Self Storage Units questions?

Loaded_Bachelor

I've never used one of these before but will be doing so shortly due to moving house.

Does anyone have any general advice on some dos and donts regarding self storage please?

Two things I have concerns about from my initial research are:

1) Insurance, if you purchase insurance from the storage company itself do they actually give you a separate policy document underwritten by a recognised insurer or do they simply say that "you are insured" somewhere on your contract documents with them? If its the latter then I wouldn't get insurance with them I'd arrange my own, because the words"you are insured" alone would be worthless if the storage company went bust and/or nicked your stuff?

2) Some of the storage companies say that they need a security deposit (on top of you paying your weekly/monthly bills) up front by credit card. Is this a usual or acceptable practice? I'm thinking here that it's the customer taking all or most of the risk by storing valuable items, not the storage company. Perhaps, you could damage a storage room or container if you were exceptionally clumsy but it still sounds a bit rich to me them asking for a security deposit.

Any thoughts from experienced self storers would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

DarkHorse

I work for a removal and storage company, and operate traditional storage (in containers that clients do not have access to), and self storage (your own unit).

To answer your queries;
1. You would be on the stores block policy. These policies are littered with exclusions, and you would probably be better off with a broker arranging cover for you. If I were storing I would not take insurance, as if anything gets damaged in a self store, most insurers would not pay out, as you would have packed, and loaded the storage unit yourself, and therefore any damage would have been caused by yourself. The other risks are theft, which I would hold the owners responsible for as they are responsible for the security of the site (although you have to prove a theft did take place, which unless you have an independent inventory of the contents of your storage at the time of being stored, would be near impossible to prove!), and fire and floor, which you could insure for on its own. I would not worry too much though, as it is extremely unlikely that any damage occurs (assuming you have packed and loaded the unit well) or items go missing.

2. Don’t pay any security. The storage company have all your belonging as security! This is a con, and no companies I know of do this.

Loaded_Bachelor

Thanks DarkHorse for the advice.

Pal

Your contents insurer for your house will almost certainly provide cover for the contents of your storage unit for a small extra premium (based on the value of what you are storing).

Most people store low value crap anyway (furniture, books etc) so the premium should be very low.

Mila86

There are a lot of self storage companies, it is difficult to say about all the terms they offer in general, but I think mostly they are the same.Ive used self storage company in Northampton, I was very satisfied with their service.

Meeper

I must commend you on the most useless resurrection of a 7-year old thread I have seen today. Kudos to you.