Here’s how much unexpected emergencies can cost you

Picture this: You come home after a long day. As you approach your front door, you reach for your keys — but don’t feel them in your pocket.

You quickly realize you’re locked out of your home. Luckily, on-call locksmiths are available to help.

However, an emergency visit like this can cost as much as $400, depending on your location and the time, lock type, service and trip fees, according to This Old House, a home improvement information and advice platform. (The average cost nationwide is $150, the platform found.)

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Unfortunately, more than half — or 63% — of American workers are unable to cover a $500 emergency expense, found SecureSave, provider of financial technology that helps employers offer emergency savings benefits. And only 48% of respondents to a May poll of 1,000 U.S. adults by Bankrate say they have enough emergency savings to cover at least three months’ worth of expenses.

Due to this lack of emergency savings, people are more likely to finance an unforeseen expense on credit cards or dip into retirement savings accounts.

In fact, the share of 401(k) plan participants who made a hardship withdrawal reached an all-time high in 2022, Vanguard found.

Furthermore, 32% of adults could not have covered an emergency $400 expense completely with cash in 2021, according to the Federal Reserve. Their most common approach, instead, was to put the emergency expense on a credit card and pay it over time.

“It’s certainly common now, and a lot of people sometimes feel like they don’t know where to start,” said financial advisor Winnie Sun, co-founder and managing director of Irvine, California-based Sun Group Wealth Partners and a member of the CNBC FA Council.

Here are other common emergency calls with their average costs:

Locksmiths can also help if you left your car keys inside your vehicle. However, service costs, again, depend on the distance a locksmith travels, time of day and the type of lock and effort needed.

On average, unlocking the door can run from $70 up to $150 nationwide, while rekeying the car door can balloon to as much as $600, auto industry website J.D. Power found.

Meanwhile, if your car breaks down or you get into an accident, you may need to call a tow truck.

The average cost of getting your car towed is $109, according to J.D. Power. Yet, several factors impact the price, such as your location and how far you need to go; you could pay up to $600 to go as far as 100 miles.

Serious health-related events — like a critical illness, infection or accident — may mean you need to either…