1 in every 10 households rents a storage.
How safe are the Self Storage Facilities? There have been many reports on the news about break-in’s at these facilities. There are self storage facilities that are safe and have adequate security but they are not all the same. Be smart! don’t just base your decision on price or because of a special they may be running. Protect yourself by doing some research ahead of time. It can be helpful to check on-line reviews to see what others are saying about the facility you are considering.
Some of the tactics being used to gain access into units are:
- The Thief rents a unit and actually breaks through the sheet rock wall into the units on either side allowing them easy access undetected by anyone
- Facilities that do not have adequate security camera’s make it easy for a thief to break the locking mechanism and just open the roll up door. It only takes a few minutes to break a lock. They then remove the items and put them inside their own unit located in the same row. Close the roll-up door, put the lock back and everything appears normal until coming to remove your things and see it has been broken into.
If you do need to rent a self storage facility there are things to watch out for to help protect yourself.
- Be careful of facilities offering first month for $1.00. These facilities are more likely to be targeted since the Thief doesn’t have to put much out of pocket.
- Visit the facility,
- Walk the grounds.
- Inspect the unit they have available for you to rent
- Is the facility clean? If it’s run down and not well taken care of then chances are their security system isn’t well maintained and probably out of date as well.
- Is the facility gated? does the gate work? There is usually a man-door next to the gate does that door have a working locking system?
- Are the units Individually Alarmed? Look for a facility where each unit is individually alarmed.
- Do they have working camera’s. Camera’s should be located throughout the facility NOT just at the entrance. If it’s an inside storage facility camera’s should be on each floor. Outside facilities should have camera’s throughout the grounds.
Don’t forget to insure your items while they are in storage. In case of a loss you want to make sure you are covered. It can be a good idea to take pictures of the items and have an inventory for the insurance company.