If you’ve chosen to place your personal or business belongings into a self-storage unit or mobile storage container at a self-storage facility, you’ll want to make sure that this property is comprehensively insured throughout your rental period at the facility – and if possible, while it’s in transit between your current location and the storage company’s own site.
Self Storage Insurance Coverage – What’s in a Policy?
What should storage insurance coverage include? Here’s a rundown of the main areas that should be covered by your self-storage insurance program:
Burglary or Theft
Remember that buying insurance isn’t just a “set it, and forget it” option. All insurers require that their policyholders take some necessary steps of their own, to guard against losses. In the case of theft, these reasonable precautions would include not allowing unknown or unsupervised persons to wander in or out of your storage unit, and take stuff.
It’s because of this, for example, that SnapNsure™ defines theft as “the act in which a person takes property that does not belong to them”. Burglary is defined as “the act in which a person takes property that does not belong to them, using forced entry such as a cut lock or hasp”. And it’s this specific act that self-storage insurance policies typically provide coverage for.
Rodent and Pest Damage
In the majority of cases, the owners of storage facilities have no legal obligation to protect items placed there in storage by their paying customers, from damage caused by rodents. They may be labeled in the self-storage company’s rental agreement as rats, mice, vermin, or simply “acts of God” – but the bottom line is, the storage company can’t be relied upon to protect your belongings if rodents infest your storage unit, and cause physical damage to your property.
That’s why, if you’re renting a storage unit, you’re strongly advised to take out an insurance policy based on the full value of your property in storage – and preferably one that specifically includes rodents as a covered cause of loss. In regions where other species of pests (such as termites) are a recognized problem, you should choose a policy that includes coverage against these, as well.
Water Damage
It’s reasonable to expect a storage facility to construct and seal their units soundly enough to withstand precipitation, so self-storage insurance coverage typically applies to damage sustained through rainstorms, windstorms, hail, or leaky roof drains.
As always, do your due diligence when choosing a storage facility. Make sure to inspect the facility thoroughly and ask the manager about prior issues relating to water damage.
Flood Coverage
Buyer beware – most self-storage insurance programs do not provide coverage for damage from flooding or rising water.
If flood waters caused by storms, breaches or other disasters damage your belongings in storage, SnapNsure is one of the few companies that offers an additional flood coverage option.
Named Storm Coverage
When extreme weather events like Hurricane Harvey strike, insurance companies are often just as extreme, in the way they fall over each other, to not pay out on damages.
Fortunately, if you’re reading this article, you’ve found the one company in the entire industry – SnapNsure™ – which offers “named storm” coverage. This provides an additional layer of protection to you as the policyholder, and the potential to insure your belongings during the extreme weather event in question.
Miscellaneous Forms of Damage
Several other causes of loss may be included in your policy. A comprehensive self-storage insurance program might also offer coverage for:
- Fire or lightning
- Explosion
- Tornado
- Smoke
- Vandalism
- Collapse
- Weight of snow, ice or sleet
- Sinkhole Collapse
- Property in transit
- Falling Objects
- Sonic Boom
- Riot or Civil Commotion
Make Sure to Properly Insure Your Belongings in Storage with SnapNsure™
If you use self-storage for personal or business use, you need to make sure that the stored items are insured with the coverages we outlined above. And when it comes to pricing, coverage, convenience, and reliability, the SnapNsure™ Contents Program is the best choice as a consumer to address all of these concerns.
Coverage plans range from a minimum of $2,000 up to a maximum of $25,000 of coverage per unit.
And it’s far more comprehensive than the coverage offered directly by the storage facility, with options for Theft, Flood, Rodent, and Earthquake all available. SnapNsure™ is the only company in the U.S. offering all of these coverages together – and the only company offering Named Storm coverage for self-storage, at all.
SnapNsure™ is a “direct-to-consumer” product and cuts out the middleman markup! Their premiums are typically 100% to 200% lower for the same coverage limits offered at the storage facility.
And every SnapNsure™ policy has a standard $100 deductible.
Storage Insurance Coverage starts as soon as your completed application is received electronically by the SnapNsure™ website – so you can even purchase coverage on your cell phone as you’re signing the storage facility’s rental contract. Simple right!
SnapNsure™ is underwritten by The Hanover Insurance Group – the holding company for one of the largest, admitted insurance carrier’s in the United States.
It simply makes sense to get the coverage you need from SnapNsure™. Get Insured now!
