It is looking like i need to get a storage unit as a two bed flat is not big enough for my bikes and toolboxes so it looks like I will get a unit from Big Yellow and was wondering if anyone else has done this and has any suggestions about who to see about insuring my stuff once it is in storage?

IIRC, you have to insure with Big Yellow. It is (or was) a very substantial hidden cost of the storage.

Would the money to big yellow not get you a 3 bed?

Not used Big Yellow, but have used one of the other national ones. Insurance was a MASSIVE hidden cost, and they wouldn’t quote it almost till I’d signed the contract.

My advice is to keep your eyes peeled for local, independent storage, usually found on trading estates, or farms if your outside of a big city. The cost is approx 1/4 that of the big boys. Though not sure about insurance in that situation.

If you do go for it, make sure you get the smallest unit you can. And, if its like the one I used, you can move between bigger/smaller units. So if you have an inch of spare space in yours, move to a smaller one.

Rang around all the local storage places near us last year to do a 6 month rental and Access Self Storage were far and away the nicest to deal with, flexible on price and upfront about having insurance yet happy to discuss levels of cover etc.

Big Yellow are within 1/2 mile of our house but chose to drive a fair bit further to use Access as they were that much nicer to deal with.

I use big yellow as an archive store, their compulsory insurance added about 50% to the quoted price. But they are local and convenient so I put up with it.

they still worked out cheaper than alternatives tbh and it is convienient, especially if you get their initial deals, i think 1st month or 2 half price offer I had, long term it gets pricey!

just provide your own padlock and dont buy their ‘dust sheets!’

They are the only storage that is near enough to me as I don’t have a car and I need it to be dry because of my tools and other bits that I plan on storing there. I will get my own insurance but can I get it as an additional part of my household insurance which I haven’t got either, yet.

I don’t think you can get your own insurance, BY insist you take theirs

I don’t think your home insurers would entertain cover anyway. I know I wouldn’t want to underwrite something like that simply as you are relying on a third party to do their job to keep your belongings secure.

surely they cant insist that you take their insurance, that is surely not legal stopping you getting insurance from someone else, if it was included in the cost of the rent maybe otherwise you are allowed to find your own cover surely?

if you can write a post on this then you can look up their website 😀

Do I have to take out Big Yellow insurance, or can I use my own insurance?
No. You can take out your own insurance but it must cover goods being placed in self storage. Not all household insurances will cover you whilst your possessions are in a self storage facility, so please check the terms of your insurance and provide us with proof of your cover if not using ours, which must state that it covers goods stored in a self storage facility, and name the store you are storing at and the full postal address of the premises. It is your responsibility to keep your insurance documentation valid and up to date.

http://www.bigyellow.co.uk/faqs

I use https://www.insurastore.com …we don’t have much value in the stuff we store so we cover it for about £1k iirc. Can’t remember exactly but think ours was about £35 a year