Welcome Inspire Pilots!
Join our free DJI Inspire community today!
Sign up

Insurance for drone pilots

Joined
Jul 2, 2014
Messages
449
Reaction score
140
Location
Hong Kong
Not sure if this was covered in other posts, but does drone insurance exist for hobby users (i.e. with no commercial intent in mind). With the reports of the firmware being unstable and some reports of flyaways, I'm wondering if this makes sense.

Are you aware of any insurance companies that would cover such products? If they do, what exactly is covered. I saw a video where people attach a heavy payload to a phantom and they naturally lose it in the water. Their response is 'it's ok, we are insured'.

I'm not aware of any insurers covering against stupidity so I'm reaching out to see what's out there and what kind of premium we are talking about.
 
I insure myself for $500,000 but for liability only, the cost involved for replacement is outrageous, I figure if I crash it it's cheaper to repair or fork out the cash for another one. I am a hobby user at the moment but plan on going commercial very soon.
 
I insure myself for $500,000 but for liability only, the cost involved for replacement is outrageous, I figure if I crash it it's cheaper to repair or fork out the cash for another one. I am a hobby user at the moment but plan on going commercial very soon.
What is the name of the insurance company who wrote you a liability policy? Is that through your homeowners ins?
 
The company I get insurance thru is AVRO, and yes you can get it for recreational flying. I tried getting it thru my home insurance but they thought I was from Mars and had no idea what I was talking about. I had to go to a broker who deals with aviation insurance. Not sure where you are located, I'm in Canada but the minimum liability required for commercial use is 100K, which doesn't go very far in a lawsuit. Price ranged from $800-$1000 for $500,000-$1,000,000.00 liability only. My main use for aerial photography will be for real estate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: turbodronepilot
Im in the USA and as far as I know there isn't seperate liability policy avaliable at this time..there isn't any exclusions for your home owners insurance policy, if you have a home owners insurance its probably covered,at least this is what my agent has told me..
 
Called my agent and he said that they do not cover anything man made falling out of the sky and he read me the part in my policy. I even went so far as to say, "so if a piece of a plane falls on my house I am no covered?" He said correct however I'd get a new house from the owner of the plane.... Guess that rules out my homeowners insurance.
 
Called my agent and he said that they do not cover anything man made falling out of the sky and he read me the part in my policy. I even went so far as to say, "so if a piece of a plane falls on my house I am no covered?" He said correct however I'd get a new house from the owner of the plane.... Guess that rules out my homeowners insurance.
Right now there isn't any exclusions for homeowners, because they consider the phantom to be a rc toy ..so it would be covered. .if it was classified as an airplane it wouldn't be. .that's coming from an experienced farmers ins agent. ..
 
I have a policy through Hill & Usher. Ran about $1500 for the year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Transport Risk - they have a UAV insurance that is commercial uav liability. There are different levels but for $1,000,000 liability and hull insurance on $4000.00 value copter, its around 1460.00 a year. With the hull insurance with what you pay for it and the deductible included if something does you are out about 20% recouping 80%

Now i am not sure about the inspire but in general I do not think it matters much to them, the insure my self built copter.
 
I am also interested in learning more about options in the USA. I'm a commercial photographer and right now I have a photographers business policy that covers equipment owned, rental equipment, location liability for shoots etc. However each time I do a shoot on location I need to have the location "additionally insured" with a certificate so I don't think that would work for the Inspire. Maybe I should give them a call and ask about it. I should list my Inspire 1 as owned equipment and if it's ever lost or "stolen" maybe I could file a claim too.

I looked at AMA insurance and it says the aircraft must not exceed 2 pounds, which I'm pretty sure the inspire is heavier than.
 
Having multiple high dollar larger multi rotors insured, i find very good service and programs through Highland Aviation Insurance, they specialize in UAV's and have a program to suit most uses and experience levels. www.highlandinsagcy.com , great folks.
 
Hello,

There is some great information here. I am an aviation specific insurance broker. I am appointed by all of the major aviation specific insurance companies (there are about 15 of them). Currently about 4 of them are writing insurance policies for uav/drone use. I can get a liability only policy, with a limit of $500k, for about $600. If you would like hull coverage, I can do that too but it would be more expensive. Let me know if this is something you would be interested in.

Like many people have mentioned, I would not count on your homeowner's policy to cover you for losses that arise out of the operation of a uav. The FAA is working very hard to regulate hobby drones as full blown aircraft.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
22,277
Messages
210,655
Members
34,330
Latest member
GRQLarae44