DJI Care Refresh vs Insurance Policy

[Komatsu]

Apologies if this topic is in the wrong category I wasn’t sure where it belonged, As per the title really, are there any Pros & Cons to Individual Insurance vs DJI Care Refresh, I’ve had the DJI care twice before and never needed to use it thankfully, does Individual Insurance cough up as easy as DJI would if you drone didn’t return to you or decided to go for a swim, a positive I see is you can get public liability in with the insurance for less than DJI cover, but if insurance companies turn into insurance companies and try to use any means possible to wriggle out of paying as soon as the word “Claim” is mentioned, then it isn’t so appealing, Also what does “We ask that you fully comply with local/national aviation regulations” in relation to coughing up money if your drone goes skinny dipping and is lost, is it just to do with FRZ’s and areas of water within these zones, thanks for any help folks.

 

[Deleted member 170519]

Apologies if this topic is in the wrong category I wasn’t sure where it belonged, As per the title really, are there any Pros & Cons to Individual Insurance vs DJI Care Refresh, I’ve had the DJI care twice before and never needed to use it thankfully, does Individual Insurance cough up as easy as DJI would if you drone didn’t return to you or decided to go for a swim, a positive I see is you can get public liability in with the insurance for less than DJI cover, but if insurance companies turn into insurance companies and try to use any means possible to wriggle out of paying as soon as the word “Claim” is mentioned, then it isn’t so appealing, Also what does “We ask that you fully comply with local/national aviation regulations” in relation to coughing up money if your drone goes skinny dipping and is lost, is it just to do with FRZ’s and areas of water within these zones, thanks for any help folks.

I know my insurance company carries a 500.00 deductable and doesn't cover any liability. It just covers the drone s replacement cost minus 500.00.
Care Refresh would cost less to replace using it.
I would check to see if your insurance covers liability and decide if its worth it to you.
Heck, my insurance company won't even insure an electric bike. I am not sure why since they never gave me a reasonable explanation. Time to look at other insurance companies me thinks.

 

[66427cobra]

I know my insurance company carries a 500.00 deductable and doesn't cover any liability. It just covers the drone s replacement cost minus 500.00.
Care Refresh would cost less to replace using it.
I would check to see if your insurance covers liability and decide if its worth it to you.
Heck, my insurance company won't even insure an electric bike. I am not sure why since they never gave me a reasonable explanation. Time to look at other insurance companies me thinks.

If it is your only drone, think about repair turnaround time. With care refresh you typically get a replacement that is either new or well refurbished. With outside insurance you have the claim process and you might have to wait for your drone to actually be repaired..no replacement.

For my one care refresh claim on my Mini 2, a replacement was sent out the same day they received by broken drone. The replacement looked brand new. My guess that the actual cost of the drone to DJI makes a straight replacement much cheaper. Virtually no labor.

 

[Komatsu]

If it is your only drone, think about repair turnaround time. With care refresh you typically get a replacement that is either new or well refurbished. With outside insurance you have the claim process and you might have to wait for your drone to actually be repaired..no replacement.

For my one care refresh claim on my Mini 2, a replacement was sent out the same day they received by broken drone. The replacement looked brand new. My guess that the actual cost of the drone to DJI makes a straight replacement much cheaper. Virtually no labor.

The repair/replacement was a factor I do agree, can I ask what percentage (if any) of a new Mini 2 you had to pay DJI for the replacement, I’ve read a lot about people having very quick turnarounds with the DJI replacements but not very much in the way of separate insurance policies, just for comparison purposes, I have 2 Mavic drones to insure the price for both is only £50 ($50) more than DJI refresh for 1 Mavic 3

 

[Komatsu]

I know my insurance company carries a 500.00 deductable and doesn't cover any liability. It just covers the drone s replacement cost minus 500.00.
Care Refresh would cost less to replace using it.
I would check to see if your insurance covers liability and decide if its worth it to you.
Heck, my insurance company won't even insure an electric bike. I am not sure why since they never gave me a reasonable explanation. Time to look at other insurance companies me thinks.

I would use care refresh if that was my scenario to, as it is the excess I would have to pay is £100 ($100) which isn’t much at all, it’s only £50 if recreational use not commercial

 

[shawgod]

I am having a lot of problems finding an insurance program that matches the care refresh from DJI. I have looked over all the place and there is a few companies and they want to charge you a pretty penny and as noted already have a deductible. I have a couple older drones that I couldn't get the care refresh on and I wanted to get some insurance on them. Unfortunately I can't afford the insurance on them. So now I am hoping nothing happens to them. Last year I crashed my Phantom 4 Pro and it cost me a couple hundred dollars to fix. I guess it is better then nothing.

 

[66427cobra]

The repair/replacement was a factor I do agree, can I ask what percentage (if any) of a new Mini 2 you had to pay DJI for the replacement, I’ve read a lot about people having very quick turnarounds with the DJI replacements but not very much in the way of separate insurance policies, just for comparison purposes, I have 2 Mavic drones to insure the price for both is only £50 ($50) more than DJI refresh for 1 Mavic 3

for the mini 2 it was a flat fee of $49, paid in advance. DJI then sends you a prepaid shipping label for return of the damaged drone. Easy peezy.

 

[Bob in Savannah]

The State Farm agent I found in Savannah carried a "Personal Articles" policy a couple years ago that I used. $85 for the year. Covered EVERYTHING. Lost, stolen, crashed, run over, water damage, you name it. You just have to give them your remaining gear, like your controller and whatever else was included in the package you're insuring. Check cut next day, literally for the cost you paid. You can go directly to Best Buy and replace it or whatever.

Now, here's the rub... They will more than likely cancel your policy after the claim unless you carry other insurance with them or have insured multiple years with no problems. so.. there you go.

I'm in Savannah, GA, btw and this was in 2019 with a Mavic Pro. I never made a claim and they have repeatedly called me over the last several years to come back.

 

[Deleted member 170519]

I am having a lot of problems finding an insurance program that matches the care refresh from DJI. I have looked over all the place and there is a few companies and they want to charge you a pretty penny and as noted already have a deductible. I have a couple older drones that I couldn't get the care refresh on and I wanted to get some insurance on them. Unfortunately I can't afford the insurance on them. So now I am hoping nothing happens to them. Last year I crashed my Phantom 4 Pro and it cost me a couple hundred dollars to fix. I guess it is better then nothing.

Your homeowners, or rental insurance company should cover those older drones with the deductible if something happened to them. Don't know about flyaways though. Problem is, they want to only give you market value and not replacement value. I have a mini 3 pro that I put 2 year refresh on... and an air 2s that I bought used without any refresh on. If something happens to the mini 3.. dji takes care of it with a small fee. If something happens to the air 2s, the first 500 comes out of my pocket, and my insurance company will probably only pay 100.00 or so for market value. That's if I file a claim. Could actually cost me more in the long term if I did file a claim as insurance company love to increase rates. There are actual drone insurance policies you can get that will have liability attached, but off the top of my head I don't know which ones.

 

[Komatsu]

I am having a lot of problems finding an insurance program that matches the care refresh from DJI. I have looked over all the place and there is a few companies and they want to charge you a pretty penny and as noted already have a deductible. I have a couple older drones that I couldn't get the care refresh on and I wanted to get some insurance on them. Unfortunately I can't afford the insurance on them. So now I am hoping nothing happens to them. Last year I crashed my Phantom 4 Pro and it cost me a couple hundred dollars to fix. I guess it is better then nothing.

to be honest I've flown my Mavic 2 without any any cover and thought nothing of it for the last few months, its not until you get a new one that you panic about crashing it and dji refresh becomes the default response to do after buying a drone, I don't fly over water but that is something I will probably be changing this year, which heightens risk of loss greatly

 

[Komatsu]

for the mini 2 it was a flat fee of $49, paid in advance. DJI then sends you a prepaid shipping label for return of the damaged drone. Easy peezy.

that's a very good price indeed, well worth it

 

[Komatsu]

The State Farm agent I found in Savannah carried a "Personal Articles" policy a couple years ago that I used. $85 for the year. Covered EVERYTHING. Lost, stolen, crashed, run over, water damage, you name it. You just have to give them your remaining gear, like your controller and whatever else was included in the package you're insuring. Check cut next day, literally for the cost you paid. You can go directly to Best Buy and replace it or whatever.

Now, here's the rub... They will more than likely cancel your policy after the claim unless you carry other insurance with them or have insured multiple years with no problems. so.. there you go.

I'm in Savannah, GA, btw and this was in 2019 with a Mavic Pro. I never made a claim and they have repeatedly called me over the last several years to come back.

that's also a very good deal

 

[Komatsu]

Your homeowners, or rental insurance company should cover those older drones with the deductible if something happened to them. Don't know about flyaways though. Problem is, they want to only give you market value and not replacement value. I have a mini 3 pro that I put 2 year refresh on... and an air 2s that I bought used without any refresh on. If something happens to the mini 3.. dji takes care of it with a small fee. If something happens to the air 2s, the first 500 comes out of my pocket, and my insurance company will probably only pay 100.00 or so for market value. That's if I file a claim. Could actually cost me more in the long term if I did file a claim as insurance company love to increase rates. There are actual drone insurance policies you can get that will have liability attached, but off the top of my head I don't know which ones.

yeah thanks for the reply mark, it is an actual drone insurance company I was considering, I probably should have said so in the description rather than people thinking I was wondering about home insurance cover, looks like the 1st fee for the M3C is £119 ($119) the 2nd one a little but the fly away cost says £459, which is roughly a 3rd of new cost, still a huge saving on new bought one

 

[mobilehomer]

Care Refresh all the way. Send them your damaged drone, they send you a new/refurbished one. The only money involved is the replacement cost. In my case, I bought the Air 2S/RC Pro FMC last year. If I had to send the drone and all the accessories it would cost me over a thousand dollars to replace it. I'll stick with Care Refresh.

 

[Starz]

Care refresh participants are probably the payment method DJI used to pay for their new multimillion dollar building.
I chose to just be very cautious with how I fly my toys.

 

[mike foy]

The State Farm agent I found in Savannah carried a "Personal Articles" policy a couple years ago that I used. $85 for the year. Covered EVERYTHING. Lost, stolen, crashed, run over, water damage, you name it. You just have to give them your remaining gear, like your controller and whatever else was included in the package you're insuring. Check cut next day, literally for the cost you paid. You can go directly to Best Buy and replace it or whatever.

Now, here's the rub... They will more than likely cancel your policy after the claim unless you carry other insurance with them or have insured multiple years with no problems. so.. there you go.

I'm in Savannah, GA, btw and this was in 2019 with a Mavic Pro. I never made a claim and they have repeatedly called me over the last several years to come back.

Does t all state offer insurance, I’m sure I saw that as an option for DJI drones on B&H store

 

[vindibona1]

I have both DJI Care/Refresh for all my drones. HOWEVER, DJI care/refresh has a "sunset" after 2 years where you cannot renew the C/F. I didn't know that until it was too late for my Mavic 2 Pro which developed a cracked leg, and I have no idea how. A $200 repair (so I just superglued it because I could and avoid the cost of the repair). The bummer with the C/R on my Mavic 2 was that I paid in over $200 over the 2 years and never had a claim. They got free money out of it. Additionally, should I have had any claims they have a deductible. Still probably a worthwhile price to pay for peace of mind for REPAIRS.

I also have my drones registered with State Farm (insurance). The cost is minimal, about $60-$70 for ALL three of my drones. No deductible. The caveat of this is that one must be flying recreationally for the insurance to apply. If you are flying professionally then separate insurance is needed. But I believe that hull insurance can be had on an as-needed basis (not positive on that, though liability can be, for sure). Should my Mavic 2 or even my Mini 3 pro be lost I would be inclined to make a claim with State Farm rather than pay the large deductible with DJI. It would depend on the circumstance. ONE MORE THING... State Farm covers theft and damage, not only to the drone it self, but my whole kit. Something to know about DJI C/R is that it doesn't cover the controller!

In other words, it isn't a bad idea to have C/R and separate insurance.

To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed that DJI won't extend the C/R beyond two years. I sort of understand that they phase out models, expecially like the Mavic 2 which I bought at the end of its sales cycle. But the bean counters at DJI are brilliant and like the casinos in Vegas, they have this thing rigged for the house.

 

[shawgod]

I fly my babies with extreme care. Especially the ones without Refresh. My P4P and mavic mini have aged quite a bit over the years and the value of them have dropped quite a bit. If something were to happen to the P4P I would for sure fix it. It was my first drone and I love that drone. If something were to happen to the mini 1, I don’t think I would repair it. I have a mini 2 and the batteries would work from the mini 1 in the mini 2 if I am correct. So that is a plus there. The rest of the parts I would sell. My other drones all have the Refresh on them so I am set for now on those. The only thing I am worried about is liability. But I will look around and see what I can find for that.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Care Refresh all the way. Send them your damaged drone, they send you a new/refurbished one. The only money involved is the replacement cost. In my case, I bought the Air 2S/RC Pro FMC last year. If I had to send the drone and all the accessories it would cost me over a thousand dollars to replace it. I'll stick with Care Refresh.

It's not the way, because if you can't supply them with your crashed drone, they won't replace it with a new one. If you lost it in trees or it went into the water, you are out of luck, from what I understand. With State Farm, for example, if it's lost you put in a claim and they pay out.

 

[mobilehomer]

It's not the way, because if you can't supply them with your crashed drone, they won't replace it with a new one. If you lost it in trees or it went into the water, you are out of luck, from what I understand. With State Farm, for example, if it's lost you put in a claim and they pay out.

No, they will replace it with a new/refurb unit. But, the replacement cost is higher without the old one.