Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Your Storage Items?

Storing your personal belongings in a storage facility is an excellent way to hold on to your valuables while keeping your home and garage clutter-free. But what happens if someone breaks into your unit and makes off with your items?

You may be happy to learn that most standard homeowners policies provide coverage for items you keep outside of your home.

Rental Storage Coverage

In many cases, personal property coverage will protect the items you keep in a storage facility from the following incidents:

• Fire
• Lightning
• Theft
• Vandalism

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that your coverage limits may be lower for items you keep away from home. That means that while you may have personal property coverage up to $50,000 for items in your home, you may only have coverage up to $5,000 for items off the premises. Review your policy to find the exact amount of coverage and well as the specific risks your policy will cover your rental storage items.

If the value of the items you have in storage exceeds the limits of your policy, you have three options:

1. Increase your overall coverage limits
2. Increase your coverage for specific items (i.e. jewelry, art, etc.)
3. Purchase self-storage insurance: your storage facility may offer this coverage for an additional fee or you may have a level of coverage that comes standard with your rental.

To help you determine which option is best for you, talk to your insurance broker about the items you have in storage.