Storage earns its keep when the alternative is dearer: moving to a bigger home, paying removers twice, or selling things you will want again. A 50 sq ft unit for a year costs about £1,644 at the UK average. Against 12 months of renting one extra room, it usually wins.
Where the money leaks
- Paying for air. A 50 sq ft unit holding 20 boxes is mostly empty space on the meter.
- The forgotten unit. 96.6% of UK units turn over within the year (SSA UK Annual Industry Report 2026), but the long tail of forgotten units is where operators make their margin.
- The intro offer cliff. Half price for 8 weeks, then the standard rate. Budget on the standard rate from day one.
- Two van days. Hire, load, drive, unload, twice. About £120 and 6 hours on top of the rent.
The worked example
12 boxes for 3 months: a unit comes to about £235.20 (rent £82.20, insurance £21, van £120, padlock £12) and costs about 6 hours. BoxSpeed comes to £358.20 including collection and return, and costs you the time it takes to open the door. For that load the unit saves £123 but spends your weekend.
With a hired van, BoxSpeed works out cheaper up to about 100 boxes on a 3 month stay. With your own car and no insurance add-on, the line sits near 100 boxes. Over 12 months it moves to about 100 boxes. Run your own numbers in the calculator; where a unit wins, we say so.