DJI Care or not?

[AerialGfx]

I got a new P4 and have to decide if I should go for the 1-yr care option or not before the 48hrs expire. Do people see any value in the plan? Is the customer support reasonable when it actually comes to repairs or they find reasons for non-eligibility?

 

[GadgetGuy]

I got a new P4 and have to decide if I should go for the 1-yr care option or not before the 48hrs expire. Do people see any value in the plan? Is the customer support reasonable when it actually comes to repairs or they find reasons for non-eligibility?

Depends on whether you like betting against the House. The House always wins! They wouldn't be selling the insurance if the paid claims exceeded the policy costs. Couple of gotcha's: if you are unable to recover the aircraft, they can't repair it, so there is no coverage. If it's totaled and recovered, you get a refurbished aircraft, not a new one. Most crash repairs cost less than the policy premium. Lastly, you already have a free 1 year warranty covering any crashes caused by firmware defects or hardware failures, including proven flyaways, which are extremely rare, but still possible, as long as there is no pilot error. Keep in mind that the replacement cost of the aircraft alone will also keep coming down over the next year, and you only lose the aircraft, and not the RC, charger, and any spare batteries. Not crashing is the best insurance, and it's free! Just take it slowly and don't panic, and read all you can about others' mistakes, so you can learn from them vicariously! Use the simulator, and fly a cheap $50 Syma X5c to learn how to control that aircraft without crashing. Syma X5c's are virtually indestructible! Read and study the P4 owners manual! Read everything here on the forum, twice!

 

[AerialGfx]

Thanks GadgetGuy. I have flown them before and upgraded from an Autel X-Star Premium. I can fly the craft easily and I am usually a pretty safe pilot. I am going to use mostly for aerial filming with the drone in sight. I was only wondering about the care plan since its an expensive purchase and have no idea what typical repairs cost. I agree with most of your points, thanks a lot for the suggestions. If I loose/total the craft, I can probably get back in the air buying a used one for which the prices will start to come down as new models show up.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Thanks GadgetGuy. I have flown them before and upgraded from an Autel X-Star Premium. I can fly the craft easily and I am usually a pretty safe pilot. I am going to use mostly for aerial filming with the drone in sight. I was only wondering about the care plan since its an expensive purchase and have no idea what typical repairs cost. I agree with most of your points, thanks a lot for the suggestions. If I loose/total the craft, I can probably get back in the air buying a used one for which the prices will start to come down as new models show up.

Exactly! You can also buy a much cheaper lightly used P3P as a backup bird, for most shooting. Transmitters are the same, although the batteries and chargers are different. Used full P3P kits are currently still available for well under $500 from private parties, from those upgrading to the P4. Safe flying!

 

[Sky Pirate]

I had the same considerations going through my mind, I came up with this view of the situation.

If you are not a reckless person and are prepared to take your time learning about the machine (and yourself) there should be no need for such an insurance. As a pilot in a previous life this has so far come quite easy to me.

As mentioned above you also have the warranty for a year, plenty if time to practice.

ENJOY, I'm having a great time so far!

 

[msinger]

have to decide if I should go for the 1-yr care option or not before the 48hrs expire

You can still purchase DJI Care after 48 hours. DJI will make you submit a detailed video showing your Phantom is in working order.

 

[GadgetGuy]

You can still purchase DJI Care after 48 hours. DJI will make you submit a detailed video showing your Phantom is in working order.

True, but his real question isn't about how to extend the 48 hours. It is about whether the insurance is a good value for the money in the first place, which it isn't, IMHO, so the ability to buy it later is really moot, but if he finds he still can't sleep at night because of worrying about crashing, then he can still waste his money later on, too!

Much better to self-insure by setting the same money aside for potential repairs or aircraft replacement, should that become necessary, and pocket the premium, if it isn't necessary, all the while using the included free 1 year warranty for any crashes not due to pilot error!

 

[msinger]

True, but his real question isn't about how to extend the 48 hours. It is about whether the insurance is a good value for the money in the first place, which it isn't, IMHO, so the ability to buy it later is really moot

True, but it's only a moot point for you since you are okay with taking a risk by not purchasing the insurance. Your self-insuring method could end up costing more in a major crash. It's really a gamble either way you go.

 

[GadgetGuy]

True, but it's only a moot point for you since you are okay with taking a risk by not purchasing the insurance. Your self-insuring method could end up costing more in a major crash. It's really a gamble either way you go.

Assuming the major crash allows for recovery of the aircraft (I fly over water at least 50% of the time, and hard to get to remote areas the rest of the time), and assuming that it was due to pilot error, you are correct. Otherwise, the major crash will be covered by the DJI Warranty even if the aircraft cannot be recovered, or the insurance premium will not be available to you to replace your unrecovered aircraft which is excluded from the insurance policy. The policy also won't cover theft, and the policy is non transferable if you have to buy your own aircraft replacement, so, in most other cases, having the premium in your pocket will be the far better choice.

 

[msinger]

You are certainly making a great case for why you are not going to buy this insurance. Let's be honest though -- it wouldn't exist if people weren't buying it. It's a good fit for some people.

 

[GadgetGuy]

You are certainly making a great case for why you are not going to buy this insurance. Let's be honest though -- it wouldn't exist if people weren't buying it. It's a good fit for some people.

No, I am making a case for why no one should waste their money on the insurance! It wouldn't exist if it weren't profitable for DJI to sell it! They pay out far less in claims than they take in in premiums! They are selling it because they now can charge people for what used to be free covered Warranty claims, if you buy the insurance, as you effectively have no free warranty if you bought the insurance! I'm sure it helps DJI sell a few P4's, too, for those who can't afford to crash them, and are really paranoid. So DJI wins all around, but you haven't presented any evidence that it is a good deal for the policy holder, except in the very limited situations I described above. What am I missing?

If you cannot recover your aircraft, you cannot get any benefit from the insurance. If you cannot recover your aircraft, you also wasted the insurance premium. Game over.

 

[msinger]

No, I am making a case for why no one should waste their money on the insurance! It wouldn't exist if it weren't profitable for DJI to sell it!

It sound like you are making a case for why nobody should buy insurance in general. I personally don't buy insurance for things unless it's required. But, I'm okay with taking that gamble -- and, fully understand that not buying insurance could end up costing me a lot more in the long run.

It wouldn't exist if it weren't profitable for DJI to sell it! They pay out far less in claims than they take in in premiums!

And, you would expect something else? Insurance companies in general couldn't exist if they weren't profitable. Most people who buy insurance probably never need to use it. Those who need to use it are always thankful they have it.

They are selling it because they now can charge people for what used to be free covered Warranty claims

I don't think this is accurate.

you haven't presented any evidence that it is a good deal for the policy holder

The policy costs $299. Look around on the forum and you'll find crashes caused by user error that easily exceeded that cost.

What am I missing?

I think you over-analyze things sometimes.

 

[GadgetGuy]

It sound like you are making a case for why nobody should buy insurance in general. I personally don't buy insurance for things unless it's required. But, I'm okay with taking that gamble -- and, fully understand that not buying insurance could end up costing me a lot more in the long run.


And, you would expect something else? Insurance companies in general couldn't exist if they weren't profitable. Most people who buy insurance probably never need to use it. Those who need to use it are always thankful they have it.


I don't think this is accurate.


The policy costs $299. Look around on the forum and you'll find crashes caused by user error that easily exceeded that cost.


I think you over-analyze things sometimes.

$299 for a policy that terminates the day your aircraft is unrecoverable is a fool's folly! The forums are full of pilot error caused unrecovered aircraft incidents, where the drone crashed or landed out of sight or into water, never to be recovered. If someone gets there before you do, even if it landed in plain view, game over. This means that you paid $299 for something you now cannot use for the purpose for which you bought it! Your $1400 P4 is now crashed and/or missing, and you are now out $1700 because you wasted an additional $299 on a useless insurance policy which you now cannot even transfer to a new aircraft. Had you, instead, self-insured, in ALL cases, you always have $299 toward a new aircraft, even if it was stolen, and $299 towards any necessary repairs, which would cover most repairs where the crashed aircraft is recovered. The ONLY cases where the DJI Care policy holder EVER is ahead is where there is a major crash exceeding $299 in repair costs, which is solely due to pilot error and the policy holder is able to recover the aircraft! In every other case, they are guaranteed to lose money by buying the policy.

DJI absolutely saves money on what would otherwise be free warranty claims by selling DJI Care instead! If you bought the DJI Care insurance, how and why would you file a free warranty claim? DJI is already going to repair it for free because you bought the insurance and prepaid them a nonrefundable $299 for repairs. The only exception would be an unrecoverable aircraft that was caused by a firmware or manufacturing defect with no pilot error, in which case you wasted the $299 for the insurance premium, because it would have been free otherwise, but you paid $299 for it!

 

[msinger]

$299 for a policy that terminates the day your aircraft is unrecoverable is a fool's folly!

This is really a different problem. If you're personally worried about this though, then I advise you to never fly over water and buy a tracker.

 

[GadgetGuy]

This is really a different problem. If you're personally worried about this though, then I advise you to never fly over water and buy a tracker.

Clearly, I am not the least bit worried about this! However you seem to be in the Chicken Little camp of, "The Sky is Falling!"
Better buy insurance! Major crash imminent!
Trust me, if I could buy shares of DJI Care insurance, I could retire tomorrow on the profits! They are making more off selling these overpriced DJI Care policies than they are from selling the drone! It raises the P4 sales price by 20% of pure profit, and they stampede you into buying it within 48 hours when the paranoia and fear of the unknown are greatest! The OP himself was put in this very predicament! Hopefully, we have saved him from wasting his money on it!

 

[Suhail78]

i purchased a P4 last weekend, and took it out to fly Sunday afternoon. I've flown small RC helicopters in the past, and the stick controls are virtually identical, so i felt pretty comfortable flying the drone around the soccer field i took it out to for its first flight. Well, long story short, i was about 100 yards away, and silly me was trying to fly by looking at the aircraft and not the screen...got close to a tree and clipped a branch. The phantom took a tumble, but i didn't panic. I let go of all the sticks, and it recovered into a hover.....the next day i bought the DJI Care 1-year plan...just for piece of mind, because accidents happen, and i wanted to be prepared b/c this was an expensive toy. thats my 2 cents.

 

[GadgetGuy]

i purchased a P4 last weekend, and took it out to fly Sunday afternoon. I've flown small RC helicopters in the past, and the stick controls are virtually identical, so i felt pretty comfortable flying the drone around the soccer field i took it out to for its first flight. Well, long story short, i was about 100 yards away, and silly me was trying to fly by looking at the aircraft and not the screen...got close to a tree and clipped a branch. The phantom took a tumble, but i didn't panic. I let go of all the sticks, and it recovered into a hover.....the next day i bought the DJI Care 1-year plan...just for piece of mind, because accidents happen, and i wanted to be prepared b/c this was an expensive toy. thats my 2 cents.

As long as you fully understand that if your aircraft cannot be recovered or is lost or stolen, that your policy is terminated with no coverage and no refund, and you are fine with that, I am too, and DJI thanks you for your additional contribution to their war chest!

 

[Suhail78]

As long as you fully understand that if your aircraft cannot be recovered or is lost or stolen, that your policy is terminated with no coverage and no refund, and you are fine with that, I am too, and DJI thanks you for your additional contribution to their war chest!

Hmmmm, maybe some kinda GPS tracking device would be helpful in that situation.

 

[srosen]

Many decades ago, I sold life insurance. I still remember my manager yelling in my ear - "Nobody buys insurance-they buy Peace of Mind"


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Suhail78]

Many decades ago, I sold life insurance. I still remember my manager yelling in my ear - "Nobody buys insurance-they buy Peace of Mind"


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

Peace of mind is a great thing to have!!!!