replace old locks that have seen better days. In others, they’ll need to install deadbolt locks to make it just about impossible for someone to kick in one of your exterior doors.
They’ll also have to know how to take similar steps to help business and vehicle owners increase the safety of their commercial properties and cars. If locksmiths don’t seem to have a firm grasp on safety, don’t let them through your front door.
8. Honest
Generally speaking, every business that you patronize should offer you honesty. It doesn’t matter if you’re calling on an auto repair shop to fix your broken-down car or an HVAC repair company to replace your furnace.
But it’s even more important than usual for your local locksmith to be honest. There are, unfortunately, a bunch of news stories that come out every year about locksmiths using their powers for evil and breaking into homes, businesses, and cars.
The last thing you want to do is hire a locksmith that ends up putting you into a vulnerable position. It’s a big part of the reason why it’s so important to do your homework and hire the most reputable locksmith you can find.
9. Affordable
Far too often, cost is the No. 1 concern that home, business, and vehicle owners have when they reach out to a local locksmith. The only thing they care about is getting access to locksmith services that are dirt cheap.
But the old saying, “You get what you pay for,” comes back to bite many of them. They’re surprised when they see what a bad job that a locksmith who charges next to nothing does for them.
You can avoid finding yourself in this scenario by shopping around for the local locksmith that will offer the fairest and most affordable prices, not the locksmith who simply goes out of their way to beat everyone’s prices.
By taking this approach, you’ll get a great price on locksmith services while also getting superior services to the ones offered by lesser locksmiths. It’ll work out better for you in the end when you get the services you expect.
Ideally, your locksmith should also go the extra mile by providing you with pricing estimates on their services ahead of time. This will let you know how much you can prepare to pay before a locksmith shows up to set you up with services.
10. Courteous
Locking yourself out of your home or losing the keys to your car can be some of the worst experiences a person can go through. They can cause stress, anxiety, and even feelings of hopelessness in some cases.
With this in mind, you don’t want a local locksmith to make things worse when you pick up the phone and call them. You want them to be courteous and to make you feel welcomed from the second they pick up the phone to talk to you.
If you reach out to a local locksmith and they don’t seem all that interested in being nice to you, they’re not right for you. There are other locksmiths that would be much happier to provide the services you need.
You should also avoid hiring local locksmiths that aren’t courteous when they show up to help you at your home, business, or car. They should always greet you with a smile and go out of their way to make a bad situation better.
This is the kind of locksmith that you’re going to want to call on over and over again. You’ll enjoy working with them, even when you’re stressing out over the situation that you find yourself in at any given moment.
Hiring Local Locksmiths You Can Count On Is Important
Many home, business, and vehicle owners make the mistake of picking up the phone and calling the first local locksmith they can find when they’re in need of one. They don’t put anywhere near enough thought into hiring local locksmiths that are right for the job.
You shouldn’t make this same mistake the next time you need a local locksmith to help you. Take your time when trying to choose one and look for the locksmith that you know is going to extend the most professional services possible to you.
We welcome the opportunity to show you what our local locksmith company is all about. Request a local locksmith today and we’ll send one out to your home, business, or car right away.
