Whether you are between homes, have inherited additional personal property, or just have acquired many items over the years, it is a common practice to utilize a self-storage facility to store your belongings. While your property is locked up tight, there’s always a possibility of theft or fire, so do you know how your homeowners policy coverage would respond to a loss of your contents being stored in a professional storage facility?

A standard homeowners policy will extend 10 percent of your personal property limit to personal property in the storage unit. For example, if your Personal Property Limit (Coverage C on a standard policy) is $200,000, you will have $20,000 of coverage extended to the contents housed in the professional storage unit.

But what if you have $25,000 worth of property in the storage facility? I’m so glad you asked! You can purchase an endorsement called “Increased Amount of Insurance for Personal Property Located in a Self-Storage Facility” to address the additional contents being stored. In the example above, you would need to purchase $5,000 worth of coverage to assure all $25,000 worth of your property is covered ($20,000 provided by your policy + $5,000 provided by the endorsement  = $25,000).

Some insurance companies offer enhanced homeowners policies that extend a higher percentage of the personal property limit. So in our example above, if your enhanced policy extended coverage equaling 25 percent of your personal property limit of $200,000, you would automatically receive $5,000 of coverage, so you would have more than enough coverage for your personal property in the storage unit.

As always, I encourage you to consult your independent insurance agent to help with your coverage needs. Don’t allow yourself to get locked out of the right amount coverage!

The coverages described here are in the most general terms, and are subject to the actual policy conditions and exclusions. For actual coverage wording, conditions, and exclusions, refer to the policy or contact your agent.