Broken Key Extraction: Any Lock, Any Ignition

A key snapped off in a lock or ignition is one of the most common locksmith problems, and one of the most fixable, as long as it's done right. We extract broken keys from almost any cylinder on-site across Broward: car doors and ignitions, house deadbolts, padlocks, storefronts, and far beyond. The key is removing the fragment without damaging the cylinder, which is exactly where DIY attempts go wrong. Bonded and insured, mobile, 24/7.

Here's what most people don't know: a key only slides out of a cylinder when the cylinder is in its exact natural position. On a house lock, a key that's halfway turned won't come out at all, so we find the natural position first, hold a loose cylinder or housing steady, and draw the fragment straight out. On a car, the ignition has to be turned all the way to the off position before extraction; rookies just yank at it and make it worse. On a high-traffic storefront, the mortise mechanism is often loose, so we seat it in the right position before touching the key. When customers try to extract it themselves, they bend the fragment, push it deeper, or chew up the keyway, turning a quick job into a cylinder replacement.

HOA laundry room, rusty cylinder. A building's key suddenly wouldn't fit the laundry-room lock. I tried their spare, which also wouldn't seat, and I could feel the tip hitting something inside. I opened the door, pulled the cylinder the same way I would for a rekey, and found a broken key fragment lodged inside. Removed it, confirmed the key worked, reassembled it, then cut fresh spares for the homeowners.

Chevy Silverado ignition, auto-body shop. A body shop we work with needed a key pulled from a Silverado ignition. Because it was a thick key, we extracted it cleanly with a spiral tool and fine tweezers, saved the cylinder from damage or replacement, then cut a new key with remote. Done in 20 minutes.

Storage-unit padlock, wrong key. A customer broke a wrong key inside her storage-facility padlock after months away. Here, cutting the padlock and supplying a new one with two keys was the cheaper, faster fix, solved within 15 minutes of her call.

It comes down to the cylinder and the break. A padlock extraction is far cheaper than a car ignition. A key broken in a locked digital lock takes more labor and experience, and may cost more, but we can still do it without breaking the door or the lock. A full key versus a half key broken inside are different situations needing different tools. We assess it and give you the price upfront, before any work starts.