Is it worth insuring your DJI drone?

If you are new to drone piloting and have just purchased your first model, think twice about whether to purchase insurance. Lack of piloting experience and lack of equipment knowledge can hurt you and your wallet.

In our experience, most accidents and damage are caused by inexperienced pilots who make simple mistakes.

Often these errors are not the result of carelessness but of poor hardware configuration!

It would seem that insurers may not yet be ready for the increasing presence of drones in our skies. However, this is a misconception. When it comes to drone insurance, special offers are also offered by insurance industry giants such as PZU and Ergo Hestia. So how to protect ourselves from unpleasant accidents that may befall our machines?

Keep in mind that many drone manufacturers are ready for eventualities such as unintentional damage to the device by the user. The company that pays the most attention to issues related to warranty repairs and servicing of the equipment it produces seems to be, at the present moment, DJI-an enterprise known for machines such as np. Mavic 3 Pro or DJI Mini 3 Pro. One of the products offered is dJI Care Refresh insurance. This is a type of special insurance, purchased separately by the user, covering a period of 12 months. So what does a customer get when they purchase Care Refresh?

  • Guarantee of hardware replacement even if the drone is flooded or falls into water.

  • Priority treatment-Customers with Care Refresh card are prioritized by DJI, so warranty repairs are done as soon as possible.

  • Facilitated contact with consultants.

What is the procedure for insuring a drone with the manufacturer?

Once the insurance is purchased, the user only needs to activate it on the website DJI providing the serial number of the drone and the DJI Care Refresh card. The only stipulation is that activation must occur up to a maximum of 48 hours after the launch of the UAV.

Remember, however, that insurance does not apply in case of:

  • Consciously abandoning the drone,

  • Theft,

  • Damage from flying in inappropriate weather conditions,

  • Making arbitrary modifications or using unofficial accessories.

Drone liability insurance from a traditional insurance company?

Also present on the market are companies specializing in so-called drone liability insurance, that is, insuring pilots of unmanned flying vehicles. These include, for example OcDrones.en, which offers many variants of liability insurance for operators closing in the financial range of 70 - 732 PLN/year, as well as specialized operator's liability dedicated to employees of the services (e.g. Police, Fire Brigade, Border Guard, etc.).). What is unique about this broker's offer is that the coverage also includes protection against accidents occurring during commercial flights, which is generally not offered by other companies, and the fact that the insurance (in the case of recreational flights) is valid worldwide, not just in Poland. The lowest guarantee limit for amateur insurance at Financial Hut is an impressive 350,000 PLN! Finally, let's remind- the obligation to have insurance was legally imposed on individuals, that is, drone operators, not the companies that own these machines.

Purchase insurance

Nowadays, in addition to the warranty from the manufacturer, we can additionally protect our drone from the results of various accidents also with traditional insurance companies, such as Ergo Hestia, which offers standard third-party liability insurance and the so-called Aerocasco, which includes protection in case of damage to the drone in the same way as any other aircraft. The second well-known company that can insure our drone is PZU, however, here we must reckon with the fact that there are restrictions on the type of flights performed.