How to pick the best home safe for you
People buy a home safe for different reasons, and understanding your own motivations can help you choose the best home safe to suit your needs and budget. Take a minute to think about your answers to the following questions before continuing to our top options.
How large are your valuables?
Are you buying a safe to simply store some cash and jewellery, or will bigger valuables need to fit in? If you’re intending to squeeze in larger items, such as laptops, cameras and – oh, I don’t know – Fabergé eggs, you’ll want to check out some of the more spacious options on the market. The last thing you want is to get your safe delivered before realising that it doesn’t actually fit what you need it to fit.
How much are your valuables worth?
Once you’ve decided what you’ll be storing in your safe, you’ll want to work the sum total of their combined cash worth. This is so you can work out where the contents of your safe rank on the Eurograde rating scale, which is used by insurance companies to determine what they will insure while it’s locked in a safe:
• Eurograde 0 – Cash rating: £6,000; Valuables: £60,000
• Eurograde 1 – Cash rating: £10,000; Valuables: £100,000
• Eurograde 2 – Cash rating: £17,500; Valuables: £175,000
• Eurograde 3 – Cash rating: £35,000; Valuables: £350,000
• Eurograde 4 – Cash rating: £60,000; Valuables: £600,000
• Eurograde 5 – Cash rating: £100,000; Valuables: £1,000,000
• Eurograde 6 – Cash rating: £150,000; Valuables: £1,500,000
• Eurograde 7 – Cash rating: £250,000; Valuables: £2,500,000
You’ll want to make sure that you buy a safe with the right Eurograde rating to match the valuables you’re putting in there. That way, if you are ever robbed, your insurance company will have to cover the cost.
What’s your budget?
Home safes are available on the internet in all shapes and sizes, and with that vast range of options comes an even vaster range of prices. If you’re able to spend a bit more on a safe, you will probably get more space, more security features and a higher Eurograde rating. But if you’re looking to spend a fairly small amount to protect just a few small items, you should still be able to find a high quality safe to suit your needs.
What type of lock do you need – and how many keys?
Safes either work with a key or with a mechanical or electronic combination lock. With the former, you get the peace of mind that nobody can open the safe without the key, which you keep on your person or in a secure place. With the latter, anyone who knows or can guess the combination can get inside, but that still makes for pretty good security.
Of course, keys can get lost and combinations are forgotten. In the latter case, you might want to keep a note in a secure place (not a Post-it note on the fridge) or see if the manufacturer has an override key.
If you’re the kind of person who’s likely to lose a key, you won’t want to lock up your most valuable and important belongings in an impenetrable safe that only comes with one impossible-to-replace key. Get a safe with a spare key and leave said spare with someone that your trust. Alternatively, choose a safe provider that’s willing to provide replacements if you ever need them. If you have absolute trust in yourself and have never lost a single thing in your life, ignore this paragraph completely.
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The best home safes to buy
1. Burton Safes Eurovault Aver: The best home safe for the average home
Price: £1,176 | Buy now from Amazon
The perfect home safe for most people is arguably the Burton Safes Eurovault Aver. The Eurovault Aver is available in a range of sizes, security grades and lock types, though this key lock safe has a grade 0 rating on the Eurograde rating scale. This means that insurance companies will cover the contents of your safe up to a cash total of £6,000, along with valuables that have a combined worth of up to £60,000.
The double-walled steel safe boasts laser-cut metal that is 10mm thick and anti-rust treated, and it contains two height-adjustable shelves, which can also be removed if necessary. The lock and bolt-work also have special drill protection, and there’s a relocking device that will secure the door in case of attack.
Key features – Dimensions: 67 x 44 x 39cm; Volume: 71l; Cash: £6,000; Valuables: £60,000; Eurograde rating: 0; Fire resistant: No; Lock: Key lock
