Are Your Goods Insured in Self Storage Facilities?

A lot of people have storage lockers these days but many of them never really think about the insurance issue. Some just assume that they are already covered while others don't think that they need insurance. In most cases there is no insurance on the stuff that you have in your storage locker. As to whether you need it or not that is up to you and will need to be based largely on what you have in your locker.

In general your possessions are not insured when you put them in a storage facility. That means that you need to make sure that you take steps to protect yourself. In most cases you will find that the storage facility offers some sort of insurance coverage that you can purchase. This may or may not be a good idea. In some cases it may not be necessary to insure the items at all while in others you may find that you already have coverage from another source on the item that you are storing.

One thing to be aware of when you are looking at storage facilities is that some will include the insurance automatically when you rent the locker. They do this because it is very profitable for them to sell you insurance. It is important to keep in mind that you are not required to take the insurance, the stuff in the locker is yours and how and if you insure it is up to you. It may be that the policy you are offered is the best deal in that case by all means to take it. However it may be that you can get a better deal someplace else.

One thing to consider is that you may already have coverage on your items from another source. For example if you store your car in a locker you will normally be covered by your auto insurance. In other cases you may be able to add the items in your storage locker to your home owners insurance at a much lower price than you would get if you had to purchase a completely new policy for your stuff. Make sure that you check into this before you commit yourself to insurance that you don't need.

If you decide that you do need to buy insurance to cover your stuff make sure that you shop around for it. Do not just agree to take the policy that they storage facility offers you. Insurance is a pretty big expense and you don't want to just rush into the easy option. If you can't add your items to your home insurance you should still talk to the company that provides that coverage to see if they will offer you a discount to bundle that coverage with coverage for the items that you have in your storage locker.