If you’re flying an uninsured drone in Orlando, Florida, you could face a maximum fine of $400 - and one insurer is telling brokers home or business coverage won’t cut it.
Following the city’s passing of a local ordinance in late January, flying drones 500ft beyond city-owned property or public gatherings requires a permit, and operating UAVs under the influence of alcohol could land the “pilot” in jail.
“It’s long overdue and we’ve been advocates for the state to adopt a similar ordinance,” Rick Roman, Gulf Coast Underwriter’s associate risk manager said, explaining the potential dangers of flying drones.
“The (Tampa Bay) Buccaneers football stadium is right next to Tampa International Airport and you’ve got guys flying their drones and videoing their tailgate parties almost right in the flightpath.”
Roman’s advice to brokers was to follow what Gulf Coast Underwriters will soon tell its clients.
“We’re going to be on a risk analysis sheet for all our clients, we’re going to be letting them know that drones are not covered under their homeowners’ insurance, or business owners’ policy - it is a policy that you need to get separate coverage for,” Roman said.
“You can get $1 million worth of coverage for about $700 a year. They should think about not contacting us for a quote if (clients) are going to be operating that drone in and around people”
Gulf Coast Underwriters hasn’t seen any personal injuries from drone coverage yet, Roman said, though it is a risk they’re wary of.
Want the latest insurance industry news first? Sign up for our completely free newsletter service now.
“We’ve seen instances where a drone itself has crashed or been lost, we’ve had two claims where two drones lost contact with the base unit and disappeared into a body of water and sank,” Roman said.
“Then we had one in a very remote part of Pennsylvania that we think got shot down by a hunter… that was a $15,000 bird.”
He believes Orlando is only the beginning and other jurisdictions will follow suit, though it might take a shocking event to persuade regulators.
“What’s going to spur them on is an accident, whether it be in a large crowd, or someone flies a drone into the flight path of a small plane or a passenger plane, it’s going to take an event like that,” Roman said.
“We have more of these things in the air and everyday people are buying them and people are flying them, we get calls every day about it – it’s more opportunities for a catastrophic event to happen.”
Some enthusiasts believe drones shouldn’t face such steep regulation as they now do in Orlando, but Roman contends the flying robots are harder to control than they seem.
“We’re one of the few agencies that have paid claims out on drones. We’ve had several instances where the drones have gotten away from the folks and luckily haven’t hurt anybody, but we paid a claim out because they lost it or it got damaged,” Roman said.
Related stories:
