Sam Parker, journalist, has written a very damming article in the Sunday Telegraph Money Pages explaining customers who buy insurance through the self storage facility are routinely overpaying by an average of three times more than they could get elsewhere.

The article goes on to say that Telegraph Money have seen examples where customers were charged up to 7 times as much or told they could not shop around for a better deal and, in some cases, were charged more for the insurance than the storage itself.

It gives a number of examples mentioning that research by ProInsight, a mystery shopping company found that all the five largest firms (by number of sites) in the UK quoted insurance costs that were higher than customers could get elsewhere.

A Safestore branch in Liverpool quoted £ 644.80 for a policy covering £ 16,000 of goods for 6 months (our premium is £ 208.58). A Big Yellow branch in Gloucester quoted £ 80.00 for insurance, more than the storage costs of £ 69.00 for a one month period.

Pickfords Self Storage in Cambridge said its in-house insurance was obligatory and quoted £ 147.16. Equivalent cover elsewhere (through STOREANDINSURE.CO.UK) could be found for less than £ 90.00.

When approached Pickfords said ''the customer is at liberty to insure with another insurer...and that it is not their standard policy to make their insurance compulsory'' 

From what customers are telling Store and Insure we know different, inasmuch we are aware the managers at many of the branches of the leading self storage companies in the UK put immense pressure on the customer for them to buy their own insurance. This is substantiated by a poll conducted for Telegraph Money undertaken by Consumer Intelligence backs this up with a large proportion of customers felt pressured into buying insurance through the self storage provider.

All in all the article clearly demonstrates purchasing insurance from an independent FCA regulated company is better value for money and the customer knows they are not being ripped-off.