Green Card / Insurance : If I don't know something I ask !

[Samy]

Hello,

I am going to travel Greece-Albania-Montenegro-Croatia-Bosnia-Slovenia-Italy on May.

I don't know if I am going to need Green Card / Insurance for my bike and if I can buy it at the border?

Can anyone inform me about this please.

Thanks a lot for assistance.

[Matt Cartney]

Hi Samy,

You haven't mentioned Serbia on your list, but just in case you are tempted: I went through there in 2006 and because my green card didn't include Serbia they charged me the equivalent of £40 in local insurance (circa 60 Euros) as (so the guy claimed) you could not buy less than a months insurance. As this was more than my entire intended budget for accom. food, petrol etc. for Serbia I was a little miffed!

This may have been one guy just ripping me off but as he was the only insurance agent at the border I didn't have much choice but to turn round or cough up.

Matt

[PJ]

You will definately need a Green Card to travel in those countries alright. If you can you should get one before you leave from your own insurance company. In a lot of companies this should be free of charge and will save you any spending at borders. Give them a phone call and you should be fine.

Make sure they make the Green Card out to cover you for the right amount of time though, I was in Bosnia a couple of years ago and I believed that my Green Card should naturally expire the same time as my actual insurance, only to find out in Mostar that it had run out and then needed to forge it to get home without spending any more. Sometimes the insurance companies will only issue them for a month or so unless you specifically ask them to extend it.

[Tony P]

I've not checked which of your lost of countries are full members of the EU - look up EU Member States on Google.

Within the EU, Green Cards are not a legal requirement for those with insurance in other EU member states. Insurance is a necessity though.

Most UK insurance includes basic legal minimum throughout the EU for up to a certain number of days a year - and certify to this effect on the reverse of the UK Certificate of Insurance. This document is accepted throughout the EU as proof of MINIMUM legal cover and costs nothing more.

A Green Card is a further Certificate that is now largely obsolete for Police purposes throughout the EU. What it does represent though is an extention of your full policy cover in the UK to the countries you have requested be added - and you paid for.

[Mermaid]

We did Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Italy two years ago.
Croatia and Bosnia are not part of the EU (I think that is still the case) and although Croatia was covered by my standard insurance Bosnia was not. It cost £27 for a weeks cover - and I had to state which week I wanted covered.
Based on this £40 for a month doesn't seem to bad ..... although my £27 extended my fully comp insurance with breakdown etc. included.
The best bet would be to check your documents/speak to your insurance company.

[jack2008]

yah green card is must.before that you have to conform with any insurance company regards your & bite insurance.i hope you will get it very soon.all the best for you trip.take care.

======================
jack
Social Media Marketing - 65979465.277465

[jc]

I'm riding a South African Registered 1150 with a valid Carnet. I'm going to ride through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switserland, Germany and UK. I have arranged 3rd party insurance trough Knopftours in Germany for the time I will be in EU.
Will I need a Green Card? Can I get it at the border where I enter EU (Greece or Italy)?
Does the Carnet replace the green card?

Johan

[Redboots]

A green Card is not "necessary" in:

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

That said, all European insurance companies issue an annual Green Card with the policy. In fact thats all you usually get as proof of insurance. Try having an accident in the back of beyond without having a green card.

A Green Card IS required in:

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, FYROM - Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Israel, Islamic Republic of Iran, Moldova, Morocco, Serbia and Montenegro, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Enter any of these without a Green card and you will be required to buy insurance.
The key thing with a green card is that on the reverse, there is printed a list of the countries in which its valid. Not all cops are as clued up as the UK/DE/FR etc. and this list is what they look for.

Johan,

the Green Card is for insurance purposes. The Carnet is a cover for temporary, (transit), Import Taxes for the vehicle. Don't confuse them!

John

[jc]

Thanks, I now understand it better

[Henn]

Maybe a correction or update to redboots above post.

Arriving in Greece (from Turkey) on Australian registered bikes in Sept 2008 we HAD to have Green Card insurance. It could be bought on the border, but was expensive and a bit of a hassle.

Also our Green Cards had a list of countries they covered on the back. Montenegro wasn't included (maybe because the forms were printed before it became an independant country) and we had to buy more insurance on that border too.

Hen

[quastdog]

I entered Greece from Turkey 2 weeks ago, an American on American registered motorcycle.

Cost me 63 Euro for 2 weeks coverage at the border (Turkey side) before I could even present passport doc to the Greek authorities.

I just renewed in Greece (in Gythio) - could only get 1 month of coverage, for 100 Euro and 15 euro overnight deliver expense. (Renew in Athens it you pass through there!) I was told by the Greek agent that it could be more or less in other countries - depends on the country.

It only covers EU member countries. If I travel to Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc., I will be required to purchase coverage at those borders.

sucks!

I may be taking the ferry from Greece to Italy.

[SpitfireTriple]

I rode through all the countries you mention back in August/September (link below). My (UK) insurers, ebike, did not do a green card. Contrary to other views expressed here though, it was not a problem. I paid £1(!) (or thereabouts, it was so little I can't remember) tax/insurance to enter Albania from Corfu. Someone told me it was cheaper than normal because I came in on an Albanian-run ferry. This sounds odd, but is just the sort of thing the Albanians would do. Montenegro charged me EU10. Bosnia (the thin bit near the coast if this is relevant), Croatia, Slovenia etc, not a penny. A friend rode through Macedonia recently and had to cough up EU50. Ouch.

PS If you are Turkish, I wouldn't be surprised if Greece has a "special" charge for you. Greece was free for me as my UK insurance included EU countries.

Quastdog: I'd hate to give advice that ended up costing you real money, but I'd suspect your extra fees would be, like those for me, minimal. You will miss out on a hell of a lot if you skip Albania (rough) & Croatia (beautiful). Ditto for you jc.

Edit: just noticed the dates of the earlier posts. jc which route did you take?
And you, Quastdog: Just read your (too short!) journal. Where have you been since November 2007?

[ozhanu]

hi samy,

i have ordered green card from arisa s.a. - luxembourg today. costs 22 euro for a month (and 28 tl (app 13 euro) for transfer charge). you can also get one from Turkish Touring federation, however, it will cost you 105.50 euro for the same amount of time.

and the answer is, if you are heading west from turkey, you have take either greece or bulgaria border and both are member of eu and you have to have green card. briefly, for any eu country you need green card.
you also need carne de passage (called triptik in Turkey) for leaving the country with any kind of Turkish registered vehicle/bike. costs 30 tl (24 euro) from Turkish touring federation.

i have almost finished my preparations for morocco trip and will hit to the road on mid-May. hope to see you on the road!!

enjoy!

[markharf]

I rode variations on these southern/eastern European routes in 2008 and 2007. I carried a green card which excluded Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo. I paid a lot (±80 euros) for brief coverage in Serbia, almost as much in Macedonia (±50 euros), and quite a bit in Turkey (can't remember). I paid nothing in Albania, Croatia (2x), Montenegro (2x), Kosovo and Ukraine. Moldova was cheap (±10 euros with some bargaining involved), and Bosnia charged me once (±30 euros) but not the other time. Apparently, I was supposed to pay in Kosovo, where the UN border guards were friendly but incompetent, and Albania, where they just told me "you should really have insurance; maybe you'll stop at the next town and buy some, hey?"

If I was on a serious budget, I might skip Serbia and Macedonia....but why am I traveling? Serbians are friendly and it's fascinating to talk to them about sanctions, Nato, the EU, the various wars, secession movements....all the stuff we've been reading about (and paying for) for years and years. Sometimes a thinly-veiled streak of genocidal fascism is evident, with roots going back centuries, making it easy to see how this civilized country descended so abruptly into war and chaos. This glimpse alone was worth the price of admission; the fact that I over-paid for an essentially worthless piece of paper at the border hardly matters in the end.

Mileages vary.

Mark

[Graham_Kawa]

Originally Posted by markharf

I rode variations on these southern/eastern European routes in 2008 and 2007. I carried a green card which excluded Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo. I paid a lot (±80 euros) for brief coverage in Serbia, almost as much in Macedonia (±50 euros), and quite a bit in Turkey (can't remember). I paid nothing in Albania, Croatia (2x), Montenegro (2x), Kosovo and Ukraine. Moldova was cheap (±10 euros with some bargaining involved), and Bosnia charged me once (±30 euros) but not the other time. Apparently, I was supposed to pay in Kosovo, where the UN border guards were friendly but incompetent, and Albania, where they just told me "you should really have insurance; maybe you'll stop at the next town and buy some, hey?"

Mark

Mark is pretty much spot on with my experience also, except we paid something in montenegro, can't remember exact what.... I would say if you are travelling through 4 or 5 of the above (particularly serbia / macedonia) you might try a little harder to find something that will save you a little bit of euro's. Not many insurers seem to like to cover these places though, so might be tough.

If anybody finds a company who definitely covers these places cheap, make a post, it's a regular question!!! To be honest i'm less worried about the cost as the time lost every damn border faffing about buying insurance!