Hi.
I am currently trying to work out my route home to the UK from Bulgaria.
If I cross into Macedonia and Albania do I need to obtain the local insurance and how much is it likely to cost?
I have no green card and no insurance currently for these countries.
Thanks

__________________
Andy L

From the midnight sun to the silk & rhubarb roads, 2014
I am not an adventure rider, just a biker that has adventures.

Hello Andy:

I transited both countries with my Canadian-registered motorcycle during the past month.

Macedonian insurance is the expensive one, the cost is €50 for two weeks. That's expensive, but everything else in Macedonia is so inexpensive (hotels, fuel, meals, cigarettes) that you don't really notice the impact of the €50 charge on your budget.

Albanian insurance is €15 for two weeks. Most of the rest of the Balkan countries are also €15 for two weeks. Bosnia is a bit of an exception, because different private companies offer insurance for Bosnia, and the price varies between these companies. On my southbound trip I was charged €8 for two weeks, on my northbound trip I was charged €22 for 3 days. Guess it depends which company is operating at each border station (the documents provided were very different in each of the two instances).

In Macedonia and Albania, you purchase insurance at the border crossing. It is a very simple process (as it is for all the Balkan countries). Basically, you pull up to the border crossing station, present your passport, and tell the officer that you need to buy insurance. The officer will then tell you to pull your moto ahead into a parking spot, and you walk over to the insurance office, which is usually within 50 meters of the border crossing station. Bring along documents that have the VIN on it, and also your address (driver licence and moto registration will be fine). The clerk at the insurance office fills in the paperwork, takes your money, you go back and show the paper to the customs guy, he gives you back your passport and you are on your way.

It helps to have exact change, in Euros.

Michael

PS: Both Macedonia and Albania should be considered "daylight only driving" countries. The roads are in rough shape in both of these countries, and the drivers are ignorant - in the literal sense of the word, not the pejorative sense - of basic rules of the road such as priority to the vehicle on the right, red lights mean stop, and other little protocols like that.

PPS: Keep your vehicle registration document within easy reach at all Balkan border crossings - the customs folks are quite serious about identifying stolen vehicles, and will check the plate number and vehicle documents against a European police database each time you cross a border.