Find The Best Commercial Insurance For Storage: 5 Tips For Your Business
These days, space is at a premium. With more people running a business from home, finding places to store everything from extra stock to rolls of bubble wrap for packaging, archived documents and even old office furniture is now a real issue.
The proliferation of self-storage units in the UK is a relatively modern phenomenon. It seems like a practical solution to all your storage woes – for a monthly rental fee you can keep everything in one place, declutter your office or home, store old equipment that may get repurposed down the line, or even just have somewhere to keep documents, stock and other bits and pieces in a safe and secure environment.
However, there are a few things you need to consider before you rent a storage locker, including how to store your possessions, how secure the locker really is, and, most importantly, whether your storage locker package includes any optional insurance for storage for either household or business goods. So if you are thinking about utilising some extra storage space by renting a locker, here are our top five tips for your business when you’re looking for the best commercial storage locker insurance.
Need help with cover for storage units? Simply call one of our advisors on 0117 955 6835 today.
1. Know the value of your goods
Before you pack everything into boxes and take it to your storage locker, make sure you know exactly what’s going into storage and its value. You will need to make an inventory to make sure you’ve got a record of everything. Where possible take photographs, especially if you’re storing high-value items.
Make sure your inventory is kept scrupulously up to date if you take anything out or add anything into the locker. If you think you may be changing the contents of your storage locker regularly, then you’ll need storage locker insurance that’s flexible and adaptable. As with any type of insurance, make sure you accurately assess the value of the goods you’re storing, so if the worst happens and you have to make a claim, your insurance will cover the cost of your goods.
And whatever you do, don’t keep your inventory in the storage locker!
2. Find insurance for storage that’s specifically designed for rental lockers
At Park Insurance, we’ve been specialising in bespoke insurance cover for our clients for over two decades, so we know what you need. You need adaptable, flexible and, most importantly, affordable cover that gives you peace of mind and complete protection.
While most storage locker facilities may offer their own insurance for storage units, it tends to be very specific, inflexible and, above all, expensive. At Park Insurance, our storage locker insurance is specifically designed to cover both household and business goods stored in off-site storage lockers.
3. Check what’s covered and what’s not on your storage locker insurance
It’s important to check the small print when taking out storage locker insurance to find out what’s covered and what’s not. Usually, you’ll find that valuables like jewellery or high-ticket items are not covered. Remember, this is a storage locker we’re talking about here, not a vault.
It’s also important to double check that there are no ‘exclusions’ on a policy, such as computers or electronics. It may also be very difficult to put a value on some goods such as accounts archives, deeds or other important paperwork, so if you do need to store these it’s advisable to make alternative arrangements such as a safety deposit box or bank vault.
It’s pretty obvious that storing things like flammable liquids will invalidate your insurance, so don’t use your storage locker as a general ‘dumping room’ for rubbish.
4. Check what security measures you’re responsible for
To qualify for storage locker insurance, you may have to fulfil certain responsibilities when it comes to security. So part of your insurance policy may require you to use a certain kind of padlock to secure your storage unit door. Remember that if you fail to comply with specifications like this, it may invalidate your insurance.
Likewise, how you store your goods may be stipulated on the insurance policy. So if you are asked to store goods in robust plastic boxes with lids, that’s what you need to do. Cardboard boxes offer zero protection against damp or damage if dropped.
Your insurance for storage from Park Insurance protects you against damage or loss of property due to fire, earthquake, water damage (flooding or leaking) and burglary. However, you do need to make sure that you’ve taken every precaution to protect your goods, and don’t forget that inventory either.
5. Don’t assume your home contents insurance will cover you
A common question we get when talking to customers about storage unit insurance is: “Why do I need separate insurance? Surely my house contents insurance or business insurance will cover it?” However, in most cases you’ll find that normal household contents or business insurance won’t cover your property if it’s stored off-site. If they do include insurance for storage then it’s usually very limited and comes with a whole slew of provisos, which renders making a claim for loss or damage from a storage unit practically impossible.
Specialist storage unit insurance is specifically designed to cover your property while stored in a locked and secure storage facility. It’s affordable and it’s flexible – because we recognise that it may be a short-term arrangement rather than a long-term solution.
If you want to find out more about Park Insurance’s cover for storage units and storage locker insurance, simply call one of our advisors on 0117 955 6835 today.