With all the banks closing down their branches in the UK, we can no longer rely on them to keep our valuables safe in branch. We are contacted regularly by customers who have been asked to remove their items from the branch before it closes. We are also finding that insurance companies are also insisting on valuable being kept in a suitable safe if the customer wants them covered under the policy.
Before ordering a safe, there are a few things you need to know, so you can make an informed decision and order the correct safe for your needs.
Firstly, what will you be keeping in the safe? Do you need any fire protection for documents? Do you need fire protection for data such as backup tapes? Or is it just for cash and valuable such as jewellery? A note on storing data, A standard fire safe will not protect data from fire. It must be a data safe which is designed to protect data from the heat.
Safe are rated by insurance cash cover, such as a safe with a £4,000 overnight cash cover, an insurance company will insure you upto a maximum of £4,000 in cash to be kept in the safe overnight. You can normally times this by ten for Jewellery and valuables to £40,000. However, the total value of the items must never exceed the cash rating of the safe, for example you could not keep £4,000 in cash and £40,000 in Jewellery and valuables in a safe with a £4,000 Cash Rating.
A guide to safe ratings, after £4,000 the safes are rated in Euro Grades to make it easier to recommend the correct safe for your needs.
. Grade 0 £6,000 Cash Cover or £60,000 Jewellery Cover
. Grade 1 £10,000 Cash Cover or £100,000 Jewellery Cover
. Grade 2 £17,500 Cash Cover or £175,000 Jewellery Cover
. Grade 3 £35,000 Cash Cover or 350,000 Jewellery Cover
. Grade 4 £60,000 Cash Cover or 600,000 Jewellery Cover
. Grade 5 £100,000 Cash Cover or £1,000,000 Jewellery Cover
. Grade 6 £150,000 Cash Cover or £1,500,000 Jewellery Cover
. Grade 7 £250,000 Cash Cover or £2,500,000 Jewellery Cover
We always recommend you have a look at the value of the items you would like to keep in the safe, and think ahead 10 years! If you are a collector will you be increasing your collection? Will the items go up in value? You don’t want to have to replace the safe in 3 years or add an additional one, because the safe rating is not high enough to cover the items.
You will also need to decide on the size of the safe, which will also determine position of the safe. Jewellery and watch boxes can take up a lot of room. Make sure the safe will be large enough to accommodate.
Locking Options available are Keylocking and Electronic locking, Dual locking on Grade 4 units and above.
Next we need to decide where the safe is going to be installed. With the Euro Graded Safes due to the weight, it is very unlikely the safe will be installed upstairs unless the floor and stairs have been reinforced by a structural engineer.
We always carry out Site Surveys and Risk Assessments. Things to bear in mind, will the safe fit through available openings to position. How many steps into the building and is there easy access for delivery. Floor type, Concrete or Wood. Do you have underfloor heating? this is very difficult to detect as the pipes are plastic in most cases. Incidentally, if you do have underfloor heating, we can bond the safe to the floor. However, you really need to be sure of positioning, as once bonded its not moving. We can fix to concrete and wooden floors and solid walls, or a mix of both. Higher graded safes need to be fixed at 2 points.
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