Choosing The Perfect Safe
Are you unsure about how to find the right safe to meet your security requirements? Are you looking for a safe for your home or office and do not know where to begin with your search?
THIS WILL GIVE YOU SOME GREAT INSIGHTS IN TO WHAT QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ASK YOURSELF IN ORDER TO GET THE RIGHT SAFE FOR YOU!
The best way to start your search is by looking at the different categories on the top menu on our very own homepage. These safe categories will help to determine which type of safe you require. On the menu you will find categories such as Home Safes, Office Safes, Budget Safes, Fireproof Safes, Underfloor Safes etc. For example, if you clicked on the Underfloor Safe category, it will take you to all the underfloor safes that we sell.
You can also use the shop by filters down the left-hand side of each products listings page and this will help to narrow down your search.
The first type of questions which tend to determine what kind of safe you want or need are:
DO YOU REQUIRE A CERTAIN CASH COVER?
If you have been instructed by your insurance company that you need to purchase a safe, they will determine what kind of cash/valuables cover the safe needs to have. If you have been instructed to get a graded safe, this means you'll need a safe with a high cash cover. Always check with your insurance first to determine which cash rating you need.
Look out for AIS Approved safes as these safes are more likely to be accepted by insurance companies.
If you are purchasing a safe for personal protection and peace of mind, it is up to you what cash rating you choose.
WHAT DOES CASH RATING MEAN ON A SAFE?
The cash rating or cash cover tells you the amount of cash the safe is designed to protect. You may see the terms cash rating, security rating, insurance rating or cash cover these all have the same meaning. The Jewellery cover tells you how much the safe is designed to protect for jewellery, watches or any other valuables. You may see the term valuables rating; this has the same meaning as jewellery cover.
To find the jewellery cover on a safe just times the cash cover on a safe by 10. Cash cover £1,000 times by 10 makes the jewellery cover £10,000. A £1,000 cash cover safe will let you keep up to £1,000 of cash or £10,000 of valuables. It can't hold both for insurance purposes. Your option is to mix the value of cash (e.g. £500) and valuables (£5,000) to maintain the insurance limit.
If you are going through your insurance company your Insurance company will tell you what cash cover your safe will need to have depending on your cash or valuables that you would like to cover.
DO YOU REQUIRE ANY FIRE RATING?
When it comes to fireproof safes, these types of safes will have different fire ratings for different types of objects.
Fire Safes have fire ratings against Paper (important documents), Data or Digital Media. When you come to buy a fireproof safe, the ratings will be explained on the safe's specification.
If you need a small fireproof home safe to store your documents or passports in, look out for small fireproof safes with a Fire Rating Against Paper. There will also be fire safes that have a Fire Rating Against Digital Media and safes that have a Fire Rating Against Data.
Phoenix Safe Company and Chubb Safes provide various types of high security safes and cabinets that protect items against fire.
WHAT SIZE SAFE DO YOU NEED?
If you need a certain sized object to fit inside the safe, use the internal measurements to choose what safe is right for you. Likewise, if you need the safe to be a certain size on the outside, use the external measurements to find the right size security safe for you.
A small safe is best suited for small amounts of valuables where as a large house safe will best suit larger quantities or bigger valuables.
If you need a business safe, you may want to look for a small document safe or a fireproof document safe to keep files secured in.
A drugs cabinet may require a large cabinet in order to fit big quantities of controlled drugs in and ultimately helps to keep them more protected.
A money safe may require a depositary option if money needs to be regularly deposited into. Take into consideration what you need your safe to do in order to determine the size. You then must make sure there is sufficient space for the safe in your chosen environment.
WHERE IS THE SAFE GOING?
You must also take into consideration where you are placing the safe. If you are thinking about placing the safe either up or down a flight of stairs, please take into consideration the size and weight of the safe.
If you are having the safe installed, check whether there are any suitable solid floors or walls for the safe to be fixed to.
Delivery types and costs will vary depending on the safe itself. Read about our Delivery Information here.
ARE YOU HAVING THE SAFE INSTALLED?
Most Safes will need to be installed to comply with your Insurance company’s requests. Please take into consideration where the fixing holes are in the safe (FLOOR requires a solid floor to be fixed to or WALL requires a solid wall to be fixed to), this will determine whether you need a solid floor or wall to fix it to.
Please note, fireproof floor safes can only be installed to the floor or positioned.
Here at Total Safes, we offer a delivery and installation service for all our safes. We can professionally install your safe to a concrete floor or brick wall. Our team can even install underfloor safes and wall safes.
Click here for Installation Information.
WHAT LOCKING OPTION DO YOU NEED?
You may have narrowed down your search a little by now so it would be a good time to think about locking options for your safe. Most safes come with a variety of locking options nearly all involving the choice of Key or Electronic.
A Key Locking Safe will provide you with 2 keys for entering and locking the safe and an Electronic Locking Safe will allow access via a pin code.
If you are running on a tight time frame to get your safe installed please contact our team on 0161 819 6888 or use our contact form and we can see what safes we have in stock and what late availability we have in your area.
If you would like further information please speak to one of our safe experts on 0161 819 6888 or you can email us at help@totalsafes.co.uk
