When you kick off your drone business and start shooting commercially, you need to access and be aware of the operational risks involved in dealing with a drone. Accidents could happen, your drone could get damaged, or invasion of privacy claims could be made against you. What do you do? How would you manage and transfer risks? 

Here comes drone insurance.

Drone insurance is just like typical car or property insurance. It provides financial compensation and protection to you and your drone business when an accident occurs and loss is suffered due to an unforeseen event. These could be the loss or theft of your drone, privacy violation issues, property damage and cybersecurity concerns. 

There are different insurance policies but the two most common types are;

1. Commercial Drone Liability Insurance: This policy protects you from third-party claims of accidental bodily injuries or property damage caused by your drone; like accidentally crashing your drone into a building or someone else’s car. Claims of invasion of privacy (drones accidentally capturing footage or information) are also in this policy. This is crucial for drone operators as these claims can lead to expensive privacy lawsuits.
2. Commercial Drone Hull Insurance: Hull insurance insures the drone itself. It provides coverage for accidental damage that drones suffer while being operated commercially. Drones under this coverage get replaced or repaired whenever they get damaged.

Other types of drone insurance policies are;

Payload Insurance: Payload insurance is needed if you use expensive equipment alongside your drones. These could be your multispectrum and thermal cameras, professional cinematography cameras, LIDAR lasers e.t.c., all of which are not covered by hull insurance.

Commercial Property Insurance: This policy protects essential business property like equipment, furniture and inventory and loss of earnings. The policy would also respond to fire damage or the theft of your drones.

Cyber Liability Insurance: This policy will pay for the costs connected to cyber-attacks and potential data breaches on your drones or computer. Cyber liability insurance includes costs related to notifying your users, public relations expenses, credit monitoring, and civil damages and fines.

Workers Compensation Insurance: This coverage is mandated by law once you hire employees. It will pay for any costs resulting from work-related injuries and illnesses by covering medical expenses and lost wages.

Then, there are also Non-Owned Aircraft Liability, Aviation Product Liability, Employment Practices Liability Insurance, Intellectual Property Insurance, Commercial Crime Insurance, Foreign Commercial Package, Errors & Omissions (E&O) Insurance, Directors & Officers Insurance, and Key Person Insurance.

The cost of drone insurance depends on the package you need and the company you are buying it from. Most insurance companies will consider the drone you use, your type of work, your experience, accident history and location to set a price.

No matter how skilled you are as a drone operator, you can not over-fly risks; accidents can still happen. So if you own a drone business, getting a drone insurance policy is a worthy investment that would protect you and your business. You would be reducing liability exposure and providing yourself and your client peace of mind when something goes wrong.

Have any thoughts or questions on this? I’d love to hear from you. Reach out any time.

Cheers,

Eno

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