UAV Insurance Discussion

What is "Waiver of Subrogation."

Many times when a commercial UAV operator is hired to fly a job, the company hiring them will be ask to be added to the UAV insurance policy as Additional Insured with Waiver of Subrogation. The additional insured part is straight forward enough. However, my clients are often confused by the Waiver of Subrogation. Subrogation is a concept in insurance in which the insurance company "goes after"(subrogates against) a third party in order to recoup the losses they have paid out in a claim. When an insurance company waives their right to subrogate against a specific entity, they cannot "go after" that entity to recoup their losses after a claim. I have provided an example below.

Company A hires Joe's Drone Service to conduct an aerial inspection of an old building. Company A requests that Joe's Drone Service add Company A as an Additional Insured with Waiver of Subrogation to Joe's Drone Service's UAV insurance policy. While performing the inspection, Joe's Drone Service crashes their UAV due to the negligence of Company A. Joe's Drone Service's UAV insurance policy responds to the accident and pays Joe for the loss of his drone. If subrogation had not been waived, Joe's Drone Service's insurance company could have subrogated against Company A due to their negligence in causing the loss of Joe's Drone. However, since subrogation was waived, Company A is protected from subrogation.

I hope this helps!

Thanks,

Joe Ernster
[email protected]
Get An Online Commercial UAV Insurance Quote Now
 
If you have a job coming up that requires the client to be added as additional insured do not wait until the last minute to procure insurance. When your policy is first created, it often takes more time for the insurance company to generate your certificates of insurance. So, save yourself, your client, the insurance company and your broker the headaches associated with last minute requests. Get your insurance bound several days prior to your job. That way you will have all of your ducks in a row.

Get Your Online Commercial UAS Insurance Quote Now!

Thanks,

Joe Ernster
Bullock Agency, Inc.
[email protected]
 
Hello!

Global Aerospace updated their Online Commercial UAS Insurance Portal yesterday! Some of the new features are highlighted below. If you are a commercial operator looking for coverage, this is your place.

UAS Portal Highlights - July 2017


1. Home Screen - for the insured portal

New look Home Screen, same great insurance coverage


2. Additional safety resources - Complimentary

All policyholders will now receive the 'Best Practice Guide to Prevent Against Claims of Invasion of Privacy' as a complimentary safety resource in addition to the 'Standard Operating Procedure' and 'Introductory Guide to Emergency Response' documents.


3. Quote email with online payment link

For your convenience, the quote email you receive when submitting an application from the Broker portal will now have the (please click here) online Payment link instead of the login link. You can forward this email directly to the insured for payment options.


4. Instant quotes (Auto-rating)!!

The instant quotes, immediate purchase options and instantaneous coverage you have been waiting for are now here! We now have auto-rating. You will be presented with a variety of quotes as part of the application process that you can immediately purchase online. (Note - certain criteria will still require underwriter review)


5. Free TRIA

TRIA is now include free in your premium automatically. You will not be required to choose to purchase or decline TRIA anymore, it's free!


Thanks,

Joe Ernster
[email protected]
Get Your Online UAS Insurance Quote Now!
 
As an agency owner in Florida, the laws of liability and damage coverage can be different from state to state. Many homeowners policies will cover drone liability at no additional cost and even drone damage (subject to your all peril deductible). All you need to do is call your agent and ask. For example my homeowners policy (Frontline Insurance) covers my liability and property damage exposure from flying my drone to my personal liability limit of ($300,000) and the drone itself minus the all peril deductible ($1,000). If you have a personal Excess, or Umbrella policy, you can inquire if that policy would also provide an additional layer of coverage over your homeowners liability. A one shoe fits all isn't always the best answer. Call your agent first and then determine if you need a separate policy through a vendor.
 
dodoftwogirls,

Thank you very much for the input. Is the coverage that you speak of for hobbyists or commercial operators? I would be very interested to know. At this time, I can only insure commercial operators. I am very actively trying to find a standalone UAV insurance policy for hobbyists.

Thanks,

Joe Ernster
[email protected]
 
Joe Ernster said:
dodoftwogirls,

Thank you very much for the input. Is the coverage that you speak of for hobbyists or commercial operators? I would be very interested to know. At this time, I can only insure commercial operators. I am very actively trying to find a standalone UAV insurance policy for hobbyists.

Thanks,

Joe Ernster
[email protected]
Click to expand...

Joe,

Good question and I should have clarified in my original post. I inquired for myself and a few of my clients as hobbyist and it is covered for us. Commercial pursuits would be excluded under the homeowners policy thus you'd have to get your coverage through another venue such as what you offer. But hopefully, my input helped clarify it better for hobbyist and professionals. I am not trying to tread into your territory but have inquired to several of my markets on stand alone personal UAV coverage out of curiosity. I will be happy to share what I learn with you offline to your email address.

Regards.
 

Attachments

I have Home Owners insurance which covers any property/personal damages (liability and property damage) caused by the copter as long as it's not intentional.
 
@WillZX14R thank you very much for the insight! That is great for a hobbyist operator. However, this thread is geared towards commercial UAV operations.
 
Hello!

Just an update on commercial UAS insurance. Due to the large amount of policies written, and the relatively low amount of claims, prices have come down quite a bit with Global Aerospace. If you are interested in getting a commercial UAS insurance quote from Global Aerospace, please follow the link below to their online UAS insurance portal. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I am here to help.
https://bullock.aeroinsure.com/DTM/US/UAS/Home
Global Aerospace Portal

Sincerely,

Joe Ernster
Bullock Agency, Inc.
[email protected]
 
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Great content, Joe. I appreciate the effort you are putting into keeping us up to date and providing valuable mini-FAQs throughout the thread! Please keep it up, sir.
 
Commercial UAS insurance rates have been drastically (about 25% for certain limits) reduced over the past few weeks. If you requested a quote before, and were not satisfied with the price, I recommend that you give it another shot. I have included a link to Global Aerospace's Online UAS Insurance Portal below.

Global Aerospace Portal

Sincerely,

Joe Ernster
[email protected]
 

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