Germany is globally among the countries where the most insurances are taken out. Almost every household in this country nowadays has a home contents insurance, often by necessity, because the rental agreement will dictate it.
Should you therefore store your household contents elsewhere, because for example you run out of space in your own home, or short-term personal changes such as a move or a household expansion/reduction are coming up, you probably assume that the home contents insurance also covers the storage. After all, they are the same insured items that you merely want to store outside the house.
If you, however, take a closer look at your insurance policy for the home contents insurance, you might be taught otherwise. In many cases, restrictions with regard to both the time period and the overall insurance coverage for your items will be imposed on you.
The requirements in connection with the insurance coverage are widely different from insurance to insurance and your personal coverage depends on your individual agreement with your provider.
For businesses and trades that store parts of their inventory or goods, other regulations apply. Here, in almost all cases, an additional transport, storage, and/or goods insurance is necessary to secure the company property for cases of damage.
Home contents insurance or separate storage insurance: What fits your situation?
Which insurance solution best fits your situation depends on several factors, such as:
- The value of the items to be insured
- The duration of the storage in Selfstorage or Full-Service-Storage
- Whether you require a private, commercial, or mixed storage
The question regarding your insurance coverage comes up at the latest upon conclusion of your rental agreement for your storage unit. Most renowned Selfstorage or Full-Service-Storage providers will demand the presentation of proof of sufficient insurance coverage even before storage.
While many insurance companies initially have no problem with you outsourcing parts of your household items, most insurance policies leave no doubt that this outsourcing may only be for a short-term period. What the insurances understand by “short-term” depends on your insurance provider.
To find out what time period your insurance provider considers appropriate, you must look in your insurance policy for the technical term off-premises insurance. The time period, however, rarely exceeds three months. Should you plan a storage over a longer time period, you must therefore take out either a storage insurance or an additional insurance.
Assuming that you want to use the storage facility for operational purposes, you generally must take out a storage insurance. This applies especially if you use the storage unit for the safekeeping of valuable inventory such as tools or machines, or house the goods that you sell in your business outside of your business address.
Many providers of operational storage insurance offer a combination of storage and transport insurance, which also cover the transfer and the transport of the stored items.
Which damages would you like to cover when storing in a storage box?
Although professional Selfstorage and Full-Service-Storage providers generally offer extremely secure storage facilities, which also safely keep items made of sensitive or demanding materials, damages can occur. The damages that can occur with Selfstorage include:
- Fire damages after a fire
- Water damages after floods/pipe bursts
- Theft, burglary, or vandalism
- Breakage/damages after accidents
- Snow pressure
Please note that insurances generally tier the coverage depending on the possible damage event. A basic coverage against fire, theft, or water pipe burst is included in most additional insurances. If you need a further coverage against special occurrences or catastrophic climatic conditions such as heavy rain, snow pressure, or hurricanes etc., you often must pay more.
Are there things or situations that cannot be insured when storing?
As a starting point, your insurance will only be valid if you strictly adhere to the regulations against forbidden storage goods. The specifications are already included in your rental agreement with the Selfstorage or Full-Service-Storage provider and include obviously dangerous items such as:
- Chemicals and lubricants
- Highly flammable materials
- Weapons
- Illegal materials and substances like drugs
Added to this are some rather inconspicuous things that you might not be aware of at all, including:
- Food
- Antiques
- Jewelry
- Collections of coins, stamps, and other valuable items
- Valuable art such as paintings, statuettes, and sculptures
- Precious metals
- Plants
That you also may not house your pets in the storage facility goes without saying.
Should you disregard the regulations for forbidden or illegal storage goods, your entire insurance policy could be invalidated and you would not receive compensation for any of the damaged items in the event of a claim, not even the legal ones.
Added to this are possible restrictions that are determined individually by insurance companies. Therefore, read your insurance policy thoroughly before you enter into an insurance contract for an additional insurance or storage insurance.
How is the insurance premium for the contents of your storage determined?
Independent of whether you want to take out an additional insurance or a commercial storage insurance, the insurance provider will pay special attention to the following circumstances to calculate the insurance premium to be paid:
The type and nature of the stored items
Here the question arises of how sensitive or fragile your items to be stored are. Fragile things like glass or moisture-sensitive objects like tools or electronic gadgets will be rated higher in your estimated insurance premium than, for example, relatively robust pieces made of plastic or textiles.
Security and surveillance
The security precautions that your Selfstorage or Full-Service-Storage landlord undertakes to protect your things from unauthorized access will also make themselves noticed in your insurance premium. Most professional storage space landlords generally offer CCTV/video surveillance and alarm systems. Added to this, however, is also an adequate access control, because your insurance too wants to know who is near the insured items at any time.
Construction type of the storage building and local conditions
Before taking out a Lagerversicherung, the insurance provider will certainly also inquire about the condition of the storage facility. Storage volume under lock and key in solid masonry with a hard roof is generally easier to insure than items that are kept under corrugated iron. Added to this are considerations of indoor temperatures and ventilation as well as sufficient fire alarm and extinguishing water systems.
Location of the storage unit
If your storage space is located in an area that could potentially be hit by natural disasters, the insurance premium will turn out considerably higher than in a relatively safe location. Thereby, insurance companies pay special attention to flood and earthquake zones as well as buildings that are located on a hillside with landslide or avalanche danger.
Manner of safekeeping
How you set up the safekeeping of your items in the storage will likewise be a crucial point for your insurance company with regard to the storage insurance premium. It plays a role here whether you place your belongings neatly sorted on shelves or pallets, or simply accumulate them arbitrarily in the storage unit, whereby the risk of breakage or damages increases considerably.
If you would like to know more about the insurance coverage during the storage of your property, the staff at any professional Selfstorage or Full-Service-Storage provider will be helpful to you.
For more information and advice regarding your insurance coverage in storage, contact BOXIE24.
