my wife brought her mother to the hospital, and in her haste. has lost the only set of keys and remote we have. the doors are locked. i was in the process of acquiring an extra set, but you know how that goes. my cat is sitting at the hospital emergency parking lot on a saturday night.
ok, anyone of my smart forum friends....what would you do??
thanks, robert
Check with the hospital's lost and found dept. in an ongoing way, i.e., more than just one time. And leave word there re your loss.
Try, calmly, to re-trace your wife's movements.
Vigorously importune your deity of choice.
Those are the low cost options.
Moving on:
Obtain your VIN from paperwork at home. First thing Monday telephone Caddy customer service and seek direction. Have your VIN available . .
and/or
try to obtain emergency help from your dealer. I expect the VIN will also be needed there.
Alternatively, still with your VIN handy:
Contact OnStar and subscribe. They can get you into the car. Am not sure they can assist with starting your car absent a key.
If you are a AAA member, I believe AAA offers a lockout service as part of their standard package.
Ramblings:
Obviously you can break into the car. But I do not know how to hot-wire a Catera. You might need "professional" help on that one. Sadly, many of the needed professionals are likely out of town, in the hoosegow.
Besides, hot wiring the car would probably mean tearing apart your steering column.
If location is any portion of your dilemma, you most likely could have the car towed to your home using a rear end pickup. This would get the car out of the parking lot without breaking or destroying anything. You might be more comfortable having the car back at your home. I hope you have a second car, but if not weekend rentals are available.
hey guardian, that was an awesome response. the hospital has our number and we traced back a few times through the ER. to no avail. i called onstar. they cannot remote start of course, and since i don't have an active account they can't open the doors.
prayer is of course last recoarse, but warranted here. thanks for reminding me, if only in jest.
onstar informed me that gm service would not have the key codes of a car more than two years old. and a locksmith could only open the door, but wouldn't have keys to start it. thankfully i have an extra auto and the hospital is in a safe neighborhood, five miles from my house.
i'm apparently stuck waiting to monday morning to see what caddy can rip me off for.
thanks again, robert
i will check in with lost and found in the morning, the saga continues!!
hey guardian, that was an awesome response. the hospital has our number and we traced back a few times through the ER. to no avail. i called onstar. they cannot remote start of course, and since i don't have an active account they can't open the doors.
prayer is of course last recoarse, but warranted here. thanks for reminding me, if only in jest.
onstar informed me that gm service would not have the key codes of a car more than two years old. and a locksmith could only open the door, but wouldn't have keys to start it. thankfully i have an extra auto and the hospital is in a safe neighborhood, five miles from my house.
i'm apparently stuck waiting to monday morning to see what caddy can rip me off for.
thanks again, robert
i will check in with lost and found in the morning, the saga continues!!
Thanks. It's important to remember your keys are not lost. They are merely misplaced. Do not assume the keys were dropped or mislaid in a public place. They could just as easily be within your wife or mother-in-law's personal effects, just in an unexpected location.
Also
Given your update I would not go to GM first on this, as was my initial thought. I would probably contact more than one professional locksmith first, just to be certain they cannot assist. If you get the right person you might strike paydirt. Because if you are correct about GM only going back two years, there could be hell to pay going through them. It sounds like a setup to charge even MORE than their customary exhorbitant service charges.
It's an intensely difficult situation from any angle. Still, I think you must redouble your search efforts before mortgaging your home to pay GM for their "help". The two year limitation you mentioned, if accurate, is disgusting and disappointing.
for all of you with only one set of keys and remote....learn from my mistake. i called cadillac service. the only way they could help me would be to have the car towed to them and they would make a new key and program it. gm roadside could do nothing for me. they didn't even want to discuss cost. finally i was recommended by a friend to a good mobile auto key service, they came and 3 hours later on monday afternoon and $250 (a break) i was back on the road. although now i don't have a remote. I"ll buy the remote on ebay and another key, and of course they will need to be programmed.....$$$$
by the way, the locksmith said, be glad you don't have a lexus. he charges $600.00 for them, and the dealer gets over $1100!
i learned my lesson, spare keys for all my vechiles.
robert
I was told that without a key, the replacement would be real expensive and several times the price you got yours replaced at. The locksmith who cut and programmed my new keys said $1,500.00 US.
My local Cadillac dealer wanted $200.00 to cut and program each key. This did not include the fob (remote).
I found two keys cut and programmed on the net for $126.00 for both. This was the cheapest set I found, but I really didn't look too hard.
The replacement keys were not branded Cadillac either.
They work just fine.
Sounds like your locksmith did give you a deal.
Good news seems to come so infrequently to Catera owners...
as a final note. after all this, the new key was cut on monday. it took hours to do. had to pull the driver side door panel off etc... wednesday the hospital called my wife to report that the lost keys were turned in. yes a valuable lesson, and expensive spare key. at least i don't have to buy a new keyfob...amen!
thanks, robert
I came across this joke... thought it was relevant, and worth the chuckle after your experience:
"IDIOT SIGHTING: When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealer-
ship to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock
the drivers side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively
tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to the technician, "Its open!" His reply, "I know - I already got that side."
I came across this joke... thought it was relevant, and worth the chuckle after your experience:
"IDIOT SIGHTING: When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealer-
ship to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock
the drivers side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively
tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to the technician, "Its open!" His reply, "I know - I already got that side."
are all the clean jokes from canada??? wasn't funny back then though. still haven't reglued the top of the driver doorpanel. but thats another fourm.
thanks, robert
I came across this joke... thought it was relevant, and worth the chuckle after your experience:
"IDIOT SIGHTING: When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealer-
ship to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock
the drivers side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively
tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to the technician, "Its open!" His reply, "I know - I already got that side."
Good joke.
But not as big a joke as you guys losing the cup, which belongs in Canada, to a bunch of CA ducks.
What's next? Maybe new uniforms for the RCMP . . . . in pink.
Re: lost keys!!!????help!! 
wasn't funny back then though. still haven't reglued the top of the driver doorpanel. but thats another fourm.
