What is a cash rated safe?

Cash rated safes are often the only safes your insurance company will recommend or offer insurance on your valuables for. With varying degrees of cover for cash and contents like watches, laptops, tablets or other digital media, there’s no shortage of choice.

But what is a cash rating and how do you choose a cash-rated safe?

First let’s explain what a cash rating is and why you need to have one in the first place.

A cash rating is simply a guide to the level of protection that a safe will offer in the event of an attack and the amount an insurance company will underwrite and pay out should a thief get into your safe.  Safes are given a rating after industry testing, and the better the protection the higher the cash rating will be too.

The term ‘cash rating’ can be slightly misguiding. If you have a cash-rated safe you can still keep valuables like watches or jewellery in them. In fact you can keep up to 10 times the cash rating in value. So a £1,000 cash rated safe will cover you for up to £10,000 worth of valuables.

A cash rated safe will give you insurance cover for electrical goods like iPads, digital cameras and other high value items. Some cash rated safes may say valuables cover, while others will say contents cover – this is exactly the same thing and it’s the value that you should pay attention to.

If your documents don’t have a value but are irreplaceable you should also consider a fire safe or a safe with combined protection. Remember that the higher the cash cover the less likely it is that a thief will be able to gain access to your contents.

Related post: How do you choose the right safe?

A cash rated safe will protects your cash, valuables and contents up to your desired value, and in most circumstances your insurance company will insist on a specific cash rating.

Things to consider when choosing a cash-rated safe:

• Safes without a cash rating won’t have had rigorous testing, so bear this in mind when choosing a safe and only store low value items in them. These safes are more of a deterrent to would-be thieves, and you should consider buying a relatively inexpensive £2,000 cash rated safe instead.
• £4,000 cash rated safes are the most commonly required safes by insurance companies and offer a good level of protection for up to £40,000 worth of contents and valuables.
• £6,000 cash rated safes are classed as Eurograded safes and tested to the higher European standard of EN1143-1. The £6,000 Eurograded safe is also called a Grade 0 safe.
• Most cash rated safes will come with a plaque on the inside of the door to show that it meets the testing in its particular standard.
• Storing cash AND contents? Think about the cover that your safe has. If you have £1,000 cash cover and put £500 cash in your safe, you now only have £5,000 of contents cover left (not the original £10,000). The contents cover is always 10 times the cash cover, so if you used half the cash cover you will only have half the contents cover as a result. Use all the cash cover and store £1,000 in your safe and you won’t be covered for any contents at all, so be careful.

When it comes to protecting your cash and valuables a cash-rated safe is a safe bet! Better quality walls and locks ensure your valuable contents are safe from the hands of thieves. All insurance companies will recognise All About Safes’ cash rated safes. You can find our most popular ones here on our £4,000 cash rated safes page.

If you need help choosing a safe, contact All About Safes for friendly and helpful advice.