Can a Safety Deposit Box Reduce Your Home Insurance Costs?
If you own valuable jewellery, watches, gold, silver, rare coins, family heirlooms or other high-value possessions, you may be paying to insure those items as part of your home and contents insurance.
But what if you don’t actually need to keep those valuables at home?
Moving valuable possessions into a secure safety deposit box can provide an alternative. Rather than keeping large amounts of valuable property at your residence and relying solely on your home insurance, you can store those items in a specialist private vault and take advantage of insurance specifically designed for valuables held there.
For some people, this can potentially reduce their overall insurance costs by removing valuable items from their home contents insurance and moving them onto specialist vault insurance.
At Private Vaults Australia, every safety deposit box includes $20,000 of complimentary insurance, with additional cover available at competitive rates for customers who need more protection.
So, could storing your valuables in a safety deposit box actually save you money?
Let’s take a closer look.
Why Your Valuables Can Increase Your Home Insurance Costs
Home and contents insurance is designed to protect the possessions you keep at your property.
However, high-value possessions can make your insurance requirements considerably more complicated.
Jewellery, watches, precious metals, collectables and other valuable items can have specific limits under a standard contents insurance policy. Depending on the insurer and the value of your possessions, individual items may need to be specified separately, potentially increasing the premium you pay.
For example, if you have:
- $20,000 of jewellery
- $15,000 of watches
- $30,000 of gold and silver bullion
- $10,000 of collectables
you could have $75,000 worth of valuable possessions sitting inside your home.
Depending on your policy, you may need to arrange additional or specified cover for some or all of those items.
This raises an important question:
If you don’t need those valuables at home, why continue paying to insure them as part of your home contents?
Move Your Valuables Out of Your Home
One of the advantages of a safety deposit box is that your most valuable possessions don’t have to remain at your residential property.
Items you rarely use can be moved into a dedicated, high-security facility where they can be stored away from the everyday risks associated with your home.
This can include:
- Gold and silver bullion
- Jewellery
- Watches
- Rare and valuable coins
- Collectables
- Family heirlooms
- Important documents
- Other valuable possessions
Once those items are no longer being stored at your home, you can speak with your home insurer about whether they still need to be included in your home contents cover.
This is where the potential insurance saving comes in.
Rather than paying your home insurer to cover a large collection of valuables that you no longer keep at home, those possessions can instead be covered through the specialist insurance available with your Private Vaults storage.
Of course, the exact effect on your home insurance premium will depend on your insurer and individual policy. You should always speak with your insurer before making any changes to your cover.
Specialist Insurance for Valuables Stored at Private Vaults
Private Vaults Australia is designed specifically for people who want to store valuable possessions away from their homes.
Each safety deposit box includes $20,000 of complimentary insurance, providing customers with an additional layer of protection alongside the physical security of our facility.
If you require more than $20,000 of cover, additional insurance can be arranged.
Because the valuables are being stored within a purpose-built, high-security private vault environment, additional insurance is available at very competitive rates.
This gives customers an alternative to keeping substantial amounts of valuable property at home and arranging expensive additional cover through their household insurance.
The potential difference is simple:
At home
Valuables remain part of the property you need to insure, potentially requiring additional or specified contents cover.
At Private Vaults
Valuables are removed from your home and stored in a specialist facility, with $20,000 of complimentary insurance included with each safety deposit box and additional cover available where required.
The result may be a more efficient way of protecting valuable possessions while potentially reducing the amount of valuable property you need to insure through your home contents policy.
Could You Actually Save Money?
The answer depends on your circumstances.
If you only own a small amount of jewellery or other valuables, the difference may be relatively modest.
But if you have accumulated significant amounts of gold, silver, watches, jewellery or collectables over the years, the potential difference becomes much more interesting.
Consider someone who has accumulated $100,000 of valuable possessions but only regularly uses a small proportion of them.
Keeping the entire collection at home may mean arranging appropriate insurance for a significant amount of valuable property.
Moving much of it into a safety deposit box changes the equation.
Instead of keeping $100,000 of valuable possessions at home:
You could keep the items you regularly use at home and move the remainder into secure off-site storage.
You can then discuss with your home insurer whether the items that have been removed can be taken out of your home contents policy.
The storage costs and specialist insurance at Private Vaults can then be considered alongside any potential reduction in your home insurance costs.
The important point is that you’re not simply adding another insurance policy on top of your existing one. You’re potentially changing where and how your valuable possessions are insured.
A Simple Example
Imagine you own:
| Valuable possessions | Approximate value |
|---|---|
| Jewellery | $25,000 |
| Watches | $20,000 |
| Gold & silver bullion | $40,000 |
| Collectables | $15,000 |
| Total | $100,000 |
If these items are all kept at home, you need to consider how your home contents policy treats that $100,000 of valuables.
Some items may be subject to standard limits, while others may need to be specifically listed or separately covered.
Now imagine you move $80,000 worth of those possessions into a Private Vaults safety deposit box.
You still keep the items you use regularly at home, but the majority of your high-value assets are stored securely away from your residence.
You can then speak to your home insurer about removing the $80,000 of off-site valuables from your home contents insurance.
Your Private Vaults box includes $20,000 of complimentary insurance, and you can arrange additional cover for the remaining value at competitive rates.
Depending on your existing home insurance arrangements, this could result in a meaningful reduction in the amount you’re paying to insure valuable possessions at home.
Your actual saving will depend on your insurer, policy and circumstances, so it’s important to obtain a quote or confirmation from your insurer before making changes.
Why Pay to Insure Something You Don’t Keep at Home?
This is perhaps the simplest way to think about the concept.
If you have valuable items sitting in a drawer, safe or cupboard at home that you rarely use, you’re potentially paying to insure them as part of your household contents.
Moving those items into secure off-site storage can separate them from the rest of your household possessions.
Instead of relying entirely on your home insurance, you can use a specialist storage facility with insurance designed around the valuables being stored there.
This can be particularly relevant for:
Gold and Silver Investors
If you hold physical bullion as a long-term investment, you may not need regular access to it.
Keeping substantial amounts of gold and silver at home can create unnecessary security and insurance considerations.
A dedicated bullion locker or safety deposit box allows your investment to remain physically accessible while being stored away from your home.
Jewellery Owners
Many people own jewellery that is valuable but rarely worn.
Engagement rings, family heirlooms, inherited jewellery and expensive pieces may spend most of their time sitting securely in a jewellery box.
Rather than keeping everything at home, some owners choose to store their less frequently used pieces in a private vault.
Watch Collectors
A growing collection of high-value watches can represent a substantial amount of wealth in a relatively small space.
Storing watches away from home can reduce the amount of high-value property kept at your residence while providing a dedicated environment for their protection.
Collectors
Coins, precious-metal collectables, memorabilia and other valuable collections can quickly add up in value.
A safety deposit box provides a secure location for possessions that don’t need to be accessed every day.
What About the Valuables You Still Keep at Home?
Moving some of your possessions into a safety deposit box doesn’t mean you should simply cancel your home contents insurance.
You’ll still have furniture, electronics, clothing, appliances and other belongings at home that may need to be insured.
You may also continue to keep some jewellery, watches or other valuables at home.
That’s why it’s important to speak with your insurer and make sure your policy accurately reflects what you actually keep at your property.
The goal isn’t to be uninsured. The goal is to avoid paying for unnecessary or inappropriate cover.
What Should You Ask Your Home Insurer?
Before changing your home insurance, contact your insurer and explain exactly what you’re doing.
Ask:
- If I move these valuables out of my home, can they be removed from my contents cover?
- How would removing these items affect my premium?
- Do any of my remaining valuables need to be specifically listed?
- Are there any minimum or maximum limits that apply?
- Does storing valuables with a private vault affect my existing policy?
- What documentation do you require to remove items from my policy?
Getting this information directly from your insurer will give you a much clearer picture of the potential savings.
What Insurance Is Included With Private Vaults?
Every Private Vaults Australia safety deposit box includes $20,000 of complimentary insurance.
For customers storing higher-value possessions, additional insurance is available at very competitive rates.
Because Private Vaults operates a dedicated high-security facility designed specifically for valuable possessions, additional insurance can be obtained at very competitive rates.
This means you can choose the level of cover that makes sense for the value of the possessions you are storing.
As with any insurance product, terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. Customers should review the applicable insurance documentation and make sure the level of cover is appropriate for their circumstances.
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Security and Insurance Work Together
Insurance is only one part of protecting valuable possessions.
The other part is reducing the likelihood of something going wrong in the first place.
Keeping $50,000 worth of jewellery, watches and bullion in a domestic property presents a different risk profile from storing those possessions in a purpose-built private vault.
Private Vaults Australia provides a high-security environment specifically designed for the storage of valuable possessions.
Our facility uses multiple layers of security and controlled access to help protect what customers place inside.
This means customers aren’t simply moving their valuables from one insured location to another.
They’re moving them from their home into a specialist storage environment designed specifically for valuable assets.
Don’t Forget to Keep Records
Wherever you store your valuables, keeping good records is important.
For valuable possessions, consider keeping:
- Purchase receipts
- Professional valuations
- Photographs
- Serial numbers
- Certificates of authenticity
- Descriptions of individual items
- Evidence of ownership
For bullion, keep records of the type, weight, purity and quantity of the precious metals you own.
MoneySmart recommends keeping records of valuable belongings, including photographs, receipts and other information that could help establish ownership and value if you need to make an insurance claim.
Keeping accurate records can make the process considerably easier if you ever need to prove what you own.
Is a Safety Deposit Box Worth the Cost?
A safety deposit box is an additional expense, so it’s reasonable to ask whether the cost makes sense.
However, the calculation shouldn’t simply be:
Instead, consider the overall picture:
- How much are your valuables worth?
- How much are you currently paying to insure them?
- Do some items require additional insurance?
- How much would your home insurance change if those items were removed?
- How frequently do you actually need access to them?
- What would it cost to replace them?
- How important are they to you personally?
- How much value would you place on knowing they’re stored away from your home?
For someone with a substantial collection of valuables, the combination of improved security and potentially reduced home insurance costs can make specialist storage particularly attractive.
The Bottom Line
A safety deposit box isn’t simply somewhere to hide your valuables.
For people with substantial amounts of jewellery, watches, bullion, collectables or other valuable possessions, it can provide a different way of managing both security and insurance.
By moving valuable possessions away from your home, you may no longer need to include those items within your home contents insurance.
Instead, they can be protected through specialist insurance associated with their secure storage.
At Private Vaults Australia, every safety deposit box includes $20,000 of complimentary insurance, with additional cover available at competitive rates for customers who require it.
The potential benefit is therefore twofold:
Your valuable possessions are stored away from your home in a purpose-built high-security facility, while you may also be able to reduce the amount of valuable property you’re paying to insure through your home insurance.
The exact financial benefit will depend on your existing insurance policy, so we recommend speaking with your insurer to find out how removing your valuables from your home contents policy could affect your premium.
Protect Your Valuables with Private Vaults Australia
If you have valuable possessions that you don’t need to keep at home, Private Vaults Australia provides a secure alternative.
Our Redcliffe facility offers private safety deposit boxes and specialist storage for:
- Gold and silver bullion
- Jewellery
- Watches
- Important documents
- Collectables
- Family heirlooms
- Other valuable possessions
With $20,000 of complimentary insurance included with every safety deposit box, plus additional cover available at competitive rates, you can choose a level of protection appropriate for what you’re storing.
If you’d like to see the facility for yourself, book a private tour of Private Vaults Australia and discover how secure off-site storage could work for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a safety deposit box reduce my home insurance premium?
It can potentially reduce your home insurance premium if valuable possessions are removed from your home and your insurer no longer needs to cover those items under your contents policy. However, the amount of any saving will depend on your insurer, policy and individual circumstances.
Can I remove jewellery from my home insurance if I put it in a safety deposit box?
Potentially. If the jewellery is no longer kept at your insured property, speak with your insurer about whether it can be removed from your home contents cover. Don’t make changes to your policy without first confirming the effect with your insurer.
What happens to my insurance when I move gold and silver into a safety deposit box?
Your home insurer may no longer need to insure bullion that you have removed from your home, depending on the terms of your policy. At Private Vaults Australia, $20,000 of complimentary insurance is included with each safety deposit box, with additional insurance available if required.
How much insurance is included with a Private Vaults safety deposit box?
Every safety deposit box includes $20,000 of complimentary insurance. Additional cover is available for customers who need to insure valuables above this amount.
Is additional Private Vaults insurance expensive?
Private Vaults offers additional insurance at competitive rates, made possible by the high-security environment in which the valuables are stored. The cost will depend on the amount of additional cover required and the applicable insurance terms.
Do I still need home contents insurance if I use a safety deposit box?
Yes, you will generally still need to consider insurance for the belongings you continue to keep at home. Moving some valuables into a safety deposit box doesn’t remove the need to protect the rest of your household contents.
Is a safety deposit box safer than keeping valuables at home?
A safety deposit box provides a dedicated storage environment away from the risks associated with keeping valuable possessions in a residential property. Private Vaults Australia operates a purpose-built high-security facility designed specifically for storing valuable assets.
What can I put in a Private Vaults safety deposit box?
Depending on the applicable terms and conditions, customers can store items such as jewellery, watches, gold and silver bullion, important documents, collectables and family heirlooms.
Should I tell my insurer about valuables I’m moving into a safety deposit box?
Yes. Speak with your insurer before making changes to your policy and ask specifically how removing the valuables from your home will affect your cover and premium.
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