Macedonia border insurance
 

Hi, I would visit Macedonia in the next August.
I have not insurance green card valid for Macedonia. At the border near Pogradec (Albania) nobody sells Green Card and it will be very hard for me trespass Macedonia border by other side.
Anyone knows if it's possible buy border insurance on line ?

Thank for your attention and kind answer.

Macedonia is part of the Green Card system, and so are Albania, Serbia and Greece.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...en_card_system

Unless you are a Kosovo resident with only Kosovo traffic insurance, I can't imagine how you would get to the Macedonian border without already having the traffic insurance that allows you to get into Macedonia.

If you have insurance that is valid in Albania, it will also be valid in Macedonia. Just make sure you have the actual Green Card from your insurer, printed on green paper.

In Italy any insurance companies (especially online ones) they are valid only in European Union countries.
They don't care about the green card system.
These online companies do not even print a green card and simply write on the insurance contract "This insurance is valid only in European Union countries and is not valid for other countries outside the EU".
That is the question.
I don't know is it's legal but it happened.
In my bikers group there are two members in that situation.

You should take that paper to the Guardia di Finanza. :) And https://www.consap.it/.

The EU has an Online Dispute Resolution platform for this as well: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/m...screeningphase

But if you have bought extra insurance that is valid in Albania, it must also be valid in North Macedonia.

I'm sorry but it's not like you say.
Guardia di Finanza it has nothing to do...
Look at this article.

Carta Verde | UCI S.C.AR.L

Insurance companies have the right to exclude countries extra SEE including Albania, Macedonia, etc ...

Heh. Sounds like you should find a better insurance company then. :P

Travelling from Serbia to Macedonia a couple of years ago I bought insurance at the border, cost €50, cash only, card not accepted.

Update 31 Mar 2021:

American couple traveling on two motorcycles from Albania to Northern Macedonia. Our Europe “Green Card” insurance does not cover Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo or Bosnia & Herzegovina.

We attempted to enter the border from Albania at Tushemisht-St. Naum crossing and were denied since no insurance is available to purchase for Northern Macedonia at this border crossing.

We had to ride to the Kjafasan border crossing where we could purchase insurance from a company called SAVA which is located on the second floor of the border crossing building. The cost was 50 euros per motorcycle for two weeks. 60 euros per motorcycle for a month. Paid with credit card.

Cheers,
Travis and Chantil
www.viajarMOTO.com

Everyone:

I'm worried that what has been written so far in this discussion is going to cause a lot of confusion, and to avoid that, I would like to clarify a few things:

1) The "Green Card" system - as Antyx pointed out, many, many countries participate in the Green Card' documentation system, but this should not be interpreted to mean that if you have a 'Green Card', your insurance is valid for all the participating countries.

The Green Card system is primarily a document standardization protocol that is intended to ensure that authorities such as police, etc. in one country can easily comprehend that a vehicle from another country has adequate insurance for a different country.

It is entirely up to the insurance company that is issuing the insurance policy to decide how many (or how few) different countries they want to extend their insurance coverage to. For example, an insurance provider in any one of the Green Card participating countries might choose to insure a vehicle in only one specific country - for example, a French vehicle that is insured only within France. In such a case, the insurance company could issue a Green Card, but all the boxes would be crossed out except for the box 'F' (for France).

Perhaps this might be done because the customer wants a lower insurance premium, or perhaps this might be done because the insurance company doesn't want the risk associated with insuring the vehicle in other countries.

At the opposite end of the scale, it is possible to get a Green Card that has just about every possible participating country covered. This is uncommon, and the only example of this I have ever seen was issued by a Russian insurance company.

The 'most common' scenario for a Green Card is that all of the full member EU countries are covered, plus Switzerland. But, even though this is the 'most common' scenario, it is by no means an obligatory scenario.

2) A Single Country Insurance Document - if you purchase insurance that is only valid in one specific country, the insurance provider might elect to provide you with a unique country-specific document, instead of a Green Card format document with only one country box checked. This is a non-standardized document, but it is known, recognized, and accepted by authorities in the one specific country that issued it.

If you want to see examples of this, look at this post that I made several years ago showing a bunch of single-country documents from the Balkan area: Balkans Insurance - Here's the story, with details & sample documents

Then again, the insurance company, if they are so inclined, might also elect to provide you with a 'Green Card' with all the boxes crossed out except for the one country where you bought the insurance. The effect and coverage would be identical.

3) To Sum Up - Having a 'Green Card' insurance document does not guarantee that you have insurance coverage in any particular group of countries. You will only be insured in the countries whose boxes are not crossed out... and it's up to you and your insurer to decide upon how many countries you want to have coverage for.

It is very common for insurers to decide that they are simply not going to insure vehicles for operation in certain countries, which means that even though Lower Slobbovia might be a participant in the Green Card document standardization scheme, no insurance company in the world outside of Lower Slobbovia will sell you insurance to operate your vehicle in Lower Slobbovia.

Michael