How to Insure Property in Storage/a Temporary Location with Home Insurance

So, you know homeowners insurance covers all the “stuff” in your home, but what if that stuff isn’t actually inside your house?

If you’re moving or temporarily storing property outside of your home for a different reason, you may be wondering just that.

At Berry Insurance, it seems like a lot of our clients are moving lately, so we’ve actually had to address this question quite a few times.

The answer? Well, it actually varies depending on where your possessions are located.

Below, we’ll get into several storage scenarios and what is covered in each.

Table of Contents:

• How property coverage works
• If your property is in a storage unit
• If you’re staying in a temporary location
• If your items are with movers
• If your child has possessions at college

How property coverage under homeowners insurance usually works:

Before we talk about property in storage, let’s go over how personal property coverage within home insurance generally works.

Homeowners insurance has several types of coverages. Among these are personal property, loss of use, medical payments, and personal liability.

And personal property coverage covers …. You guessed it: your personal property.

When you get a home insurance policy, your personal property limits are usually either 50 or 70% of your dwelling limits.

So if your dwelling limit is $500,000, either $250,000, or $350,000 of your personal property is covered under your policy.

Keep in mind, most policies have limitations on covering items like jewelry or fine art. If you want to make sure these items are fully covered, you may want to pay an extra couple bucks to “schedule them” to make sure they are fully covered if they were to be damaged or stolen.

Under your personal property coverage, your possessions are covered from the factors below, subject to those limits and your deductible.

Storm damage: Whether it’s lightning, hail, high winds; home insurance protects against damage to your possessions resulting from most types of storms.

Water backup: If the pipes back up, causing water damage in your home, your insurance will pay for the repair or replacement of your possessions.

Theft: If someone steals your stuff, home insurance will pay for you to replace it.

Fire damage: If a fire damages your possessions, you will be paid to replace it.

So what if one of these things happens when your possessions aren’t in your actual house? Well … it depends on the scenario. So let’s get into some of those scenarios below.

If you want to learn more about home insurance coverages, read this article: What Does Homeowners Insurance Cover?

If your property is in a storage unit:

If you have your property in some sort of off-property storage unit, you are all covered!

There are no restrictions and full coverage will extend to the storage facility for named perils and is subject to your deductible.

If you’re staying in a temporary location:

If you are staying in a temporary location, like in a hotel or someone else’s home in between moves however, there are some restrictions. 

10% of your contents coverage will extend, subject to your deductible.

This means if your property coverage limits are $250,000, only up to $25,000 will be covered in a temporary location.

If your items are with movers:

If you are moving and your items are in the possession of movers, again your items are covered to your full personal property limits, subject to deductible. 

Keep in mind though, if the damage or loss still has to be the result of one of the covered causes we went over above, unless it happens to a scheduled item.

If a mover dropped something of yours, it would not be covered (unless you bought insurance coverage through the moving company).

If your child has possessions at college:

If you have a child in college, you might be wary about what could happen to their personal possessions in their dorm room. After all, thinking about the things that go on in dorm rooms can be pretty unsettling. 

In this case, 10% of your property coverage limits will extend to your child’s property in their dorm room.

If you want coverage beyond the 10%, you can usually opt to get an additional renters insurance policy through the college.

Cover property inside and outside your home:

Part of home insurance’s job is to make sure that you can repair or replace your personal items if they were damaged from a disaster.

And even if you have personal property in a temporary location outside of your home, you are at least partially covered.

But hold on! None of this even matters if you don’t have the right homeowners insurance coverage for you. That’s why it is important to review your home insurance annually to make sure your policy is up to date and everything is covered.

To learn more, check out this article: Why You Should Review Your Personal Insurance Annually.