What a locksmith costs in Munich

Are the prices gross or net?

Gross. Every price you see on this website is what you actually pay — 19 % German VAT (Mehrwertsteuer) is already included, and so is travel.

This matters more than it sounds. In several countries, and in German business-to-business quotes, prices are quoted net and tax is added at the end. For consumers in Germany the law requires the final price to be shown, so a figure advertised to private customers should already include VAT. If a provider quotes you a number and the invoice is 19 % higher, that was not a legitimate net quote — that was a bad-faith one.

What does "Festpreis" actually mean?

Festpreis means fixed price: the amount is agreed before the work starts and does not change afterwards. The word is used by almost every locksmith in Munich, which unfortunately means it has stopped distinguishing anyone.

What separates a real fixed price from the advertised kind is what it excludes. Ask two questions: does the price include travel, and is there a time charge? Many providers advertise a fixed price for the labour, then add a call-out fee, then bill extra per started quarter-hour beyond a certain point. Each of those is legal if disclosed. Together they mean the number you were told is not the number you pay.

Our fixed price includes travel and VAT and has no time component. If your door turns out to be one of the six documented exceptions, we tell you the new price before starting, and you can decline at no cost.

When do surcharges apply?

Three time bands, and they are the same across the industry even where the amounts differ. Weekdays 8:00 to 18:00 is the standard rate. Weekday evenings and Saturdays cost more. Nights from 22:00 to 8:00, all of Sunday and public holidays cost most.

Sunday is a full-rate day in Germany, not a half-day. This surprises people from countries where Sunday trading is normal — but German shops are closed, and emergency trades charge accordingly.

German public holidays are partly federal and partly by state. Bavaria has more of them than any other German state, including several that exist nowhere else: Heilige Drei Könige on 6 January, Fronleichnam in late spring, Mariä Himmelfahrt on 15 August in most Bavarian municipalities, and Allerheiligen on 1 November. If you are new here, these are the days you did not know were holidays until the supermarket was shut.

Why do I have to show ID?

Because otherwise we would be helping people into flats that are not theirs. Every reputable locksmith in Germany checks this, and a provider who does not is a warning sign rather than a convenience.

What we normally need is photo ID showing that address — a German Personalausweis or a residence permit card usually does. If your ID shows a different address, or you are a recent arrival, a document connecting you to the flat works too: a tenancy agreement, a Meldebescheinigung (registration certificate), or post addressed to you there.

If all of it is inside the flat, say so when you call. That situation is common and there are other ways to establish who you are. What we cannot do is skip the check because it is inconvenient.

Who are the Hausmeister and the Hausverwaltung?

Two roles worth knowing before you pay anyone, because either may be able to let you in for free.

The Hausmeister is the caretaker for the building — maintenance, bins, the boiler, sometimes the garden. Many hold a key to the main entrance, and in some buildings to individual flats. If your building has one and it is a reasonable hour, ask them first.

The Hausverwaltung is the property management company that administers the building on behalf of the owner. Their contact details are usually posted in the entrance hall. In larger buildings they hold spare keys or can authorise an opening. If you rent, they are also the ones who decide about a cylinder change after a lost key.

We tell you this knowing it may cost us the job. It costs less than the review you would leave after paying for something a phone call would have solved.

Keys and locks when you move into a German flat

How do locksmith scams work in Germany?

The German pattern is specific enough to recognise, and it starts with the advertisement rather than the invoice: a headline price that cannot be real — "ab 28 €", "ab 29 €" — a dispatched subcontractor who has no relationship with the company you rang, and a total assembled on your doorstep out of call-out charges, time charges and a supplement for a "security lock" that turns out to be an ordinary cylinder.

What protects you is boring and effective: ask for the total on the phone including travel and VAT, ask for the company address, and ask whether the person coming works for them. Any real business answers all three without hesitation.

The full pattern, the four checks you can make before calling, and what your options are if you have already paid, are set out in our guide.

Locksmith scams in Germany — the pattern, and what to do

What if the bill is far higher than agreed?

You have more protection than most people realise, and German courts have taken this seriously for years.

Exploiting somebody's emergency to demand a grossly excessive amount is Wucher — profiteering — and it is a criminal offence, not merely a contractual dispute. The Federal Court of Justice confirmed a conviction on exactly this basis (case 1 StR 113/19), and lower courts have repeatedly ruled excessive locksmith invoices immoral and therefore void.

Practically: pay nothing you have not agreed to, ask for a written invoice with the company's full address and the VAT shown, take photographs of the door and the invoice, and note the time. If you have already paid under pressure, the Verbraucherzentrale — the German consumer advice centre — can tell you whether the amount is recoverable. There is one in Munich and it advises in English by arrangement.

None of this helps at 3 a.m. while you are standing in a stairwell, which is exactly why the price belongs in the conversation before anyone sets off.

How can I pay?

Cash, girocard or Apple Pay, directly to the technician on site.

A note on girocard, because it confuses almost everyone who moves here: it is the German domestic debit scheme, and it is what most German bank cards actually run on. It is not Visa or Mastercard, and many smaller German businesses accept girocard while declining international credit cards. If your card was issued outside Germany, mention it on the phone and we will confirm what works.

You get an invoice without having to ask for it, with our full address and the VAT shown separately. That matters if you intend to claim the cost from insurance or a landlord.