Self-storage units are great. Period.

In an era where housing sizes are often too small and larger properties too expensive, there’s no better way of storing your possessions than using a storage unit.

It’s an affordable way of freeing up space without having to say goodbye to all your favorite things.

Unsurprisingly, the self-storage market has flourished. But many of these facilities don’t furnish you with the necessary insurance.

Whether you’re storing stuff for the long or short term, storage insurance is imperative. It’s your best option for protecting your belongings off-premise.

Let’s take a closer look…

How Safe is Your Storage Location?

Unfortunately, there’s always a risk when you leave possessions on someone else’s property. So, as you consider whether to get storage insurance, find out how secure the facility actually is.

Some storage providers may have advanced security systems, sprinklers, and weather-resistant constructions. Maybe the storage is being watched by human security.

If this isn’t the case, however, storage locations can come with some increased dangers:

• Storage units are attractive to burglars, mainly if no one’s keeping a close eye on them.
• Storage units are often adjacent to others. This means you’re reliant on whether the tenant next to you has anything in their storage space that could harm others. Other units might present the risk of fire, explosion, or smoke.
• The safety of your possessions depends on how well-equipped the building is to handle extreme weather conditions. This, too, is out of your control.

These are just a few potential issues, but you get the idea.

Why Do You Need Storage Insurance?

The reason you need to insure your possessions in storage is the same as insurance anywhere else. If anything happens to your valuable property, you would be left with a significant loss unless it was insured and covered.

When you’re storing items at home, your possessions may be covered by content insurance. Some of these policies also ensure some storage protection as they cover personal property “anywhere in the world.”

However, most off-premise home insurance policies have a coverage limit of 5-10% of the policy’s personal property. This means that if you stored and lost $25,000 worth of possessions in a storage unit, your would only be covered for $1250-$2500. That just is not enough coverage.

Storage facility property insurance only protects the building that houses the units, not the contents of individual storage units. This covers the building owner against things like fire or wind but leaves individual tenants uncovered in their losses if the damage also affects the contents.The storage facility will take no responsibility for anything you store at thier facility.

You must get your own coverage.

Fewer than half of tenants who utilize storage units get storage insurance, but this can lead to drastic losses – especially for those who store furniture and appliances while transitioning between homes, storage insurance should be a no-brainer.

These are the contents you would have insured later down the line in your home, and that might present a substantial financial loss should they be damaged while you wait to move them.

How to Get Storage Insurance

Premiums for storage insurance can be quite affordable and worthwhile, especially if you are storing items of high value or high quantity. Policies start as low as $5 a month for $2,000 worth of coverage.

Storage insurance policies commonly cover lightning, vandalism, tornadoes, fire, smoke, hurricanes, hail, explosion, water damage from roof leaks, and burglary. Other risks are less widely covered. So, you should inquire with your insurance company if you need coverage for any of the following:

• Floods
• Catastrophic loss-(Named Storms)
• Expensive items like jewelry or art are, of course, precious and might require their own coverage.
• Damage from vermin (insects, rodents, etc.)
• Earthquake

Or anything else you can think of.

Calculating Your Coverage

Once you’ve decided which risks you want to cover, you then need to establish how much value you want your coverage to include.

Needless to say, this hinges on what you’re storing in the unit.

To estimate the value of your possessions, take a notepad, and list each item, you intend to store alongside an estimation of its value.

Once you’ve added up all of your possessions in storage, for example, $15,000, you know that you will need to get a policy that covers you up to this amount.

Storing possessions at a higher value than what’s covered presents a risk. Namely, because the additional cost won’t be compensated, so, instead of overloading a single storage unit for all your items, consider storing them in two different units.

Do You Want to Protect Your Possessions with Storage Insurance?

Insurance always feels like a painful decision, especially when it feels like nothing might ever happen to your possessions. But when tragedy strikes, it is better to be safe than sorry, no matter how short-term your storage solution might be.

Remember, storage units might also require that you are covered before you can sign up for tenancy with them.

If you’re looking for more information on storage insurance and you’d like a quote from snapNsure, get in touch today.