A story out of Pennsylvania has highlighted the ‘betwixt and between’ nature of insurance coverage for private possessions placed in long term storage. The storage facilities that have sprung up like weeds under highway overpasses and along frontage roads are a good indicator that Americans today have significantly more stuff than previous generations. If that is not the case, then more of us lack barns to store it in and have turned to the ‘lock and store’ facilities familiar to all of us.

In Pennsylvania recently, a fire of undetermined origin ignited a 34 unit self storage building and destroyed virtually all of the property stored there. Two interesting facts came to light about the safety of such facilities. The first issue arose because the security conscious owner insisted on its tenants using commercial grade locks. “The locks are pretty standard throughout the industry,” the owner said. “We sold them the locks. You can’t cut through them. That’s why they’re so good, but that’s also why we had so much fire damage. We couldn’t get into the units.”

The other issue that came to bear was insurance coverage. It was understood that the owner of the facility is not responsible for the property loss of his tenants – that issue is spelled out in the rental agreements. The real question for most tenants was whether or not their home owners’ insurance covered the stored property.

“We had someone come in who lost their stuff in the Madison Township fire, and because they had homeowner’s insurance with us, the loss was covered,” said Todd Shoemaker of State Farm Insurance in Dickson City.

While many homeowners’ policies also cover items in storage facilities, some do not, he said. Some owners can offer insurance for tenants’ possessions if they don’t have coverage already in place, he said. In this case, the owner did not provide insurance. If you’re using a storage facility, check your homeowners’ policy on coverage and if it’s not there already, it would be a prudent investment.