Quick Answer: DJI Care Refresh is a paid replacement-service plan, not insurance — for a yearly fee (commonly $89-$109 for a 1-year plan depending on the drone model, per third-party pricing guides citing DJI’s own store), DJI will swap your crashed, water-damaged, or lost drone for a “like-new” replacement unit in exchange for a separate replacement fee per incident (around $99 for accidental damage on an Air 3S-class drone, versus roughly $435 for a flyaway claim on the same model). The 1-Year Plan allows 2 replacements, the 2-Year Plan allows 4 with unused replacements carrying over between years. It does not cover theft, deliberate misuse, or separately-sold accessories, and it cannot substitute for the liability insurance a commercial pilot needs for a client’s certificate-of-insurance requirement.
If you’ve seen “DJI Care Refresh” mentioned across nearly every drone review and buying guide on this site without a plain explanation of what it actually is, this guide fills that gap: how the plans work, what they cost, what’s excluded, and the one easy mix-up — confusing it with actual drone insurance — that trips up buyers researching coverage before their first flight.
How the two plans work
| 1-Year Plan | 2-Year Plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Total replacements | 2 | 4 |
| Flyaway claims allowed | 1 of the 2 | 2 of the 4 |
| Unused replacements carry over? | No | Yes, year 1 → year 2 |
| Typical starting price | ~$89-$109 | ~$149-$189 |
| Return shipping | DJI-covered, both ways | DJI-covered, both ways |
Pricing and replacement fees vary by drone model and region — a Mini-class drone’s plan and replacement fee run noticeably cheaper than an Air or Mavic-class aircraft’s, since DJI prices the plan against the cost of the airframe it’s protecting. As one example, pricing guides citing DJI’s own US store list the Air 3S at roughly $109 for the 1-year plan with a $99 accidental- damage replacement fee and a ~$435 flyaway replacement fee — meaning a single flyaway claim still costs real money, just far less than buying a new Air 3S outright. Always check the exact price and replacement fee on the product’s own DJI Store page before buying, since DJI adjusts these figures periodically and per-model.
Need a spare battery or a card reader shipped before your next flight while you’re sorting out coverage? Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days for free two-day delivery on drone accessories.
What’s actually covered
DJI’s plan guide covers a specific list of incident types and components, not blanket protection:
- Covered incidents: collisions, drop damage, water damage (including full submersion), signal interference, and flyaways — up to the flyaway-claim limit for your plan.
- Covered parts (varies by product line): the aircraft body, camera, gimbal, propellers, battery, and remote-controller grip — DJI’s own coverage table breaks this down per drone family, and not every category applies to every model.
- Not covered: theft, damage from deliberate misuse, loose propellers damaged on their own (rather than alongside the drone in the same incident), and accessories purchased separately, such as an extra remote controller not included in the original kit.
- Replacements aren’t always brand-new. DJI’s own terms describe replacement units as tested to the same factory standard as new stock, but they may be refurbished rather than a sealed-box unit.
Gimbal damage is one of the most common Care Refresh claims, since DJI doesn’t sell a replacement gimbal as a consumer part for the Mini, Air, or Mavic series — see our drone gimbal guide for why a repair ticket or a Care Refresh claim is the only route back to flying after that kind of crash. And if you’re budgeting a first drone purchase, our how much does a drone cost guide folds this plan into the full first-year cost picture alongside batteries, cards, and registration fees.
The naming trap: DJI Care Refresh Plus no longer exists
If an old review or forum thread mentions “DJI Care Refresh Plus” as a separate, higher tier, that plan is gone — DJI discontinued it on July 13, 2023, per DJI’s own current store guide to the program. Searching for it today will only turn up the two active plans covered above; there’s no current “Plus” tier to compare against, despite the name still floating around in older content.
The bigger mix-up: Care Refresh is not drone insurance
This is the distinction that matters most for anyone flying commercially. DJI Care Refresh is a manufacturer service plan that replaces your specific DJI hardware — it is not liability insurance, and it can’t be used to satisfy a client’s certificate-of-insurance (COI) request or an FAA Part 107 waiver application that requires proof of liability coverage. If you fly commercially and need to show a client or the FAA that you’re insured against third-party property damage or injury, that’s a separate liability policy — our drone insurance guide covers how that coverage works and what it costs, and it’s worth carrying alongside Care Refresh rather than instead of it, since the two solve different problems entirely.
Is it worth buying?
- Buy it if you fly in tight spaces, near water, over obstacles, or anywhere a crash or flyaway is a real risk — the replacement fee is consistently cheaper than a new aircraft, and DJI eats the return-shipping cost both ways.
- Skip it if you fly conservatively in open areas, already carry separate liability insurance for commercial work, and would rather self-insure against the relatively low odds of a total loss over a 1-2 year ownership window.
- Check the 2-year plan’s carryover before assuming the 1-year plan is the cheaper long-term choice — a 2-year plan’s unused replacements rolling into year two can make it the better value if you’re planning to keep the drone that long anyway.
The bottom line
DJI Care Refresh is a replacement-service plan, priced and structured around your specific drone model, that trades a yearly fee plus a per-incident replacement fee for the ability to swap a crashed, soaked, or lost aircraft for a working one — not a blanket insurance policy, and not the discontinued “Plus” tier some older reviews still reference. Check your exact model’s current pricing on DJI’s own store page, and if you fly commercially, pair it with real liability insurance rather than assuming it covers that requirement too.