How much are drone pilots paying for insurance? What should drone insurance cost?

While there’s no law that mandates you to buy insurance if you operate drones in the US, having it is the smart, and right, thing to do. Drone incidents can happen because of multiple reasons – hardware malfunction, pilot error, or even factors beyond your control – and they can carry significant liability risks. So, an insurance policy is definitely a worthwhile investment, but how much should you spend for coverage?

SkyWatch, which provides on-demand insurance to commercial drone pilots and hobbyists alike, explains that the answer often depends on what you need your insurance for.

If you’re someone who’s just got a new drone and is looking to fly it recreationally, you can get a policy for less than $50 a month, or even lower if purchased by the hour. This will give you up to $500K in coverage across the US, as well as peace of mind, which is priceless.

On the other hand, if you’re a real estate photographer or cover weddings with your drone, or even if you conduct surveys at empty job sites, you’d likely require a standard liability plan. The most common limit used for such operations is $1 million per occurrence, which can cost around $80 per month in insurance.

Meanwhile, if you work in TV and film productions, or other high-profile jobs, you would typically see client requests to obtain drone coverage upward of $2 million. The monthly insurance cost rate for these operations can average between $100 and $250, but annual plans allow for discount opportunities.

At the end of the day, drone insurance trends are affected by the general industry trends, and above all, drones. If you fly commercially, your exact coverage terms will be determined by the clients that you work with. And if you fly as an enthusiast, the cost of your equipment could become a deciding factor.

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But according to SkyWatch’s data, the monthly amount that drone pilots have chosen to pay for their insurance has only grown consistently over the years. For instance, back in 2018, the average pilot would pay $31 a month for insurance. In 2019, however, pilots chose policies that cost $47 a month on average. In the following years, this number grew to $74 (2020), $96 (2021), and $104 in 2022.

Tomer Kashi, CEO of SkyWatch, explains the reason behind this trend:

The main driver behind this trend is that drone specialists are becoming more professional every year. Drone pilots today have better drones, more sophisticated equipment, and can do much more complicated operations. That means they have more expensive drones to insure, require wider coverage and need higher liability.

As data shows, there are facts supporting this claim. The percentage of pilots who chose to insure their own drone (“hull damage”) is rising every year and got to 34% of all policies in 2022. Moreover, the average value of an insured drone went up by more than 30% from $2,997 in 2018 to $4,053 in 2022.

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