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Insurance FAQs

Safestore will allow you to store goods subject to you signing a Licence Agreement which states that they cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to your property. As a condition of entering into a Licence Agreement, you must take out insurance, sufficient to cover the value of the goods stored.

All Domestic Customers & Non VAT Registered Business Customers are required to take out the Safestore Self Storage policy.

This page is designed to help you understand the terms and conditions of the policy. You will need to refer to the Insurance Summary when reading this.

Customer Definitions

Business Customer: A customer who is not a Domestic customer

Domestic Customer: Any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade or profession

  • Why should I have insurance?

    This will provide cover against loss or damage to your goods during theperiod of storage. This will also cover goods (home contents or personaleffects) in transit up to a maximum of £10,000 (see Insurance Summaryfor full details).If you do not purchase insurance then you are likely tobe left out of pocket if your goods are lost or damaged.

    Whilst Safestore takes every step to ensure your property is keptsecure and dry, nobody could ever provide an absolute guarantee, forexample, that extreme weather conditions would definitely not causeflooding in the area.

    Under the Licence Agreement with us, you have agreed that Safestorewill accept no responsibility for loss of or damage to your property

  • Surely my Household insurance covers storage?

    Many household policies only cover goods in the house and not in transit or storage.

    Household policies often have a higher excess.

    Under many household policies your premium will be increased if your have a claim.

  • What cover will be provided by the policy being offered to me by Safestore?

    Please refer to the list of INSURED PERILS on the Confirmation of Insurance Cover provided to you by Safestore. Cover applies in respect of these perils, subject to the other terms, conditions and exclusions detailed on the Confirmation of Insurance Cover.

  • What cover is not included?

    If a cause is not listed as an INSURED PERIL it will not be covered. Examples of excluded risks would be goods which you accidentally damage yourself or unexplained missing items (i.e. where there is no sign of a break-in having occurred). Even if an INSURED PERIL has occurred, if the loss falls into one of the EXCLUSIONS listed on the Confirmation of Insurance Cover it will not be insured. Please also carefully read the list of excluded property items. All claims will be subject to you being responsible for paying the first £50 towards any claim.

  • What do I have to do if the total value of my goods exceeds the limit stated under the paragraph headed TOTAL SUM INSURED on the Confirmation of Insurance Cover?

    When you finalise your Licence Agreement with Safestore, you should tell them the full value of the goods you intend to store. Insurers will be asked to approve this if it exceeds the limit of £25,000.

    In most cases, quotations are available for higher levels of cover but you may be required to provide additional information on the property being stored, additional security arrangements and so on and you may be required to pay an additional premium. In some cases special cover terms are required and these will be confirmed in writing to you.

  • How do I calculate what sum insured I need?

    It is your own responsibility to establish what sum insured you need. Safestore staff are not qualified to value your goods.

Very important note

It is a condition of the policy that you arrange cover for the full value of all your property on the basis described below. If you under-insure, any claim will be reduced by a similar proportion. For example, if the total value of your goods is £1,000 and you insure for £500 you are 50% under-insured and any claim would therefore also be reduced by 50%.

Standard Cover

The insurance policy in respect of Business Customers stock is one of Indemnity under which the intention is to return you to the same financial position you would have been in had a loss not occurred.

Claims are therefore settled on the basis of the actual value of the property at the time of the loss of damage. The sum insured should represent the full value of the property being stored based on the replacement cost of like for like articles of a similar age.

Reinstatement Cover

The insurance policy in respect of all other property of Business Customers and all the property of Domestic Customers is one of replacement - new for old. Claims are therefore settled on the basis of the actual replacement value of the property. The sum insured should represent the full replacement value of the property being stored based on the replacement cost from new.

If you are placing items into store which, if totally lost or destroyed, would not be easily valued by reference to list prices or the like, it is strongly recommended that you have recent pre-storage professional valuations or purchase receipts in your possession. It would be solely your own responsibility to provide evidence of values being claimed and if, for example, you lost a painting in a fire, this would be virtually an impossible task unless you had formal documentary evidence prior to moving your property into store.

For specialised items, particularly works of art or antiques, the sum insured should reflect their current replacement value as evidenced by a recent professional valuation.

If you are storing your complete household contents you might consider whether applying the same sum insured as your Household Insurance policy would be appropriate.

It is important to note that during the entire period of storage, it is your own responsibility to ensure that the sum insured at all times represents the full replacement cost of the property stored. If at any time the sum insured requires increasing to reflect additional or higher valued items placed into store, you should immediately ask Safestore staff to arrange this on your behalf.

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