Leaving Turkey-Entering İran (Scams for insurance)
 

All thanks go to our friend Steve Crosswell who is riding to Uganda through İrani,Dubai and Djibuti. He is the explorer of this route from Turkey to Mid Africa excluding Syria and Egypt. If needed you can ask us for more information about ferries...
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The leaving of Turkey took about ten minutes and that only because there is no '0' in Turkish numerology. A short hiccup when the electric motor for the Iron gate into Iran cratered and volunteers ( motorists) manhandled it open.
Onward into the unknown.
The formalities are fairly simple and nothing was asked for from a lowly tourist.
With a "welcome to Iran" I was on my way or so I thought, and this is the clever bit. about 250 metres down the road there is a final gate and there I was stopped by the police who collect the clearance papers and told that another stamp should have been given and I had to go back to the Red building to get it.Of course there were people there to help(scam) I was advised. Long story short it took another hour and a half to get insurance and the final stamp.I was lucky because I knew the price of the insurance (30 dollars) because the office inside the customs area asks for 100 Euros. Nobody speaks English but there is another office 100 yards away selling at the correct price.
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His blog...London to Uganda (the safest route)
MAN ON A TRIP
Thanks a lot Steve..hope to meet you here again wish you all the best...
zeki avar

Depressing to see this is still happening -

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-nothing-52855

Is there someone we could write to about this (collectively)? I wonder if someone (eg the turist office) received a letter about what is happening from a lot of overlanders if they would take action. A real bad introduction to a fantastic country.

N

Hello Neil,
Nice to hear from you...Hope all is well with you and your diesel and has no need for repairings in the streets!!!
We are always sending reports to authorities...Thanks to friends in Pakistan and Pakistan Bikers Club...Conditions in Pakistan better now..İran officers are still in cooperation with scam people...Within a few day I will personally meet the authorised people in İran consulate in İstanbul...We have good connections with them after natural diseases in Kum.
This thread is just to inform the others where they can have the insurance for normal price in İran bordergates..Thanks again to our friend Steve for sharing this problem with us...
Hope to see you again in İstanbul.
Wish you all the best.
zeki.

Good on you guys for taking this one forward. We need more people like you Zeki. If you need a few travellers names who experienced this let me know.

Good on Steve for posting up the info too.

Inshallah no more street repair jobs!

Neil

Anyone know if this price still stands - I've been told the only way is to buy it for a year! I went through the crossing without being asked for insurance, or possibly I was meant to stop after giving in the carnet receipt and drove to fast. :mchappy:

Quite a few 'helpers' on the border but they seemed more interested in money conversion.

This is the Seri (southern) crossing. The organisation was a bit of a mess with random signatures from various people, many unofficial looking so it was tricky to know who to shove off.