Funny story Byrd_Hunter. Sometimes we are too smart for our own good.

I like my Corolla S, I have had it now for 23 months. I have averaged 36 MPG with it and that is on all driving. The thing is though, I only have 4700 miles on it. I never drive it anymore. Since I retired I hardly drive anywhere, anytime. I sold the Rover in January, just before the gas prices went way up...lucky me! So now I have a 2004 Chevy Trailblazer that I bought new 7 years ago and have had two very minor repairs, so it is essentially the best vehicle I ever owed as far as serving me reliably. I bought the maximum Toyota warranty on my Corolla so I have no worries with it and both are relatively low mileage as far as wear and tear goes.
So, other than having two cars I love and not driving them a lot, I am set for vehicles for quite some time I suspect.
My S is Barcelona Red, nice color, kinda load but it is the only red car I can ever remember owning. Cheers!

I have carried spare house/car keys for ~25 years. Because I learned to:

Once when I was 22 I locked my car keys on the front seat of the car, I could see them there. It didn't ruin the night, worried about it later. Luckily in the dark early morning there are a lot of certain types of people around. I chose a likely guy and he opened my car cleanly as fast as I could have with the key.

Once ~25 years ago I accidentally locked the door from the garage into the house. Had to go to a phone, call a locksmith...it was in the early evening so premium rates. I watched the guy make a key from scratch just by using their "special" blanks and jiggering it in the lock...probably took about 5 mins.

Anyway, my actual "contribution" was going to be: don't store your spare keys in any pouch/case/wallet/etc. that you also store ANY type of ID in. Oh sure, the guy will use the address/license etc. info to return your keys, sure... The corollary is that if you lose your house keys (with ID) you MUST re-key your locks ASAP. Even if somebody returns the keys. This may be obvious to people here, but I was surprised (when speaking to groups) just how "unobvious" it is to people.

I moved to Columbus OH in 1991 from the eastern side of WV, so I was 250 miles away from any family or friends. My little Chevy truck that came from the repo auction had a couple holes in the floor the previous owners made for mud and water to drain as they must have mud raced it. I taped over a hole and taped my spare keys there, it was back under the seat where it couldn't be seen from inside and was hard to get to from the outside as you had to carefully reach between the frame and front drive shaft.
So that first winter I started the engine and got out to scrape the windshield and when I went to get back in the door was locked. I reached my pocket knife under to cut the tape and when I punched through I heard a ping as a key bounced around inside. I laid down in the ice and snow and took my arm out of the coat sleeve and squeezed up as far as I could inside and was able to grab a key with my now frozen and dirty arm. Unlocked the door and got in and drove back to my apartment. Then when I got into my apartment I noticed I had the spare ignition key and not the door key, this was back when there were two separate and they were different. I went back down to the parking lot and tried that spare ignition key and it would not open the door lock. I used the door lock key and opened it and got in and found the spare door key way over on the passenger side where it flew when I punched through the tape.
Somehow, when I needed it most, that ignition key unlocked the door that one time.
I always kept spares in my wallet after that.
Also I see a lot of people who keep their BOB's, one of the things I've done is either put my wallet and keys and phone in the front pocket of my BOB or a spare set of keys in it. If the house caught fire and I needed to evac out a window I'd grab my BOB on the way, probably tossing it at the window first to break the window then have keys to get in either vehicle and start it up and move away from the house and have access to the heater and/or spare clothes.

Did he jiggle it, and file it, jiggle it, and file it, and so on? If so, that's called impressioning. It's one of the finer arts of the locksmithing trade. Very interesting thing to watch when you have someone that is good at it.

^ Yup, that's what he did. The lock made little marks on the blank and he just gradually filed it. I asked him about it since I had never seen/heard of that ("pre-internet" lol) and vaguely recall he said the blank's metal surface was easily marked by lock tumblers etc. to show where to file.

And remember to give the Dear Wife a copy of your key...Keeps it handy.

Had my locked out of my car episode last week. The key fob failed and I found out that the the key will not unlock the doors if they were locked with the key fob. Think that this has something to do with a British sense of humor, the car is made in England.

Fortunately for me the dealership is nearby and the mechanic was able to come over and break into my car and bypass the the alarm and ignition immobilizer. Now I know how to unlock my car with the "special key" that is now in the trunk. And the alarm bypass instructions are in the owners manual. So I am set for the next time.

Ditto house keys...An ounce of prevention...

So, how do you get into the trunk?

Sue