It’s a horrible feeling when you realize you’ve lost your keys. Sometimes they are just misplaced around the house and if you lose the first set, you simply use the spare set until the other ones turn up again.

However, other times you know they are gone forever. Maybe they fell out of your pocket while you were attending a concert at St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview or you forget to hand them over to a friend before getting on a rollercoaster at Darien Lake.

Either way, losing your car keys can ruin an otherwise perfectly good day. When you first realize your keys are gone, follow these tips:

• Retrace your steps
• Check with the manager to see if someone turned them in to lost and found
• Call your spouse or other person who you trusted with a spare key to bring it to you
• If you locked your car keys in the vehicle, see if local law enforcement can help
• If your attempts to retrieve your keys are unsuccessful or you lost them entirely, call a locksmith. Locksmiths are generally available 24/7 for emergencies

Tick Tock Safe and Lock in Syracuse, NY is a full service locksmith. Not only can their lock professionals help you retrieve misplaced keys left in your car, they can generate new keys on the spot – even vehicles with push-button ignitions.

Drivers are not usually aware, but there are several kinds of vehicle keys and not all locksmiths have invested in the equipment needed to duplicate and program today’s technology advanced keys. Tick Tock Safe and Lock has the ability to cut and program high security transponder keys for more than 95 percent of vehicles currently on the road. Key styles include:

Standard. These keys are pretty traditional in the sense that you put them in the ignition and turn the key to start the vehicle.

Key fobs. The first generation of key fobs for older vehicles was offered as a convenience to lock and unlock doors, but a standard key is still required for the ignition.

Key fobs/switchblade keys. Over time, car keys became more sophisticated. Keys and fobs were combined into one unit.

Transponder keys. These keys are fairly common in that they are ignition keys that have a plastic head embedded with a computer chip that reads a wireless connection in order to start the vehicle.

Smart keys. These are popular in newer vehicles. A smart key is more widely known as keyless ignition, because a button is used instead of a key. You can keep your keys in your pocket and the vehicle will detect it to unlock doors and start the vehicle up.