Offsite storage, insurance etc

BooTheMightyHamster

Hi,

There's probably already a thread about this, but I couldn't find it!

My Lego collection has grown to an alarming size over the past few years, and I'm beginning to worry about a) the integrity of our ceiling, b) the ire of my wife who can no longer put any household items in our loft and c) the condition of the boxes, which are now piled up on top of each other.

Hopefully we're going to be moving in the next 12 - 24 months, and we'll find somewhere with considerably more storage space, but for now I need to find somewhere else to store all my sets, and I'm thinking of one of the places like Big Yellow Storage or similar.

Has anyone had any experience of them?  Are they reliable?  And what to do about insurance?  I presume they will offer something, but are there any insurance companies out there that will offer a suitable policy?

Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers!  

Boo

560Heliport

This is probably not what you want to hear, but... open those boxes, build the sets, enjoy your LEGO! Then flatten the boxes if you want to save them, and store everything more efficiently. Why pay money to store them somewhere else?

Switchfoot55

Based on what I know, these sets would be covered under your homeowners insurance under Contents IF they were in your home. However, once they move from your home to a third party storage site, your personal homeowners may no longer extend to the contents if there was a break in, fire, flood, etc... 

You could check with your insurance broker/policy to see what is covered (probably a good idea even if you don't move them to ensure you have high enough contents limits). They might be able to offer an additional rider on the policy for the off site contents. Or, may be able to offer a renters policy for the storage facility. 

As you mentioned, it's likely possible the storage facility would offer something as well, but would likely be quite expensive. 

vanvonfull

I had informed my insurance company that my record collection/Lego was in a storage unit and they updated without fee.

Now I realize I have a new storage unit with less overall value in storage (records are back home) but thanks for the reminder, I need to update with them. 

SumoLego

560Heliport said:

This is probably not what you want to hear, but... open those boxes, build the sets, enjoy your LEGO! Then flatten the boxes if you want to save them, and store everything more efficiently. Why pay money to store them somewhere else?

None of these words go together in this order.

560Heliport

^ This coming from a guy who has cubicle walls in his basement... 

Shropshire

Even for storage in the home ‘some’ policies, not all, require all ‘collections’ to be declared as a specific valued item. Normally it’s for stamps, coins etc but one policy i saw when renewing was so vague it implied ANY collection worth more than £10k.. so i selected a different policy to suit that was more specific whilst more generous. .

Oldfan

I'm in the process of moving all my sets from storage in cardboard boxes to actual shelving units and plastic storage bins.  I've seen so far that the Castle Fantasy sets from 2007-2008 are the worst when it comes to the ratio of parts-to-air in the overly large boxes.  LEGO could have gotten away with boxes half the size for those sets (of course, then they wouldn't have been able to crowd out the competition on the store shelves...). When I need to flatten some boxes to save shelving space these will be the first to be transformed.

And I second @Switchfoot55, don't use storage unit's insurance policies if you can avoid them; the last time I used a temporary offsite storage unit, they had a mandatory monthly insurance premium that was 50% the actual rental cost...

SumoLego

560Heliport said:

^ This coming from a guy who has cubicle walls in his basement... 

Yes, they provide extra protection for all of my pristinely boxed sets.

Bwhahahahahahahahaha!

560Heliport

I spent 19 years building cubicles... Imagine calling the police and reporting that someone broke into your basement and rearranged your cubicle walls. "No, nothing's missing, but..." (For the record, I'm joking; I wouldn't break into anyone's home!)

SumoLego

Actually, I have to sadly report that I had to part with 5 panels a few weeks ago.

560Heliport

Is this due to your Secret LEGO Room project?