Are you sure you have liability insurance?

[bkushner]

Remember Mom Droning On About Losing An Eye? A Drone Insurance Case

 

[zocalo]

Definitely. I have a specific photographer's insurance policy that covers legal matters as well as damage/loss of gear, hire of loan gear if something happens while I'm overseas, and so on. I have a lot of gear though and travel with it often which makes this kind of policy worth the extra peace of mind for me. Well worth looking into this and doing a comparison of the small print with than more generic home insurance / State Farm type policies and seeing making your own call on which is the best value, and pretty much required if you are shooting commercially and might get into a legal dispute with a client.

 

[bkushner]

Did you read the article? This person has insurance too and they got out of covering by saying it’s a aircraft. Courts upheld the decision

 

[zocalo]

Did you read the article? This person has insurance too and they got out of covering by saying it’s a aircraft. Courts upheld the decision

Yes, I read the article. I've made it clear to my insurer what gear I have, where/when/how I use it, etc. including the drone, and all of that is reflected in pretty black and white terms in the policy, and in pretty straight-forward English rather than legalese too. Like I said, it's a *specific* photographer's insurance policy that is tailored to my gear and usage precisely to avoid this kind of wiggle room described in the article when it matters. I've made three claims so far (lost gear, damaged gear, and completely trashed gear, but not legal fortunately) and every time they have pretty much had a check in the post the following working day after I got the claim form filled in, no questions asked.

 

[bkushner]

Again this is about liability not gear. Gear coverage isn’t the issue.

 

[zocalo]

I also mentioned the legal cover aspect right up front; "that covers legal matters as well as damage/loss of gear...". That section of the policy covers any legal/liability issues should I cause injury to persons or damage to property through use of my equipment (including the drone), or otherwise get sued by a client/bystander up to the stipulated limits I selected. Obviously if I do something stupid they're almost certainly going to push back, same as any insurer, but provided I'm operating in good faith and within the bounds of the local regulations/requirements, I'm good.

 

[dannybgoode]

Yes because I get mine via the BMFA so specific to liability arising from flying model aircraft.

I would not expect a general liability extension to say a household policy to cover it but as always people need to read their policy wordings. Insurers issue them for a reason!

 

[Simmo]

No cover in the air.............. betchya.......

 

[zocalo]

No cover in the air.............. betchya.......

Not sure if that was at me or Danny, but in my case that was the whole point of putting the drone on the cover and I made that requirement very clear, so yes, I'm covered in flight. It's not like it's going to cause any damage/injury if it's packed away in my camera bag, is it? Well, I guess if I swung the bag at someone/thing...

They're a specialist insurer and I'm not the first drone pilot they've insured for this kind of thing, and unlike your typical home insurance provider they're quite happy to customiser the quote on a per-client basis, e.g. since I only take a subset of my gear on any given trip I have full cover at my home, but a lower total value when I'm working in the field. As I said in my initial post, if you've got a serious amount of gear and/or are working commercially it's worth at least discussing your needs with such a provider and seeing if the cost is worth the piece of mind.

 

[Titano]

Not sure if that was at me or Danny, but in my case that was the whole point of putting the drone on the cover and I made that requirement very clear, so yes, I'm covered in flight. It's not like it's going to cause any damage/injury if it's packed away in my camera bag, is it? Well, I guess if I swung the bag at someone/thing...

They're a specialist insurer and I'm not the first drone pilot they've insured for this kind of thing, and unlike your typical home insurance provider they're quite happy to customiser the quote on a per-client basis, e.g. since I only take a subset of my gear on any given trip I have full cover at my home, but a lower total value when I'm working in the field. As I said in my initial post, if you've got a serious amount of gear and/or are working commercially it's worth at least discussing your needs with such a provider and seeing if the cost is worth the piece of mind.

What insurance company you use if you don't mind me asking? I would like to get a quote from them if they serve my area.