Car Lockout in Albuquerque, NM

Parking rules that shape a lockout

Where the car sits decides what else you have to manage while you wait.

• Metered streets. In Old Town, Downtown and Nob Hill, the city's street meters run from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Saturday, skipping federal holidays, and nothing is due on Sundays. A meter receipt is meant to sit on the dashboard, which is impossible with the keys locked inside, so keep it in hand and set it on the dash once the door opens.
• Permit streets. Around Downtown, the State Fairgrounds and the University of New Mexico, some residential blocks are limited to residents and their visitors. A permit works only within two blocks of the holder's address and cannot be handed to someone else, so a resident locked out farther from home is outside its reach.

Heat and safety

If a child or a pet is in the car, call 911 now and do not wait for a locksmith. A parked car with its windows shut gets hotter inside than the air outside. If the lockout happens after dark in a large lot, wait inside a nearby store or another lit, occupied place, not beside the car.

Location details to send

Start with the quadrant, then the street and the nearest cross street.

• On Central Avenue in Nob Hill, give the block. The neighborhood runs between Girard Boulevard and Washington Street.
• In a mall lot at Coronado Center, ABQ Uptown or Winrock Town Center, all in the Northeast quadrant, name the store entrance you parked nearest and the row.
• On a metered street in Old Town or Downtown, give the block and which side of the street.
• In a garage, give the level and section.
• For the car itself: make, model and color, whether the keys are visible, whether the engine is running and whether the trunk is locked too.

The car lockout page explains the service. If the keys are lost rather than locked inside, see car key replacement; the Albuquerque page covers the rest of the city.