On-Demand Drone Insurance Thoughts?

[David Bercovich]

Hey all

We've had a great dialog with Inspire pilots. Check it out here and so I wanted to start a thread on YuneecPilots. I'll give a quick overview of Verifly to kick off. We provide drone liability insurance starting at $10 / hour for $1m liability policies. We'd love to hear your questions and comments and we will do our best to answer them. We've built some new product enhancements that I'll also be able to share over the next few days.

Verifly provides on-demand drone insurance via mobile app. Fire up the app, select your coverage area and with a name, email and a credit card, you can have insurance.

A few key details:
- The base price is $10 for a $1m policy covering a 1/4 mile radius for 1 hour
- Works for any drone under 15 lbs.
- Our underwriter is Global Aerospace, a well-respected and experience aviation underwriter

Questions / Comments?

 

[PatR]

Whats the earliest iOS the App will function with? I'm still using an iPhone 4 and haven't updated past iOS 5 since later updates bricked iPhone 4 phones.

 

[David Bercovich]

Whats the earliest iOS the App will function with? I'm still using an iPhone 4 and haven't updated past iOS 5 since later updates bricked iPhone 4 phones.

Hi Pat

Unfortunately, we've just launched in the last month and so we didn't go back that far. We only go as far as Iphone 4S and ios 8. Do you have a tablet by chance?

 

[Typhoon Charlie]

If you are going to be flying in an area without cell coverage can you set the time when you want the coverage to start and finish.

 

[David Bercovich]

If you are going to be flying in an area without cell coverage can you set the time when you want the coverage to start and finish.

Hi Charlie

Great question. In the longer run we plan to offer pre-purchase options so that you could buy your policy hours / days in advance, set the area and the time and pre-purchase the policy. Then, you'd have coverage regardless of cell coverage when you started flying.

How far in advance would you want to purchase? I assume you don't have wifi nearby either, right? (Just wanted to clarify as wifi works as well as cellular.)

 

[Typhoon Charlie]

Hi Charlie

Great question. In the longer run we plan to offer pre-purchase options so that you could buy your policy hours / days in advance, set the area and the time and pre-purchase the policy. Then, you'd have coverage regardless of cell coverage when you started flying.

How far in advance would you want to purchase? I assume you don't have wifi nearby either, right? (Just wanted to clarify as wifi works as well as cellular.)

I would say a day or two in advance would be fine, with ability to cancel if plans change due to weather or other events. Some of the areas I fly at are remote and no services are available. Anther question if you purchase let's say 3 hours but only fly 2, can you cancel the third. Thanks for your reply.

 

[PatR]

Hi Pat

Unfortunately, we've just launched in the last month and so we didn't go back that far. We only go as far as Iphone 4S and ios 8. Do you have a tablet by chance?

Two of them actually, one within the Typhoon H ST-16 and an Amazon Fire.

 

[David Bercovich]

One of the pieces of feedback we've received before is that one hour policies are often great but that some or many jobs take longer than an hour and many operators would prefer to buy one insurance policy for a particular job.

So, we are rolling out multi-hour options. Specifically you will be able to purchase 4-hour and 8-hour policies with Verifly. I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on these expanded timeframes from anyone in the community. Will these half-day or full-day policies work better?

 

[David Bercovich]

Two of them actually, one within the Typhoon H ST-16 and an Amazon Fire.

Sorry Pat. We seem to be striking out on connectivity with your devices...You must certainly be kinder to your phone than I am b/c I can't imagine keeping an iphone in one piece for that long!

 

[PPS]

One of the pieces of feedback we've received before is that one hour policies are often great but that some or many jobs take longer than an hour and many operators would prefer to buy one insurance policy for a particular job.

So, we are rolling out multi-hour options. Specifically you will be able to purchase 4-hour and 8-hour policies with Verifly. I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on these expanded timeframes from anyone in the community. Will these half-day or full-day policies work better?

My request would be a drop down menu with 1 to 8 hours. Most jobs I have start and finish in 1 to 2 hours. I would like the drop down menu with all options and not jump from 1 to 4 hours as you suggested. Too far of a jump for my needs.

 

[David Bercovich]

My request would be a drop down menu with 1 to 8 hours. Most jobs I have start and finish in 1 to 2 hours. I would like the drop down menu with all options and not jump from 1 to 4 hours as you suggested. Too far of a jump for my needs.

Understood - thanks for the feedback.

 

[David Bercovich]

So, in addition to extended hourly policies, we are also going to offer folks the choice of expanding their coverage areas. Our current coverage area is a 1/4 mile in all directions. We will be offering the option to increase that to 1/2 mile radius soon. Would that feature be helpful to anyone? Anyone fly even further than that?

 

[NRRTRAINS]

So, in addition to extended hourly policies, we are also going to offer folks the choice of expanding their coverage areas. Our current coverage area is a 1/4 mile in all directions. We will be offering the option to increase that to 1/2 mile radius soon. Would that feature be helpful to anyone? Anyone fly even further than that?

hi
if you are flying with in the 1/4 mile area and you have a fly away and it end's up two to three miles away and causes damage to person and craft are you covered and what is covered , full coverage on the drone you own or a pro rated fixed amount or what you payed new and do you need prof of purchases .
thank you

 

[David Bercovich]

hi
if you are flying with in the 1/4 mile area and you have a fly away and it end's up two to three miles away and causes damage to person and craft are you covered and what is covered , full coverage on the drone you own or a pro rated fixed amount or what you payed new and do you need prof of purchases .
thank you

Hi

Flyaways are covered. Check out this FAQ.

Cheers
David

 

[Falcon Arial]

Hello are you looking to offer your service in Canada anytime soon. And if need be do you have longer coverage if I would need say 1 week for a specific project

 

[PPS]

Hi

Flyaways are covered. Check out this FAQ.

Cheers
David

The FAQ does not answear this specific question. Thanks

1: insured and the fly away leaves the 1/4 mile radius zone. Does the coverage extend outside that 1/4 mile ring when it started from within it.

 

[PatR]

One of the pieces of feedback we've received before is that one hour policies are often great but that some or many jobs take longer than an hour and many operators would prefer to buy one insurance policy for a particular job.

So, we are rolling out multi-hour options. Specifically you will be able to purchase 4-hour and 8-hour policies with Verifly. I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on these expanded timeframes from anyone in the community. Will these half-day or full-day policies work better?

My perspective indicates an expanded time span could be extremely beneficial. There are many factors that influence a shoot and time can be impacted with most of them. As an example, a 4 hour operational window allows room for wind conditions to improve, site and equipment set up, walking the site to establish risk factors, and re-position observers as needed if conditions change, conduct customer discussions that impact operational planning, and other factors. Although most shoots are done in an hour or less there are just too many things than can move the starting time well to the right that need to be allowed for. The additional cost should not be much of a deal because that is bid into the job with mark up as part of overhead prior to accepting the contract.

Question; Will it be possible to obtain certificates of insurance naming the client as additional insured?

 

[David Bercovich]

My perspective indicates an expanded time span could be extremely beneficial. There are many factors that influence a shoot and time can be impacted with most of them. As an example, a 4 hour operational window allows room for wind conditions to improve, site and equipment set up, walking the site to establish risk factors, and re-position observers as needed if conditions change, conduct customer discussions that impact operational planning, and other factors. Although most shoots are done in an hour or less there are just too many things than can move the starting time well to the right that need to be allowed for. The additional cost should not be much of a deal because that is bid into the job with mark up as part of overhead prior to accepting the contract.

Question; Will it be possible to obtain certificates of insurance naming the client as additional insured?

Hi Pat

Thanks for your feedback. To name your client on the policy, put their name in the company field. Then your name and their name will appear on the policy. We are working on a more elegant solution for this issue but for now, this is an option.

Cheers
David

 

[David Bercovich]

OK - next feature to share:

Higher liability limits: For some jobs or flights, $1,000,000 isn’t enough coverage, so we will be rolling out a $2,500,000 option.

Would that feature be of interest?

 

[photomike72]

Yes! This is a great idea and looking forward to using you!

What will you guys charge for individual insurance certs for clients?