Why You Should Never Leave Your Garage Door Remote in Your Car

You make sure all of your doors and windows are locked when you leave the home or go to bed at night. But, are you unknowingly leaving a spare key for thieves to use?

Cities from across North America are seeing a rash of thieves gaining access to the home by simply pushing a button: the garage door button.

A homeowner will leave their garage door opener in clear view and park their car in the driveway. Even if you decide to look into something like lock up garage rental in London, it is important to know how to keep your vehicles and possessions safe.

Sometimes they won’t even lock the vehicle! This allows thieves to gain incredibly easy access to the entire home through the garage without picking a lock or breaking a window.

This gives thieves free rein to take whatever they want from inside your home, or they can simply help themselves to the expensive tools and sporting goods in the actual garage.

News outlets from San Diego to Edmonton are reporting a recent increase in these crimes. The scariest part is that, with no visible signs of forced entry, you may not notice you have been robbed until you notice something missing. And this could be a few days after the actual theft.

How Can I Prevent This?

The most effective solutions are to:

1. Bring your remote inside the home with you
2. Park in the garage and lock the door

However, you can certainly take things one step further by taking your garage door remote out of the equation. You can open and close your garage door via a mobile app. This is how far technology stretches these days, garage doors are amazing and have lots of cool features to suit your needs, you may want to check out Coastal Garage Doors and see for yourself what garage doors are available out there to purchase. You can even use your smartphone to open the garage doors.

Your “opener” is actually your smartphone. And your smartphone is probably almost never out of your sight, so that’s as safe as it gets.

These Wi-Fi-enabled garage door openers can also send you real-time alerts any time the garage door is opened or closed. It also comes in handy when you’ve gone out of town for the weekend and can’t remember if you’ve locked the garage or not. If you are experiencing issues with your garage door then you must consult with a reputable garage door company immediately.

If you want one for your home, you can learn more from Dodds Garage Doors and let them help you find the perfect model, based on your style and your budget.

What Do I Do if I Lose My Remote?

If your garage door remote is lost or stolen, you’ve basically lost a spare set of keys to your home.

If you have a spare remote, that’s good. You should:

1. Erase the lost remote from the memory of your opener
2. Reset the code

Not sure how to do that? You can consult your owners’ manual, or if you have a Lift Master model, they’ve provided this step-by-step video.

If you do not have a spare remote, that’s a bit more of a concern. You will have to either:

1. Get a replacement remote from your garage door opener manufacturer, and carry out the steps above, or…

2. Get a new garage door opener. This could be a great excuse to upgrade and take advantage of the new technology.

In the meantime, while you wait for your replacement or your new unit, you’re obviously going to have to start opening and closing your garage door the old fashioned way. Make sure you’re doing so as safely as possible. It might be worth using a firm like Tip Top Garage Doors Nashvilleto check how well it locks and see if they can provide a more safe option to ensure your belongings are safe!

And of course, don’t forget to lock the door to your home inside the garage to stay as safe as possible.