How To Find The Best Drone Insurance
Photographers, real estate agents, contractors, and other small businesses can benefit from using drones. The Federal Aviation Administration permits the operation of a commercial drone provided it weighs less than 55 pounds and satisfies certain requirements. Typically, your drone may attain heights of 400 feet and speeds of 100 miles per hour.
At these speeds and altitudes, however, numerous mishaps are possible. And if you cause an accident with your drone, you may be held responsible for substantial property damage or injuries to other parties. Therefore, appropriate insurance coverage is essential. Here is how to choose the best drone insurance.
What Is Insurance for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles?
The risks associated with flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, are specifically covered by drone insurance. You could, for instance, crash your drone into someone’s residence and cause property damage, or you could lose control of your drone and injure a person.
A good drone insurance policy is like insurance for a small business in that it gives you the coverage you need, like liability insurance for accidental damage to property or injury to people.
What is covered by drone insurance?
Here are some types of coverage that drone insurance may provide.
Liability security
Liability insurance provides coverage for accidental property damage and personal injury. For instance, if you crash your drone into a building and break a window, your liability insurance will cover the cost of repairs.
Liability insurance will also cover the cost of your legal defense, verdicts, and settlements if you are sued due to an accident. For example, if you cause an accident that results in injuries, your liability insurance may cover the other party’s medical bills and your legal fees.
Marine insurance and physical damage
Optional hull insurance covers the cost of replacing your drone should it be stolen or destroyed. This coverage is also known as “physical damage coverage for commercial drones.”
Hull insurance may not cover equipment that is not directly related to the drone, such as computers, mobile phones, non-drone cameras, and tablets.
Coverage for medical expenses
If you or a policyholder are injured in a drone-related accident, medical expense insurance will cover your medical expenses.
This means protecting the expensive “payload” parts of your drone, such as its cameras, LIDAR lasers, infrared cameras, and other gear.
Personal and advertising-related injuries: Coverage for personal and advertising-related injuries protects you from a wide range of claims, such as copyright infringement, libel, defamation, and invasion of privacy.
You might be able to buy extra insurance to help pay for the repair or replacement of certain parts, like sensors and equipment in the air and on the ground.
Droneinsurance.com, for example, offers extra coverage for sensors and ground equipment, while Global Aerospace offers extra coverage for controllers and launchers that are based on the ground.
What is not covered by drone insurance?
Your drone insurance policy may exclude the following coverages:
Even if you purchase hull coverage, your drone insurance may not cover damage to non-drone-related equipment. Skywatch AI does not support, for example, laptops, mobile phones, cameras that are not drones, or tablets. These types of products may require additional insurance coverage, such as payload insurance.
Incidents caused by unlicensed or unregistered drone operators FAA authorization is required for all operators of commercial drones. Additionally, you must include all operators of drones in your insurance coverage. Injuries to employees: Injuries sustained by employees are covered by workers’ compensation insurance.
Typically, coverage does not extend to political or terrorist activities.
Actions that are illegal or dangerous: If you use your drone in a manner that is illegal or dangerous, or if you intentionally invade the privacy of another person, your insurance company may deny your claim.
Typically, claims resulting from strikes, riots, civil commotions, or labor conflicts are not covered.
Most insurance claims are not covered when they are caused by war, invasion, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, or martial law.
Do I need insurance for my drone?
There is no regulation requiring you to obtain insurance if you operate a drone for commercial or recreational reasons. But if you use a drone for work, you should think about getting the most thorough insurance policy you can.
Your business’s insurance coverage alone is inadequate. This is because general liability insurance policies generally exclude aircraft. Therefore, if you accidentally damage someone else’s property or injure someone else while using your drone for work, you may be responsible for covering the cost of repairs, medical bills, and legal fees.
If you operate a business and use a drone for a project, certain clients might require you to obtain drone insurance. According to BWI Aviation Insurance Agency owner Matt White, some employers would not hire you if you lacked drone insurance.
“Before hiring you, the majority of job sites and businesses will require at least $1 million in drone insurance,” explains White. These requirements can reach up to $80,000,000 but typically range from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000.
Do home insurance policies include coverage for drones?
If you use your drone for commercial purposes, your homeowner’s insurance is unlikely to provide adequate coverage. Homeowners’ insurance provides minimal coverage for commercial property kept in the home. Also, your homeowner’s insurance probably won’t cover business-related items that are considered technology or professional equipment.
Your homeowner’s insurance is similarly unlikely to cover accidents involving your drone that occur outside your home while you are using it for business. For instance, if you damage someone else’s property while using a drone for work, you may not be covered by your homeowner’s liability coverage. So, you might have to pay to fix or replace your drone and any other property that was damaged.
If you use your drone solely for personal reasons, it may be insured up to the limits of your homeowner’s insurance policy. There are, however, exceptions.
For instance, Lemonade home insurance is available in 22 states and the District of Columbia, but it only covers drones in California, New York, and Virginia. Furthermore, coverage is limited even in these states. You will be protected against the theft and vandalism of your drone, but if you cause an accident, you will not be covered by your homeowner’s liability coverage.
A spokesperson for Lemonade explains that homeowner’s and renter’s insurance policies exclude coverage for drones due to the unique risk posed by drones. For instance, a drone can fly over another person’s property, resulting in trespassing and invasion of privacy issues. A collision with a powerline could also cause damage to utility supplies.
How much does drone insurance cost?
According to White at BWI Aviation Insurance, a basic commercial drone insurance policy with $1 million in liability coverage can cost as little as $563 per year. “If you add hull or physical damage coverage for the drone or its equipment, your premium will go up by about 10% of the drone’s hull price,” he says.
For instance, if you add $3,000 worth of physical damage coverage, your annual premium will go up by about $300, bringing the total to $863 ($563 + $300).
Skywatch’s insurance policy for commercial drones costs approximately $700 per year for $1 million in coverage. The addition of hull coverage increases your premium by 8%. Due to a $3,000 drone, your annual premium would increase by $240, bringing the total to $990 ($750 plus $240).
The cost of drone insurance is determined by a number of factors, including:
If, for instance, your drone business covers natural disasters, you may be charged more than if you cover weddings and other celebrations.
It may cost more to fly your drone in densely populated urban areas than in rural areas, where there are fewer people and obstacles.
Accident record If you have a history of drone insurance claims, your premiums may increase.
The lower your insurance policy’s deductible, the higher your premiums will be. Deductibles for hull coverage are typically between 5% and 10% of the insured value of your drone. Your deductible is subtracted from your payout when you submit a claim.
Taking drone operator classes or obtaining certification may lower your insurance premiums.
Locating the Top Drone Insurance: When searching for the best drone insurance policy, keep the following in mind:
Consider the amount of drone coverage you need. Standard drone insurance policies include liability protection. Consider international and hull coverage, particularly if you travel internationally or if your drone is expensive to replace. Consider monthly or on-demand coverage if flexibility is required. An annual policy is unnecessary if you use a drone for professional purposes infrequently. From Skywatch, you can buy a monthly plan, and from Verify, you can buy one-hour, four-hour, or eight-hour coverage.
Compare and contrast various drone insurance policies. The cost of drone insurance varies depending on the business. It is wise to compare prices from numerous insurance providers.
Where Can I Buy Drone Insurance?
Here are several drone insurance providers.
- Avion Drone Insurance
- BWI Fly
- com
- Global Aerospace
- SkyWatch
- Verifly
The program VeriflyFlyGlobal AerospaceSkyWatches.