How To Buy Drone Insurance
Managing risk is your one of the many jobs as a drone pilot. With the proper training, mission-specific field exercises,
and mentoring, you’ll learn how to manage risk throughout your career.No matter how proficient you are as a pilot,
accidents can still happen. Which is why commercial drone pilots should have drone insurance.
Especially if you are flying on behalf of your company, or for any non-recreational purposes where another stakeholder
might be involved. There is no way around it, you absolutely need drone insurance.
In this article, we’ll cover the following:
- Is Drone Insurance Required by Law?
- Types of Drone Insurance ( Liability, Hull etc)
- How Much Does Drone Insurance Cost?
- Next Steps
Is Drone Insurance Required By Law?
Drone insurance is not required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for either recreational or commercial drone use.
However, if you are a resident in Minnesota, there are specific insurance requirements based on aircraft.
Nevertheless, insurance isn’t required by law.
Types of Drone Insurance
The two most common types of drone insurances are liability and hull coverage. Similar to car insurance, liability insurance protects
you from third-party claims of property damage or injury, drone crashes, or medical expenses. Liability insurance typically starts at
$500,000 and the amount can be negotiated to better suit your business and operations requirements.
The second most common type of drone insurance is the “hull” coverage. This is where you are ensuring the actual drone itself.
For example, let’s say you just purchased a mid-level to- high-end system, and you scrimped and budgeted just enough for the
purchase of the system. If you didn’t purchase a care program through the manufacturer, then you are responsible for the repair costs.
However, by having hull insurance your drone is insured and protected.
Although liability and hull drone insurance are the most common, you might want to consider payload insurance if you carrying an expensive
thermal, multispectral or cinematography camera and gimbal system. Likewise with your ground equipment, ground stations, laptops,
tablets, UAV cases, remote controllers etc.
How Much Does Drone Insurance Cost
Your insurance broker will put together a comprehensive custom policy for. However, generally speaking the close of drone insurance depends
on the coverage you will need, your experience, specifics of your drone operation. Here are a few factors that your insurance drone broker
will consider in their pricing:
- Type of Drone: The cost of insuring your drone itself and for liability claims will depend on the type and size of drones you are using in your operations.
- Type of Work: For example, if your drone is for commercial photography then your premium would be significantly lower than if you were using it for riskier operations such as disaster relief.
- Your Experience: The experience you or your team have operating drones and training that you may have undergone plays
a factor in obtaining insurance at much more reasonable costs. - The Deductible: Drone insurance works similar to other traditional types of insurance policies when it comes to your deductible.
Your deductible is the amount you have to play before your insurance kicks in. - Accident History: If you have a clean record of accident history, you can expect to pay a lower deductible.
- Location: The location of where your drone will be used matters. Protected construction sites or farmland
would most likely have a lower premium than a crowded metropolitan area.
How To Purchase Drone Insurance
Before you purchase your drone insurance, here’s some information that you’ll want to have ready when you reach out to the drone insurance broker.
- General Information about ( address and contact information)
- The type of coverage you need ( liability vs hull)
- The cost of each part of you rig, including equipment
- Specific information about your UAVs
- Location of where you intend to carry out your drone operations
- How many hours you’ve flown
- Details of accident history
- Your Part 107 Certification number
If by chance, you are not ready to work with an insurance broker to negotiate an annual policy. Consider on-demand insurance where you pay by the hour, day or month.This is a reasonable alternative for newbies, or situations where an annual policy doesn’t make sense. For example, folks just starting out may not necessarily know how often they will fly, therefore on-demand insurance may be a better alternative. Below are resources to find the best insurance for your drone operation.
On- Demand Insurance Providers:
SkyWatch
https://www.skywatch.ai/us/home
Thimble Formerly Verify
https://www.thimble.com/verifly-drone-insurance
View and compare drone insurance companies
Conclusion
In summary the two most common types of drone insurance are liability and hull. Surprisingly, there is a third viable option for pilots that
prefer more options or having an annual plan simply doesn’t make sense. Regardless of your insurance premium, drone pilots rely on their
ability to manage risk, and their experience to safely fly drones. Enroll in a course at AINautics Drone and kickstart your career as
certified commercial drone pilot. Contact us for more information.