You surely know how important it is to insure your home and car. But did it ever occur to you that storage insurance is as important for protecting the goods that you put away in storage? These days it is common for people to leave their larger mansions and move into smaller apartments. This means that more and more people are storing their valuables in storage facilities for safekeeping. But how safe are they? For 100% protection of our precious goods which you have stored away, there is no better alternative than storage insurance.
The good news is that most reputed storage companies offer insurance voluntarily as soon as a new customer books space in their storage facility. In the storage industry, ‘short term’ storage signifies a period of 1 to 2 months. Therefore, during this time, the storage company promises to protect your stored goods against natural calamities like storm, floods and so on. You could easily opt for short term storage insurance but then you have to remember to remove the goods from self storage, once the tenure is over.
The other way of looking at insurance during storage is to check with your existing home insurance company whether they can extend the coverage to stored goods as well. In case your current insurance company is agreeable to extend their coverage, then there is no point in buying extra insurance from the storage company.
In case you are buying storage insurance, you need to be very sure about the kind of coverage you are getting. For example would your goods be covered against disasters like fire, flood, hurricanes, etc? Remember if you are insuring goods worth $2000 and they promise you 40% coverage, any claim in the future could only give you $800! It is also a fact that the more you increase your coverage the more you pay out in terms of premium. Therefore, you need to strike a feasible balance between how much you are paying out every month against how much coverage you are expected to get when finalizing any insurance.
A good option in this area is to look for companies who offer coverage for Goods in Motion or GIM. This is a kind of insurance coverage valid for goods in transit. This is beneficial to you if the storage company agrees to transport the goods to the desired destination after the tenure of storage is over.
One of the redeeming features about storage insurance is that there are plenty of storage companies to choose from and you should not really have any problem in finding the right kind of insurance coverage that suits you and is affordable too. However do not forget to ask your existing home insurance company whether they can take the onus of the goods you have kept in storage and insure them as well. It is always better to deal with one insurance company than many insurance companies for your domestic goods.
Things To Do Before Collecting Self Storage Insurance Rates
Look at Your Homeowners Insurance
The first thing you should do is take a closer look at your homeowners insurance or renters insurance. Depending on what plan you have there is a chance that some of the items that you will be storing off-site could be covered. This depends largely on what insurance plan you currently have, however taking a few minutes to look your homeowners insurance policy can prevent you from paying for insurance that you may not need.
Understand What Will Be Covered
It is also important to know what will and will not be covered by your self storage insurance policy. In most cases, more expensive items such as jewelry, for, art, vehicles, and paperwork (such as legal contracts and financial records) will not be covered. This means that you will likely need to take out separate insurance for those items or simply store them somewhere more secure.
Average Self Storage Insurance Rates
As a general rule, you will likely end up spending about $6 per month for $1000 in coverage at the low-end and $24 per month for $15,000 in coverage at the high-end. Your deductible will normally be between $100 and $500. It is important to note, that along with the item value that you will be ensuring the type of self storage insurance will play a large role as well.
Rates at the Storage Facility
More and more self storage facilities are offering some level of protection. In most cases, the rates tend to be higher than average and the total level of coverage will be less. This is because you are essentially paying for convenience. Instead of having to deal with an outside insurance company, you can sign up for this type of self storage insurance at the same time that you get your storage area. This also means that you will have the ability to make a single monthly payment that will cover both your storage unit and your insurance costs.
Rates Through Independent Companies
There are a growing number of independent insurance companies that solely provide storage insurance. In most cases, these companies will give you the highest level of coverage in terms of the overall dollar amount. They will also normally protect against damage that many other insurance companies will not.
Rates Through Private Insurance Companies
The final option is to use a private insurance company. This would be the same company that you have other types of insurance through. Most people get their self storage insurance through the same company that provides their renters or homeowners insurance. You may even be able to get a discount for bundling multiple insurance policies. For example, you can save money by bundling your self storage, renters, and automobile insurance.
Self storage insurance are also much more flexible compared to other insurance. Usually, you are able to change the terms and conditions as well as the coverage value since customers may need to access their items on a regular basis and the value of the items will differ each day. It is best if your insurance policy allows you to change the terms when you need to. If they are unable to, the best bet would be to purchase a higher coverage value insurance to cover as much as possible.