Self Storage Insurance

At Cookes we include insurance cover in our prices so that you don’t have to worry about any hidden charges. Most other self storage companies will charge you extra for insurance or require you to obtain it via a third party. It’s important to take insurance cover into account when comparing our prices against other storage companies.

Why do I need insurance cover?

You may think that, because our storage facility offers a high security storage solution, insurance is unnecessary. However, insuring your belongings whilst they are in storage is a mandatory legal requirement in the UK.

What does our insurance policy cover (and not cover)?

Our included self storage insurance covers your goods whilst they are on our premises. Your insurance policy covers your belongings from the moment they are placed in your self storage unit. The policy does not cover your goods whilst they are in transit, if they’ve been left in public areas or during their unloading/loading.

How much insurance cover is included in our prices?

The amount of included storage insurance depends on the size of storage unit that you are using. The larger the storage unit, the more insurance cover is included. Here’s a breakdown of the insurance cover by unit size:

Units up to 25ft² – £2000 Cover Included
Units from 30ft² to 60ft² – £3000 Cover Included
Units from 75ft² to 95ft² – £4000 Cover Included
Units from 100ft² to 150ft² – £5000 Cover Included
Units over 150ft² – £6000 Cover Included

You can also see how much insurance is included by using our Storage Size Guide.

What if I need more insurance than is included?

Occasionally customers need more insurance cover than is included with their storage unit as standard. In these circumstances customers can “top-up” their insurance cover by purchasing additional insurance cover from Cookes Storage.

Additional insurance is charged at £4.50 per £1,000 cover per month. Once added to your account this additional insurance cover will be itemised on your monthly storage invoices.

What happens if I under-insure my belongings?

We advise against under-insuring your belongings because it will have a big impact should you have to make a claim. Here is a working example of the impact of undoer-insuring your belongings whilst in storage:

• Customer A rents a 30ft² which comes with £3000 insurance cover included in the price. Customer A has goods worth £6000 but chooses not to take out a further £3000 insurance cover, leaving only 50% insurance cover.
• Customer A experiences a break-in and all the goods are stolen. When making a claim the insurance company values the goods at £6000.
• Because the customer has under-insured their goods by 50% the insurance company will pay out only 50% of the insured amount. This results in an insurance payout of just £1500 (50% of the insured value £3000).

It is very important that you have sufficient insurance for your goods whilst in storage. Please get in touch with us if you think that you are likely to be under-insuring your belongings whilst in storage.

What if I’ve already got insurance cover arranged?

If you’re a business customer you might find that your commercial insurance policy already covers your goods whilst in storage. As a result, you do not have to worry about additional storage insurance should the value of your goods exceed the value of insurance that is included with your storage unit.

Should you need to make a claim we advise such customers to make a claim via their own insurance policy rather than the policy that is included with your storage unit.