border insurance Montenegro, Croatia?
 

Our UK insurance company won't cover the bikes for Montenegro or Croatia and their embassies in UK don't know the answers to
a) do we need it or
b) can we buy it on the border?
Does anybody know the current situation?
c) can you buy border insurance for Slovenia as an EU citizen? We don't want to buy in advance for Slovenia as we don't want to commit to specific dates with our insurance company. Many thanks!

Slo
 

HI there,
I have been travelling through Slovenja many times and as far as I know your green card includes Slovenja as well as the rest of the EU.

I agree as above - I went through Slovenia with British insurance and no green card wih no problem.. But I got hassles in Bulgaria because Carol Nash didnt give me a proper Green card. But I did get through eventually.

Sheonagh, you've done some nice South American travels by bike...come and share your pics and talk at Ripley one day.......

border insurance
 

Thanks Alex and Caminando for your replies - I think we'll just set off, take all our docs and not worry about it! And thanks Caminando for nice comment about our South America trip - we just did a presentation at HUBB Ripley! Were you following Sheonagh Pat's Travel Website | Travel Blogs | Travel Photos | Travel Videos

I traveled through Montenegro and Croatia last year, no Green card problem as long as its filled correctly. It doesn't cover you in Kosovo you have to buy insurance at the border.

Green card is valid in Croatia and Montenegro. If you don't have one you can buy insurance at borders. Those two countries live from tourisam, so they will be glad to let you in ;)

Bike insurance: Montenegro & Croatia
 

We are insured (fully comp) with Devitt in the UK and they refuse to cover Croatia and Montenegro. Any way we can get cover for these two countries? (Even third party?)

Strange... UK insurance generally seems to cover Croatia as part of the EU (eve though it isn´t). Montenegro is not generally included, though (as with most other Balkan countries), but i had no trouble buying insurance at the order - but it could be expensive for the amount of time you intend to spend there.

I'm sure some of these UK insurance companies sales and customer services reps haven't a clue.!
I pestered Devitt for green card for Ukraine and they told me I wasn't insured for Ukraine anyway, although another phone call a few weeks earlier the operator said I was.They said I was for Croatia but I still couldn't have green card.I think someone above said they use Devitt and told they wasn't covered for Croatia.I think it must depend on the underwriter particular to your cover.
I have crossed into Croatia a couple of times and never been asked for docs.They are very welcoming,and as someone said they know it makes sense for their economy not to turn people away or put tourists off.
The whole green card thing seems to be farcical and out dated.

Simon

Hi man....

just crossed Montenegro border yesterday... no problem getting your insurance at the border. Cost 10 Eoros

Have a good time.....go through the mountains..spectacular roads, amazing scenery...

:funmeteryes:

watch the speedlimits though, especially in an around towns..

:mchappy: safe and enjoy!!!

10 Euros... how long is that for? A real Balkan bargain there!

I think it was two weeks....

Macedonia is a rip-off though.... 50 Euros..

even for a day :thumbdown:

Insurance in the Balkans
 

Just returned from a round trip of the Balkans. I had a Carole Nash Green Card which covered me for every country in Europe, and insurance didn't cost me anything at any border. My travelling companion did not have a green crd (he only had the useless letter from his UK insurance company), and he had to pay the following for insurance at each border:

Turkey: 10 or 15 Euros
Greece: no charge
Macedonia: 50 Euros (ouch!), for I think a month's coverage
Albania: no charge, although we both had to pay 3 Euros "tax" on entry
Montenegro: 10 Euros
Croatia: no charge
Slovenia: no charge

The only visa required was for Turkey (bought at the border for I think 15 Euros), carnets were not required anywhere (for EU citizens). No-one asked to see our international driving licences, although our vehicle documents (V5s) were needed on entering Turkey, Albania, & Montenegro.

Rode through Croatia with no problem, thinking I was fine with my green card.. but then happened to check the details on the Knopf website and Croatia is *not* listed. Ooops.;-)

Green card Insurance for Europe

Nor is Montenegro. So I bought insurance at the Montenegro border two days ago. Originally quoted 15 euros, then 10 euros "for two weeks". But the certificate itself states five days only. As I'm only going to be here for four days it's not a problem. (The insurer's girlfriend turned up while I was there. She's a LOT more gorgeous than him. Made me think that perhaps he does rather well financially out of his job...!)

If anyone is close by, come to Sutomore on the Montenegran coast.. it's the last big bike rally of the summer here this weekend.. up to 1000 bikes from 'former Yugoslavia'.. and one Englishman! Come and join the fun. ;-)

--Mike

If you thought Macedonia was bad. I just went through Serbia in August, I rode straight through no questions, my friend got asked, ended up 85 euro's! He was not a happy man...

[quote=Mike;205436] (The insurer's girlfriend turned up while I was there. She's a LOT more gorgeous than him. Made me think that perhaps he does rather well financially out of his job...!)
:innocent:

perhaps he's well insured!

Mike,
Mine definitely has Croatia (HR) on it. It doesn't have Montenegro (MNE) on it, but it does have Serbia (SRB) on it. I think it is safe to assume that, Montenegro being such a newly independent country, the green card should cover you under "SRB", which was of course until recently "Serbia and Montenegro". The Montenegrin border guards checked my green card and didn't have a problem.

Good point, Nigelrojo. I, *cough*, didn't think of checking my green card itself.. just went straight to the internet. I'm such a geek..

Interesting. When I passed through he hardly bothered to raise up from his chair to wave me through.. but then it was siesta o'clock.

The Green Card insurance Knopf sells if the same insurance I get through the ADAC. The insurers is ARISA Assurances S.A.

Sure enough HR (Croatia) is crossed out on the policy.

Oops! ;-)

--Mike

Croatia insurance
 

:DWe have been visiting Croatia since 2005 as we have bought an appartment in Novigrad Istria.
I am insured with Footman james and my partner is with Carol Nash both of these companys cover you for 30 days in Croatia and Slovenia but not Bosnia ,Serbia,ect however you can purchase insurance at the borders to cover you (osigorange) thats the word for insurance.
As of this year you now need a Vignette to use the motorways in Slovenia, you can buy them at petrol stations , minmum of six months 17.50 euro in Austria you can buy ten days but for Switzerland you must pay full year.
Some of the motorways in Croatia are tolls, they are very good and well maintained . Hope this helps.

Richard, Nottingham:stormy:

I crossed into Croatia 4 weeks ago from Hungary and had to buy a green card at the border - 15 euros for 30 days.

Garry from Oz.

Hi,

just returned from a trip....similar experiences;

Slovenia - just buy a vignette at petrol station (cheap)
Croatia - covered by Carol Nash Green Card
Montenegro - €10 at the border for 2 weeks
Serbia - €95 for a month :eek3:(only wanted 1 day) @**# !!!!!
Macedonia - €50 !!! (again passed right through in a few hours !!)
Greece - covered
Turkey - €5 euros (bargain....friend paid in advance via CN €27 ;o)

Have fun........

What does a green card look like? What's to stop you just forging one to get through rip-off countries like Serbia without shelling out? I'm not convinced 'real' insurance in those countries is worth the paper it's written on anyway.

Two years ago I payed something like 50-60euros in Serbia and again in Bosnia. Bulgaria was only 10euros though. If you're travelling on the cheap it certainly takes a big bite out your budget. Croatia didn't even check my passport let alone bike docs, but I figured you do need insurance there, and that my UK policy didn't cover me - I figure risks like that are all part of travelling.

Can somebody explain what the Green Card system is? I would assume all the insurance companies, bound to the GC system would cover the same countries. I'm from Slovenia and my policy covers the whole of Europe (not only EU), including Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, Israel and even Iran! If anybody bothers with reading, this is where my Slovenian insurance is valid through the GC:
A B CY CZ D DK E EST F FIN GB GR H I IRL IS L LT LV M N NL P PL S SK SLO CH AL AND BG BIH BY HR IL IR MA MD MK RO SCG (Srbija - Crna Gora, which is how they used to be called when they were still together) TN TR UA.

SRB is new code for Serbia and MNE for Montenegro. Theoretically my GC shouldn't be valid in MNE since they separated from SCG.
I really can't figure out why the GC coverage differs from country to country.

DS

It depends - if it's from your insurance some still do a green certificate with all the details on it, but mine won't even give you one anymore.

When you buy them on the fly it was always just a blue piece of paper (i.e. the blue bit from a triplicate copy). It probably hasn't changed since you were there! I'm sure you could do it, not sure I would take the risk when dealing with border cops!

My friend actually managed to get one in several countries without even having his rego doc. He forgot it in london, so conned his way into first greencard then just kept using the one from previous country to get the new one. Not recommended though!

But yeah, we must have spent 200 euro's each on the damned things.

I have a mate in insurance (car not bike) and he told me it's just up to the insurance company. They are not required to issue a green card, but many do. They are required to cover you to the minimum standard in the EU if you live within the EU.

So I am just going to say you are bl*ody lucky your company covers so many!!!!

In France, the common and usual insurance certificate is green and we call it "carte verte d'assurance".

Séb M

Did you try to find the information for yourself? I just opened another browser window, put the words "green card insurance" into the search box and hit search. The first hit is this:
What is the Green Card System ?