{"id":3842,"date":"2017-03-31T14:14:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T18:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/?p=3842"},"modified":"2019-03-27T06:57:40","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T12:57:40","slug":"are-drones-covered-by-maine-homeowners-or-business-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/are-drones-covered-by-maine-homeowners-or-business-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Drones Covered by Maine Homeowners or Business Insurance?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3847\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Drone-graphic-1.png\" alt=\"Flying Drone\" width=\"275\" height=\"300\"><\/p>\n<p>Innovative Maine businesses use&nbsp;drones to literally get a new perspective on their operations.&nbsp; Land owners&nbsp;survey lots and buildings. Engineers use photos from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in project work.&nbsp; Photographers and videographers use drones to capture unique images and videos. Marketers use or hire them to create compelling and disruptive visual content. Even individual hobby fliers own drones now.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Drones: A Money Saving Investment<\/h2>\n<p>High quality drones and UAVs are not cheap. It&#8217;s easy to invest $15,000 or more in a good quality industrial setup, including cameras and software. Still, that can be a lot less expensive than renting an airplane or helicopter, and offers much more control and flexibility. It&#8217;s also safer than sending an employee up on a ladder or bucket to inspect facilities at height. The price of hobby drones has dropped a lot in the last few years. You can find them for less than $1500.<\/p>\n<h2>Legal Issues for Drones in Maine<\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/uas\/getting_started\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FAA requires registration of drones<\/a> and UAVs weighing more than 0.55 lbs. The maximum weight permitted is 55 lbs. Permitted location and other rules vary between pleasure and business use. A remote pilot airman certificate is required as well.<\/p>\n<p>Drone owners and operators face many of the same liability issues as other aircraft pilots. The low altitude operation of UAVs can also create privacy and property issues. Some examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Injuring someone, either directly, or by causing an auto accident<\/li>\n<li>Damaging property by striking it<\/li>\n<li>Invasion of privacy or trespass<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Even if a claim against you is not valid, defending yourself can cost many thousands of dollars in legal fees in Maine.<\/p>\n<h2>Drones are NOT Covered by Standard Insurance Policies<\/h2>\n<p>Because drones are considered unmanned aircraft, and subject to FAA regulation, they are excluded from coverage on homeowners or business liability policies. The <a href=\"http:\/\/wabi.tv\/2017\/01\/19\/bureau-of-insurance-recommends-drone-liability-coverage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maine Bureau of Insurance recommends that you buy separate insurance for your drone<\/a>. We agree.<\/p>\n<p>Up to now, few insurers have offered insurance on drones. One of our company partners,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/acadiainsurance.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Acadia Insurance<\/a> recently introduced a liability insurance plan for businesses that use drones as an incidental part of their ordinary operations.<\/p>\n<p>If you or your Maine business uses a drone or other UAV, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/policy-services\/contact-my-agent\/\">contact a Noyes Hall &amp; Allen Insurance agent<\/a>&nbsp;in South Portland at 207.799.5541. We&#8217;d love to hear how you&#8217;re using this innovative&nbsp;technology for fun or&nbsp;business. We can help you manage your risk. We&#8217;re independent and committed to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Innovative Maine businesses use&nbsp;drones to literally get a new perspective on their operations.&nbsp; Land owners&nbsp;survey lots and buildings. Engineers use photos from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in project work.&nbsp; Photographers and videographers use drones to capture unique images and videos. Marketers use or hire them to create compelling and disruptive visual content. Even individual hobby [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,22,12,13,19,10,34],"tags":[32,35,6,7,58],"class_list":["post-3842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-insurance","category-business-liability-insurance","category-condo-insurance","category-homeowners-insurance","category-technology","category-trends","category-umbrella-insurance","tag-doing-business-in-maine","tag-fun","tag-liability","tag-living-in-maine","tag-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3842"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5459,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842\/revisions\/5459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}