Consumer drone sales have increased rapidly in recent years and this trend is projected to continue. This has also increased the chances of personal injuries or property damage occurring as a result of inexperienced drone pilots or faulty devices. The insurance industry has responded to this development by creating a new product: drone insurance.
In a 2015 survey, 31 percent of risk managers in large and mid-sized firms in the U.S. cited inadequate insurance cover or potential injury/damage as their greatest concerns with commercial usage of drones. The uptake in drone insurance cover has however been slow. In a 2016 survey, only 19 percent of drone pilots admitted to owning any form of commercial drone insurance and half of them don’t plan to purchase it. In spite of this, the overwhelming majority of those surveyed thought that liability insurance should be compulsory for all commercial drone pilots in the United States.
