Our risk · 2
We are holding it
The moment goods enter store they stop being governed by your move quotation and start being governed by a storage agreement. Different cover, different limits, different notice provisions, and an exposure measured in months rather than hours.
Almost nobody reads the storage agreement. It is the one that matters if a hold turns into a year.
What changes in store
The document swap nobody mentions
Your move is governed by the written quotation and our goods-in-transit cover. Storage is governed by a storage agreement with its own cover position, its own limits and its own notice provisions. The two are different documents and the second is the one with a long tail.
It is not a trick and it is not unusual — it is how the trade works everywhere. It is simply not explained, and people sign the second document on the assumption that it repeats the first.
The word to know is lien
It is the right of a storage provider to hold your goods against unpaid charges and, after written notice of a defined length, to sell them to recover the debt, accounting to you for any surplus.
It appears in essentially every storage contract in the country, ours included, and it is entirely standard. Knowing the word before you sign is better than meeting it in a letter.
Why the inventory is the product
Storage without a described inventory is a container you cannot see into. A list that says twelve boxes is worthless six months later; a list that says what is in them is the whole value of the arrangement.
Ours is written at your property as the vehicle loads, in front of you. It is slower at your end and it is the single most useful thing about storing with a remover rather than renting a unit and filling it yourself.
Tell us what you might need back
Before collection rather than after. Almost everybody is out for longer than they were told, and the things left in store turn out to matter — documents, seasonal clothing, a child's things, work equipment.
Name them and the load is built with those reachable rather than buried behind everything else.
We are holding it
Questions about we are holding it
01 Is storage covered by the same insurance?
No. The storage agreement governs cover in store, with its own limits and exclusions. It is a different document from your move quotation and it is worth reading before you sign.
02 What is a lien?
The right to hold and ultimately sell stored goods against unpaid charges, after written notice of a defined length. It is in essentially every storage contract in the country, including ours.
03 How long can goods stay?
A single night between a load and a delivery, or months while a purchase or a project settles. The agreement sets out the periods charging runs in.
04 Can we get at our things?
With reasonable notice, and it works far better if you say beforehand roughly what you might want. The load is then built with those items reachable.
05 Can you deliver to a different address?
Yes, and it happens often — destinations change while goods are held. It does not alter the agreement, only the delivery instruction.
06 What cannot be stored?
Nothing hazardous, perishable or alive. Money, documents, passports, medication and jewellery stay with you, because a store is not somewhere you can call in on at short notice.
Ask us for it in writing
Both addresses, roughly what is going, and whether you are packing any of it yourself. Ask for the policy summary in the same message and we will send it without being awkward about it.