Are insurance companies using drones?

Flying a drone is a big deal

Nicholas Springer

Over the past year, home insurance companies have been on a quest to use new technology to make sure they are insuring homes properly. 

Each insurance carrier has standards, or eligibility requirements, for the homes that they insure. In most cases, this means that the home needs to be in good repair, no tree overgrowth and a newer roof. The rates their actuaries have created are dependent on a certain predicted percentage of claims each year; if they can cut down that percentage, they can in-turn reduce the rate!   

If a home has overhanging trees, there is a higher loss propensity in a storm from a tree falling on it. If a home is in disrepair, whatever loss happens will cost more because newer features would have not been damaged. For example, if a roof is older, it is not going to hold up to a storm the same than a newer roof will.

As you probably have done in the past, you can zoom in on most any map site and see not only your house but your roof as well. Older roofs can and mostly do, look different than a newer roof.

The areal imagery that insurance companies buy is from aviation companies that capture high resolution imagery of certain areas, sometimes by request of companies like insurance companies. Those planes fly at between 4-10 thousand feet above the area, so the imagery is good, but not Drone Good.

Being a tech nerd as well as an insurance nerd, I figured that it might be a good idea to get my FAA part 107 UAS license. So, I studied the online course and went to the airport to take and subsequently pass the exam.   I’m glad I did! Knowledge is power! 

Not only is the drone pretty expensive. But the insurance is too. Not to mention that the weather has to cooperate, and the area has to be acceptable for flight. My drone can technically go about a mile safely, BUT my license says I must maintain eye contact with the drone the entire flight. This means that the actual range is limited to about a thousand feet and the time in air maxes out at about 20 safe minutes.

While the drone has very cool advantages for aerial photography for up close subjects, it would make no sense to use a drone for more than maybe a single house at a time.

This is why companies that need a lot of aerial imagery data will use planes instead. It just makes financial sense.

Most of the companies we write insurance through actually do have drone fleets; they are just for the claims side of the business. It’s much safer to fly a drone on a steep roof with a tree on it than send a human. And since they are usually one-off flights, it makes way more financial sense to fly the drone.

So while insurance companies are using drones, it's usually not for the reason of canceling your insurance, it's usually to pay your claim!

Nicholas Springer

President

Nick Springer, current President and CEO started with the Agency in 1991 handling office tasks such as taking out the trash, filing, and licking hundreds of envelopes at the ripe old age of 10. He came back to the Agency in 2000 after school. Nick has spent his career handling all aspects of insurance from Auto and Home to Yachts. When Reta retired in 2018, Nick and his wife Shannon took over as the second-generation owners.