Every year in the UK, around 2% of properties are burgled. While that might seem like a low number, that’s around 500,000 houses. What’s worse, 95% of burglaries are never solved. This means that, if you are unfortunate enough to have something stolen from your home, chances are, it will never be recovered.
With all these numbers and scary statistics flying around, it’s easy to feel a bit helpless, but you needn’t let the figures get to you. There are ways you can fight back against theft and ensure your valuables remain secure.
The answer: safes.
Safes are a staple of security installations across the globe, from high-security banks to hotel rooms. They keep your items secure and stop intruders from getting hold of your most treasured possessions. Buying a safe is an important step in avoiding nightmare burglary scenarios, where jewels are stolen, cars are taken and objects of sentimental value are pinched.
But before you go out and buy just any old safe, take a moment to consider exactly what your investment means. In this article we explain how to pick the right safe for your home.
Know What Safe You Need
Just as there are different strokes for different folks, there are different safes for different — well, not a lot rhymes with safe, but you get the idea. Safes exist in many forms, offering different kinds of protection and features depending on what you need it to do.
For example, you may want to store cash, which means you’ll want a compact safe that is easy to conceal. On the opposite side of the coin, you could be looking to secure a firearm: as a result, you’ll need something much larger, with elements such as internal racking. You can also buy home safes to protect against issues that are unrelated to human access, such as fires or flooding.
Step one in finding the perfect home safe is identifying what you need your safe to achieve. Once you know that, and have narrowed down your options, you can move on to considering specific units.
Invest in High Security
Safecracking as a practice has existed ever since there were safes to crack. In the past, there wasn’t much to be done about it, but build thicker bolts and tougher doors. However, in 2018, things are quite different. Even the smallest of home safes can come complete with intricate security options. Investing in state-of-the-art security tech drastically reduces the ability of even the most wily criminal gaining access to your valuable possessions. Options to consider when buying a home safe are:
- Biometric Fingerprint Protection
- Multiple Security Levels
- Electronic Locking
In the 21st century, we needn’t accept basic security when it comes to our safes. When choosing your new home safe, be sure it has security features that go beyond lock and key entry systems or old-fashioned dials, and your possessions will experience far greater levels of protection.
Make Sure It’s Cash Rated
The idea behind a safe is that the items within are kept out of the clutches of thieves. However, this is not always possible. In the event that burglars do gain access to your safe, and items within it are taken, you can often make claims against your insurance to recover the costs.But this is only if you’ve bought the right safe.
Not every safe is covered by insurance companies. While most safes will come with a defined cash rating, there are two types of safe you really need to know about if you want true insurance assurance:
- AiS Approved Safes — AiS safes are safes approved by the Association of Insurance Surveyors, sometimes known as cash rated safes. Safes with AiS approval allow you to guarantee claims up to predetermined values on stolen goods and cash, based on the rating supplied to the safe by AiS.
- Eurograde Safes — Eurograde safes are units that provide superior levels of coverage and are the next step from AiS approved safes. Rated from 0-7, the highest-value safes allow you to protect £250,000 worth of cash or £2,500,000 in valuables.
Integrate Whenever Possible
Safes are designed to be difficult to steal. This is why even small safes are very heavy. A safe with a width of around 30cm can weigh up to 30kgs.
Despite this additional security feature, though, thieves can, with access to enough strength — be it physical or through mechanical assistance — remove a safe from your property. However, there are ways to alleviate the concern that somebody may enter your property, simply pick up your safe and walk off with it.
But what more can you do to weigh it down?
- Attach — Many safes can be screwed to walls or attached to brackets fixed to property elements. Attaching the safe to your home means it can’t just be picked up.
- Integrate — If you have space for it or are able to design your home around the safe you’ve bought, it can be fitted into your walls. When slotted into a uniquely designed cavity, nobody is getting that safe out.
- Hide — Thieves will have difficulty stealing a safe they cannot find. For an extra layer of protection, place safes in hidden areas, such as in the back of wardrobes; behind furniture or books; or even in underfloor spacing.