Advanced options
The trap is drift: units rented for "3 months" during a move average FAR longer (the industry's own stats put average stays over 2 years: the business model is inertia), intro rates jump after weeks 8-12, and the sell-and-rebuy comparison goes unrun because the stuff is out of sight. Run it here: if 8 months of fees exceed what the contents would fetch + cost to rebuy later, the unit is a subscription to not deciding.
What The Storage Unit Calculator Works Out
- Storage bill: the weekly rate x 52 / 12 for the monthly figure, multiplied by months stored. UK self-storage runs about GBP 22 a week for 25 sq ft of boxes to GBP 75 a week for a 100 sq ft three-bed house, so a one-bed flat's 50 sq ft is around GBP 150 a month, with London and ring-road flagships above that.
- The value test: fees against the honest resale value of the contents. Once fees pass the value, you are paying to postpone a decision; below it, the sub-line gives the month at which they will, so you can diarise the exit.
- When storage genuinely wins: the cases share an end date: a gap between homes, renovation clearance, probate breathing space, forces postings and business stock, where a GBP 35 a week unit against commercial rent is a different sum entirely.
- Your quoted rate (advanced): replace the size-band typical price with the actual weekly quote, since location moves prices a long way and the half-empty 75-footer is the commonest overspend.
- Introductory discount and how long it lasts (advanced): 50% off for the first eight weeks is the standard hook. The calculator applies it to those weeks only, so the real cost of a longer stay shows through.
- Contents insurance and one-off costs (advanced): insurance is mandatory at most facilities and the in-house policy is often beatable by a home-insurance extension; padlocks, admin fees, van hire and lost deposits are added once.
- Cost to rebuy what you'd miss (advanced): most stored contents are never missed; enter what it would cost to replace the few things you would. The sell-now-and-rebuy card nets this against the resale proceeds and compares it with the all-in storage cost.
- Break-even month (advanced): the month in which cumulative rent, insurance and fees pass what the goods are worth to keep (resale value plus rebuy cost). If it falls inside your planned stay the unit already costs more than its contents.
- Drift to the industry average stay (advanced): units rented for "three months" average stays of over two years because inertia is the business model. This card prices your unit over 26 months so the drift is visible before it happens.