So you get to the airport, Eurostar terminal etc., park and lock your car, put the keys in your pockets and fly/train off.......

Then either when you at your destination you put the keys in the room safe, or in your bag, or walk around - if it's a short trip - with the keys still in your pocket: until you return and having transported them thousands of miles to places where they aren't needed, you get back to the car and unlock it.

There must be an easier way than this. Put the keys behind the front wheel of the parked car ? Place them on some suspension component ?

Anyone any ideas ?

BTW I never take the house keys with me when I leave. Lock house, conceal keys. But car keys are another matter.....

Travel with a zip top small canvas type sponge bag into which drop passport, credit cards, keys, mobile telephones and so on as required. It's too big to lose easily and looks both innocuous and valueless.

On top of the offside rear wheel was not uncommon round here.

On top of the offside rear wheel was not uncommon round here.

This is Darwinism at its best... Well, sort of...

"Come on, take my car, look, I even left the keys somewhere you'll never find them!!"

:p

Get to Airport/Terminal, wherever. Pull into car park, park outside office. Hand keys over to car park attendant. (Car then taken away to wherever to be parked).

Get back, go into car park office*, pay bill, pick up keys, car parked outside office. Climb in, start up, go home.

Simples.

* Just make sure it is the same car-park office that you left your car at. It's an easy mistake to make. All the transfer busses look alike. Honest.

Get someone else to drive you to the airport and pick you up when you come back.

Normally take a taxi to the airport. Cost is similar to, or often less than, airport parking fees, and no worries about dubious car park security. Taxi drops you off and collects from right outside the terminal, avoiding a potentially tedious walk with luggage. If I choose to enjoy a modest tipple on the homeward flight, no worries about driving home.

Use valet parking and also have your car valet cleaned while away.

Excuse me, wholi, I'll have you know my car valet is always proper and doesn't need any more money spent making him clean just because I'm away

I always parked my car at the FBO (handler's office) and left all my keys with them. The only keys I took with me on trips were for the aircraft.

If forced, kicking and screaming, to fly the airlines, I'd park with a airport valet service and leave the keys with them.

Course you could do what a friend of mine did once. Park the car in front of the FBO's office, with it running, locked, keys in it and leave on a five day trip. :p

Get driven to the airport. Much easier - even if you have to pay.

If you're coming back off an overnight flight, especially from the west, likely to be safer, too.

There must be an easier way than this.


Anyone would think your car key is the size of a golf bag.

Sounds like a pointless exercise to me. What's easier than slipping it in your pocket? Far greater peace of mind than concealing them, hoping no-one will suss your hiding-place. That goes for your house key too.

JH's post made me thinking about the parking ticket one receives entering the premises. Where do you put it? In the car, take it with you on your wallet or a briefcase? The last couple of options are more attractive since one has to pay on an automatic counter before reaching the gate by car.


Rwy in Sight

Anyone would think your car key is the size of a golf bag.

The question doesn't relate to the size but the possibility of losing it en-route or in some sleazy bar or house of ill-repute. Anyway, mine is quite bulky, lot of buttons for doing different things built into it.

JH's post made me thinking about the parking ticket one receives entering the premises. Where do you put it? In the car

That's exactly where mine does stay, in a cunning concealement. Why the heck would I carry to the ends of the earth something I only need when I pick up the car ? Same thing applies to the keys.....

Surely you're much more likely to lose your keys - and your car- if you leave them for days on end poorly hidden on the back wheel in a public car park, while you're miles away and no-one else is keeping an eye on things? Keys in pocket, hotel safe. They're useless to anyone in the hotel.

I clip my house/car keys to my nav bag's special key holder. Fly all over the place. Return and open the door with the keys. :ok:
I keep the aeroplane keys in my pocket when away. :ok:

Any trip longer than a week I leave the car at home and get a lift. I have an old Samsonite soft leather laptop/document carrier type bag (sadly discontinued) that has a zipped pocket perfect for key stowage otherwise.

If you have an electronic beeper to unlock the doors...just lock the doors and leave the keys inside.

When you return call someone who has your spare "beeper" and have them beep the sound into their phone---hold your phone next to the car door----it will will open the door.....and then you retrieve your keys and drive home....

----it will will open the door..

It will will not, unless it's a sonic device from the 60s. I await correction. No, not that kind of correction. :\



Just hide a key in the car. Have a low cost door key cut - or why not two while you're about it? All else fails, and you've lost your key and fob, and you're on your way home to sort it at your leisure. Well, unless you're my wife.

Can you come and get me. Keys stolen in bag snatch in Wallmart. Talkint to policeman.

Why don't you use the emergency key?

They took that as well

What, the one I suggested hooking onto your jeans?

I don't do that, it's silly.

Gasp. Sigh. :ugh: (Do that a lot.) Call the break in man we're insured with.

He comes and bends the door of my Cadillac with a tiny rubber bag and squeezy thing. Not talking skinny doorframes here. Beyond belief.

When I go surfing, I use a car key safe to leave my car keys in rather than leave them on the beach. Available from many hardware stores or Amazon for around £20.

Lost key then just call a plumber:-
Jak ukrast auto - YouTube

;)

Have a low cost door key cut

My car door key contains a chip that's read by the car.

Well, some great suggestions there. Wonder if the Romans had this sort of problem with their chariots ?

With mine, it isn't the key that's the problem. It's where to hide the bl00dy starting handle.

just leave key in ignition. The longest its sat in the cp is 2 weeks, never lost it yet, thereagain it looks a crap car fit only for the breakers yard, no worries about carpark dings either :ok:

Sew a lanyard into a pocket of your jeans, attach keys. Sorted. Works for mittens.

It's where to hide the bl00dy starting handle.

Reminds me of holidays a long time ago. Went camping then went walking on the moors for a few days, leaving the car on the camp site. Definitely dubious about the car locks (I think that Ford had a grand total of about 16 keys to covers their whole range at the time) so we used to take the rotor arm with us - deter any casual thief anyway. The only problem then was getting the battery recharged after we got back and tried to start the car forgetting that we had taken the rotor arm out.

OFSO,

Generally speaking the automatic till is before I reach the car, so if I leave the ticket in the car, I have to go to the car first, and then return to pay and finally go to the car.

To answer the original question, I take the keys with me either in a pocket or on my office bag (actually a present from a UK aviation manufacturer). On the return flight I put the ticket on my wallet and the key in the pocket so I can move smoothly from the aircraft to the car.

Rwy in Sight

Get yourself a keypad entry system (http://www.keyless.com/vehiclekeyless.htm) fitted. if you have an ignition key you can leave it in the glove compartment.

Do 2 one-way car rentals. The company drop off a car at your home and you drop the car at the airport then vice versa. Much cheaper than parking ;)

There must be an easier way than this. Put the keys behind the front wheel of the parked car ? Place them on some suspension component ? Go for it. It's been helping young enterprising chaps (and gals these days :ok::}) to borrow cars for years...Seriously? May as well leave them in the ignition and tape a 'Free car, take me; my owner doesn't want me any more' sign to the windshield. Do what I do; chuck 'em in your bag and then have to unpack the whole thing at the carpark entrance trying to find them when you return. It's even more fun when you work at the airport in question, because your colleagues can stroll past and view a fortnight's worth of dirty undies, duty free, tacky knick knacks and medication for Embarassing Travel-related Complaints. :O

Course you could do what a friend of mine did once. Park the car in front of the FBO's office, with it running, locked, keys in it and leave on a five day trip. http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/tongue.gifWe once had a ramp operator do that with a van at an aircraft bay (gate). It ran for about four hours and then caught fire. The airport fire service were Not Amused, and nor was the rep from the swanky international carrier whose aircraft was due for that bay and had to stand off while the fireys chucked a brick through the window of the van so they could turn the thing off and then bury it in foam.

The van operator was awarded the prestigious Airport Boofhead Of The Month Award, despite facing heavy competition from another guy who forgot he was driving a set of stairs and decided to nip down and park under the terminal (maximum clearance less than 2.0m) so he could grab a burger. :ouch::}

The carpark in which my car regularly spends its holidays is very brightly-lit, underground, with a human attendent present for all the hours its open, plus cctv, and steel shutters closing it when shut overnight. In fact I might as well leave the keys in the ignition, problem solved !

Buy Jeremy Clarkson's favourite car, a Hyundai Sonata, and leave the keys in the ignition. He has slagged those cars off so badly that no self respecting car thief would be seen dead in one.

My fishing buddy is totally opposite to me. When we travel I wear trainers, jeans and polo shirt. Boarding card in back pocket with passport, bit of cash and a couple of credit cards in front pocket. Car keys are always left at the car park reception. Travelled round the world many times with minimum of fuss and disruption.


My pal is completely the opposite. Cargo pants with six pockets, fishing vest with countless pockets, all with something "essential" in them. Every time he needs to show passport, boarding pass, lounge pass and yes, car keys, he is convinced he has lost them, all with the resulting queue building up behind.:ugh::ugh::ugh:

Do what a friend of mine did and leave them on the roof of his car in the airport car park.
Amazingly still there one week later.

Local scrotes obviously must have thought it was a set up.

Local scrotes obviously must have thought it was a set up.

There are areas here where holiday villas are left locked up, steel grills on windows and doors, and still get broken into. OTOH I know of two cases where the owners* walked off leaving front doors wide open, six weeks later the houses hadn't been touched. Must be the same thing.....

*Both cases where the owners had mental breakdowns, not that its relevant.

In a similar vein, just leave your keys on the ground next to the driver's door and draw a chalk circle around them.

mwMrQkxi9pA

I have terrible worries about my key's, heightened by the fact that my (terrible but cheap) on line insurer made it quite clear that if my car got nicked with the key's, then they wouldn't pay out.

Like izod explains , surfing can be challenging. Keys tied and wrapped in condoms around the neck remain waterproof but lethal, keys on the wheel can, and do, result in vehicle theft.

Once tried leaving the door unlocked, with key under the back carpet, with trusty hound, Max, in charge. After a very long, wet and cold surf, came back to find said dog had managed to lock the bloomin' car.

Thank you RAC. Yes, you're admin is sh*te, but the lads on the ground are hero's.:)

I'm in of the "get a lift from the Missus" category now but when I used to travel more, I would just drive myself and park as opposed to having SWMBO play taxi twice a week.

Back then, I never really had a concern about the keys. I have a clip on my key ring that snaps into my Laptop bag so as long as I don't loose the laptop bag..... :p

Being only 20 minutes from LGB and SNA, it's not much of an hassle. Nice being greeting at the airport after a trip by the little missus too.

When I go LAX (30-40 minutes), I generally use a shuttle service.

Hand keys to daughter. Pray.

Keys left in the car in Greece for 6 months when in Botswana. Left with landlord in Bots when in Greece. Did have the fuel nicked in Greece this winter though. Actually nothing is ever stolen here (small Greek island) it is just borrowed! Still waiting for the fuel to be returned :(

In the 90's had a hot hatch that was a target for thieves and used to remove a fuse for fuel pump so even if they nicked it they couldn't go anywhere :) and they tried.

Leaving in car and disconnecting a fuse and hiding in car is a good option as just came back from a trip where worried on way to airport that had left keys at place where staying.

No insurance company will pay for a theft claim unless primary and spare keys are produced.

Had a call last month from the Cops regarding a car I sold three years ago as to whether the buyer got a spare key. Apparently the poor bloke couldn't produce a spare and I couldn't recall not giving him both keys. I haven't found the spares since them and I think I got them when I bought it but wouldn't you cut a spare after 3 years?

(or if you were committing a fraudulent claim?)

Glue a magnet to an old bicycle puncture repair kit box, put keys inside and attach to somewhere under the car. Or buy one for seven quid or so. Simples.

I used to commute between Kuala Lumpur and Bandar Seri Begawan when the older kids went on to secondary school. Finish work on Friday, board 18:00 flight to KL. Sunday, catch 21.30 flight back to Bandar. Arriving at BSB one night I couldn't find my car keys. Oh No! Left in KL! I'll see if I can get into the car and hot wire it. Try car door and find it unlocked. Keys? There they are - still in the ignition!.

Bandar Seri Begawan airport car park is (or was at that time) probably the only one in the world where you can park your car in the airport car park with the keys in the ignition and find it still there two days later. :ok:

Oh yes, and it started first try. Good old Mazda 929.

wouldn't you cut a spare after 3 years?

To us older generation it must seem simple. But read your new car's handbook. Keys only available as a complete set from the manufacturer, and the chip inside the key must be coded to the car with some rigmarole of putting it in the ignition, tuning one way, turning back, waiting, turning it another way, sticking it up your nose, and I don't know what.

Just had to replace a faulty key for the A4. £140 for the cut blank and £45 to programme it. Robbin' bastids.

Simples.. Leave them at the airport/station lost property office. Provided you're sure they'll keep them for a period of time and won't dispose of them, you can 'claim' them on your return.

Also works for the various items you can't take through the security checkpoints these days.

The hospital I worked at some years ago allowed staff to park their cars there while on holiday, if you asked security nicely they would even clamp it for you and put the keys in the safe, you could then get the bus to the airport knowing the car was being looked after.