Your insurance company may require that you need a specific type of padlock or one with a minimum security rating. This will vary from one insurance underwriter to another but they mostly follow the same basic set of requirements.
IMPORTANT: Although insurance companies have different standards they mostly follow a basic rule that you use a �closed-shackle� design which must be a keyed padlock rather than a combination type. However, many now ask that your padlock is a '5 Lever Type' which is a very outdated requirement. Levers are rarely built into padlocks any longer and the ones that are available are easily picked. If you do encounter this requirement please do inform them that their policy is out-of-date and that you refuse to use a lever padlock. Some insurance companies have simply been misinformed and when they refer to 5-levers then actually mean a 5-pins. Almost all padlocks function using pins nowadays and a minimum of 5-pins simply make them harder to pick which is why many require this number or more. Every high security padlock on our site contains 5 pins or more.
More specialist insurance will use the industry standard for padlock testing. This is the European CEN grade. There are 6 levels within the grade ranging from general use to maximum security. CEN Level 6 padlocks are rare and have a price point of �100 or more usually. We tend to recommend anything between 3-5 for high security applications.
- GRADE 6 � Maximum Security
- GRADE 5 - Extra High Security
- GRADE 4 - High Security
- GRADE 3 - Medium / High Security
- GRADE 2 � Standard Security
- GRADE 1 � Low Security
When padlocks are graded, they undergo a number of rigorous tests which simulate an attack. Human manipulation and environmental durability are not included within the tests:
The grading system is slightly flawed in that a lock only needs to fail one of the minimum criteria to a single category to be reduced to its lowest scoring grade. This means that some padlocks may perform like a CEN 6 padlock in all tests but fail at minus 40 degree centigrade. It would therefore be lowered accordingly. The other major issue is that there is no policing of the system. Many manufacturers do not test their locks independently and grade the lock themselves. The only manufacturer that we have found to test their products correctly according to the CEN standards are ABUS.
For all it's problems the CEN system a much better system than simply stating that your padlock much be of a closed shackle design which many insurance companies rely on. We stock many open-shackle padlocks that are two grades higher in the CEN system than some of our closed-shackle locks. If you are faced with this problem and that a closed-shackle padlock is simply not convenient, ask your insurance company for a relative CEN or BS EN grade.