Questions to ask before you pay
Sixteen questions, in the order they matter. Each one has a right answer, a weak answer, and an answer that should end the conversation. Print this and take it with you — that is what it is for.
Before anything else
- Which standard is this certified to, and by which laboratory?
The answer must contain a standard (EN 1143-1, UL 687, GOST R 50862) and a body that signed it (ECB·S, UL, CNPP, SBSC, VdS). One without the other is decoration.
Ends the conversation: “it's tested to European standards.” Which one, by whom, in what year? - What is the certificate number, and can I look it up myself?
ECB·S, VdS and UL all publish searchable registers. A seller who cannot give you a number to check is asking you to trust a sticker.
Weak: “the certificate is at the factory.” It is a public document. - Does the certificate cover the model you are selling me today?
Certificates are issued for a construction, not for a brand. Makers revise fill, boltwork and locks between production runs. Ask for the model designation on the certificate and compare it letter for letter.
- Is the rating for the whole body, or the door only?
UL TL-30 means thirty minutes against the door face. TL-30x6 means thirty minutes on all six sides. In the real world the difference is measured in hours, and in price it is measured in thousands.
Ends the conversation: “TL-30, x6, same thing.” - Is that number a burglary rating or a fire rating?
They are separate tests with separate labels, and putting a fire number in the burglary column is the oldest trick in this trade. “120 minutes” next to a fire symbol says nothing about a crowbar.
About the metal
- How many bolts are live, and how many are dead?
Live bolts move with the handle. Dead bolts are fixed pins on the hinge side. Brochures add them together and print one number. Count them yourself, with the door open.
- What is the barrier, and how thick?
A steel thickness quoted in the brochure is a weaker claim than a certified composite barrier half that thick. Ask what fills the wall: concrete aggregate, ceramic, sand-cement, nothing.
Weak: a steel gauge quoted with no mention of fill at all. - Is there a relocker, and of what kind?
A relocker fires when the lock is drilled or punched, and freezes the boltwork. Glass relockers, thermal links, spring-loaded plates — any of them is better than the silence you usually get.
- Which lock, to which class?
Locks are certified separately: EN 1300 class A/B/C, UL Group 2, 2M, 1. A Grade IV body with an uncertified lock is a Grade IV body with a hole in the argument.
- How wide is the door gap, and what protects it?
The gap is where a pry bar starts. Ask about the anti-pry lip and look at the gap along the whole edge, top to bottom, not at the salesman's chosen corner.
About your life with it
- What does it weigh, and will my floor take it?
Weight is the cheapest security feature there is, and the one that decides whether the safe leaves your house on a trolley. If it takes more than two people to move, ask about the floor before you ask about the price.
- How is it anchored, and are the fixings included?
Certification usually assumes anchoring. An un-anchored safe is a heavy box on wheels, and insurers have been known to notice.
- Which insurance cash rating does this class carry in my country?
The link between class and insured sum is national, not universal. The same EN grade is worth different money in Germany, the UK and Slovenia.
- What happens when I lose the combination?
There is a factory procedure, it costs money, and it usually requires proof of ownership. A seller who says “we'll just open it for you” is telling you something about the lock.
- Is delivery, stairs, installation and removal of the old safe included?
This is where the quoted price grows by a third. Get it in the same document as the price.
- What is the warranty after an attempted burglary?
Serious makers replace or repair a safe that has been attacked. It is the closest thing in this trade to a maker betting on its own product.