Drone Photography Insurance – What Kind and at What Cost

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, drone photography insurance must be included in the list because you can’t always know exactly what can happen in the future.

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With the protection provided by insurance against accidents and all the other sorts of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unexpected happens.

Like any business owner, for your drone photography enterprise, you must consider how much financial danger you are taking on.

Business Insurance for drone photography

If your drone photography business runs without proper insurance, you are taking an enormous chance not just of losing some money but of a complete wipe-out.

This is because the laws in every state are very strict in enforcing liability on the owners of businesses for the upshots of their actions. 

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for startup businesses to explain what the main kinds of insurance that you need are, and where possible, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your drone photography business?

What this means, for any drone photography business owner, is that if some customer claims that your actions caused them some physical or economic damage, a court can award damages far beyond the total size of your business.

Your drone photography business is not sheltered by laws in the same way as states are, where edicts can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like New Jersey, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a judge can award in any case against the state.

In a court case, it’s purely the privilege of the jury to award whatever amount they deem appropriate, even sometimes giving a person more than they have sued for.

When you are running your drone photography operations, you can’t avoid responsibility for the results of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent up-front the money necessary to have your business running as an LLC, all of that liability belongs to you alone.

What does drone photography insurance protect you from?

For your drone photography business, the most important sorts of insurance are meant to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

As well there are some legal kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will describe the most important points any drone photography business owner should know when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main types of insurance for your drone photography businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any drone photography business is dealing directly with customers, and that means you usually have the danger that some accident can happen to them personally or else something of theirs can be damaged.

In such a case, they can require compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your drone photography business insures you against claims coming from injury to customers or damage to their property.

It protects your drone photography business from the claims themselves and in addition to any resulting court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it can also help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts demand proper liability insurance.

The average level of general liability insurance for your drone photography business would be with a cap of $1 million for a single submission and a total of $2 million for the whole year.

See the table in the costing section below for average prices of general liability insurance for your drone photography insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your drone photography business

In the event where a client alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your drone photography business for them, you can quickly have to fight a court case.

Even if the case against you is judged in your favor, the cost of defense can be large, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Every small drone photography business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover an individual claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

See the table in the cost of drone photography insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your drone photography operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that customers may claim that the results didn’t meet your description of function, or that your recommendation was basically incorrect.

You need to be aware of the particular laws of product liability in your own state.

For example, in California, all businesses in the supply chain can be held culpable for results caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any possible lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for drone photography

Only you can determine exactly how much insurance you need.

Best advice is to contact experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for support.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your drone photography business

Beware! – practically all policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any happening like theft or accidental damage when the van is being used for business purposes.

The proper way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a direct commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial van policies cover the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

In addition, in case of any accident, the car itself, the content and any legal bills, medical expenses, and property damage is guaranteed if your van is involved in a crash.

Most states, other than Virginia and New Hampshire, insist on this type of insurance.

The wanted value of the insurance is calculated on the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your requested level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your drone photography business needs unique and costly equipment, you know how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The tools may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unexpected acts.

Also, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can eliminate your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such specialized gear quickly out of your own pocket, you need full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy whatever needed to keep your drone photography business running.

It is impossible to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s essentially dependent on how much you have invested in your drone photography business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any drone photography business that owns or rents space in a building needs a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the property, you may already have a substantial capital investment, as well as a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Your physical building location must carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against unexpected occurrences like fire and storms, and against criminal damages like theft and vandalism.

If your drone photography business deals in areas of high risk, like Texas or South Carolina, extra coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Illinois, where extreme cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of drone photography business premises, there is a need for more additional cover than in warmer climes.

Although the level of cover depends entirely on the value of the property, it’s not possible to say what cover your need, but we have been able in the table in the cost of drone photography insurance section below to give some indication of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your drone photography business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your drone photography business

Is your drone photography business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business seasonal?

Using short-term insurance makes perfect sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for drone photography – are special policies where you can cover a specific period when you want to be covered.

By only paying for that period of cover, you will save by having reduced premiums but still having adequate risk cover.

The important feature of short-term insurance is that you buy the cover for a defined period – a specific date, or a week or month starting on a specific date, for example for 30 days beginning on the specified date.

When you are expecting periods of better business activity, get the existing cover raised.

Talk to your insurance agent, broker or the company’s representatives to see what options you have.

Business Owners Policy BOP for your drone photography business

You have the option to combine a few of the important kinds of small business insurance in one policy that is known as the business owner’s policy – BOP.

A BOP merges commercial property and public liability insurance by incorporating these coverages into one insurance policy, which can save you money.

BOP insurance will shield you if any claims of injury or property damage are made.

It is mostly the right choice for small and medium-sized drone photography businesses, such as yours.

There are a few limits that will determine whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs will not cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle cover.

Also, the size of your business will determine whether you are permitted to take out BOP cover.

The usual business that is allowed to take a BOP policy must have no more than one hundred employees, and maximum five million dollars in annual sales.

Plus, you must separately take out the mandated worker’s compensation, health and disability insurance as determined for your state.

Workers Compensation insurance for your drone photography business employees

In almost all states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your drone photography business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the operation against any costs that arise if a worker experiences an injury or becomes sick as a result of work.

The benefits cover medical expenses, death benefits, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation.

Failure to meet a state’s laws in this regard can leave you as the employer having to pay penalties levied by the states.

Some states, such as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming only permit coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you can’t get your workers compensation obligations from private insurance companies.

Workers compensation charges are computed based on the employee’s pay, and usually come out at around $1.00 per $100 per month.

However, you must see the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every drone photography insurance need is unique, there are enough examples of standard quotes from insurance companies for us to give appropriate guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

Of course, you should always check with an insurance representative what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have collected for the main types of insurance your drone photography businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
Commercial vehicle insurance $1850 – $2870
General liability insurance $575 – $845
Commercial insurance $1095 – $2265
Equipment insurance $350 – $1220
Public liability insurance $270 – $600
Product liability insurance $290 – $590

Cost of insurance for your drone photography operations depends on many different factors.

We have estimated these figures for small independent drone photography businesses.

In larger states like Texas, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, whereas in smaller states like Utah, they will be about 20%-30% lower.

The location and size and type of your drone photography business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

You should consult with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

In addition you can let the internet do the work for you by looking for insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another reliable source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your city.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for drone photography operations?

This is an umbrella term used to describe basic insurance policies designed to protect drone photography business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my drone photography business have to have insurance?

Some of the forms of insurance are not mandatory for you to operate your business, but they can protect you from risks in your business operations.

Several other forms are required by state law, such as workers compensation and vehicle insurance.

What does a small drone photography business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides insurance against lawsuits or claims filed by a client for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The precise cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the recommended policies for drone photography insurance.

How much will drone photography business insurance cost?

As well as the size of the business, some other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should consult with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

You can search for more information insurance for drone photography , in the search box below, and follow the relevant links.

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