You need enough cover to replace everything in your unit as new, at today’s prices. That figure is called your maximum replacement value, and yes, you can change it later: if you’re adding more, just call us before the extra things go in.
Working out your figure
The simplest way is to go room by room, list what’s going into storage, and put a price on each item. For most things, that’s what it would cost to buy the same thing, or the nearest equivalent, new today. So a sofa you bought ten years ago counts at the price of a similar new sofa, not what you paid for it.
A few things are valued differently:
- clothing and household linen, and any motorbike or other motorised vehicle, allow for age, quality, use and any existing damage, so they’re valued nearer to what they’re worth now;
- things you can’t buy new, such as antiques or works of art, are valued at their current market value;
- documents are valued at the cost of replacing or reprinting the paper itself, not the value of the information in them.
Add it all up, include anything still to come on later trips, and round up. It’s worth keeping your list and a few photographs of anything valuable, as they’ll help if you ever need to claim.
Why the full figure matters
Your cover is there to put things right if something goes wrong, and it works best when the figure matches what’s really in the unit. If the declared value is lower than the true value, a claim is settled in proportion: declare half of what your things are worth, and you’d get back half of the loss. Getting the figure right from the start avoids that.
With our contents protection, the charge is based on the value you declare. You’ll see it in your quote as soon as you enter your figure, and it’s taken every four weeks along with your storage fee.
Changing it later
Your figure should keep pace with what you’re storing. If you’re adding more, or storing more valuable things, call us before they go in and we’ll talk you through raising it. If you’ve taken a lot out, call us about lowering it. Businesses whose stock rises and falls through the year should keep their figure up to date in the same way.
Our cover or your own
Everyone storing with us needs contents protection: either ours, or your own policy if it covers goods kept in self storage. You still declare a replacement value either way. If you take ours first and then send us proof of your own cover within 14 days of moving in, we’ll refund the contents protection charges in full.
Not sure about your figure? Call us on 0800 2545585 and we’ll talk it through, or get a price online to see the cost straight away.
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