Albania and Montenegro - Bike Insurance
 

Hi all,
Planning a trip in October coming from Italy (Ancona) to Durres in Albania, then north into Montenegro. Both these countries are excluded on my Carol Nash insurance.
Has anyone experience of buying bike insurance at the port of Durres and then when entering Montenegro?
Thanks - Paul.

See this post: Balkans Insurance - Here's the story, with details & sample documents.

The post is from 2014, but I doubt very much if anything has changed since then. I entered Durres by ferry a couple of years ago and was able to buy Albanian insurance without any problems.

My experience going into numerous different Balkan countries, as I explained in the above-cited post, is that you can buy insurance for each country at major border crossings. The insurance kiosks don't always operate H24, so plan to make your border crossings during normal business hours.

Have a supply of small Euro bills (5 Euro bills), because the insurance vendors "never" have change for anything... which means that if you don't bring exact change with you, you are going to wind up leaving a large tip with the employee on duty at the insurance vendor.

Michael

PS: That ferry trip is a long one (about 24 hours, if I recall correctly), and the boat is less than luxurious. I suggest you investigate getting a private cabin for the voyage. Bring something to read, you will be out of cell phone coverage and the cost of Wi-Fi on ships is staggering.

Thanks for all the info PanE.

I did both countries this year. No issue buying at the border. However you might have to buy either 15 days or a month minimum, and prices vary from €5 to €51

kosovo=15€
macedonia=50€

Macedonia is the most expensive of the Balkan countries for insurance. The rest of them are somewhere in the €15 to €25 range.

Fortunately, everything else in Macedonia (food, hotels, etc.) is very inexpensive, so that pretty much offsets the big premium for the insurance.

Michael

Have just got back from the Balkans in a camper van and things have changed. I crossed from Croatia in to Montenegro and the guards usually keep your passport until you have bought insurance. This time they did not so I went to the booth as usual and it was closed and empty. The truck agent upstairs said Montenegro was now in the European Insurance arrangement for uninsured drivers so no one was bothered about checking. She said Bosnia and Kosovo was as well. So no checks, but no insurance either and nowhere to buy it.

I'd take that with a pretty big grain of salt - meaning, I would not rely on that advice.

The easiest way to determine if your existing insurance covers you for any given country is to look at the "green slip" and see whether or not that country's symbol is crossed out or not.

If it is crossed out, then you need to get a policy specific for that country. If it is not crossed out, you are covered in that country.

Michael

Check the policy details when you buy it! The guy selling insurance at Durres had no english and when he wanted to fill in my name, I handed him some document with my name on it, and pointed to my name. Stupid move. When I got back to the bike and checked the policy, he'd insured my passenger to drive (her name was elsewhere on the document I gave). He had absolutely no interest in correcting it or even selling me another, so in Albania we were essentially uninsured unless we convinced anyone interested that she was driving from the back seat.

It's possible that you were in fact fully insured.

The big question is whether or not the insurance policy covers the vehicle or the driver. In many countries, it is the vehicle that is insured, not the specific driver.

This may not be the case everywhere, and I'm not saying it was the case for you, but it is a possibility. You would have to look at the fine print of the policy, which is probably on the back of the document, to determine the answer.

Michael

If u r a UK citizen then u r part of the eaa group of countries . Under the eu directive covering civil motor insurance Bosnia does not require a green card anymore as it adheres to this directive as do other countries not in the eu per se such as Serbia + Montenegro.
However Albania Willl require a green card as will Nth Macedonia .
Your level of cover is at a minimum third party only . A number of UK insurers will provide fully comp for up to three months .
There is a website listing the 27 countries that adhere to the directive , the 6 eaa countries and the other ones that also adhere to it .

Cob / article 44 is the site that explains all

Michael.....there is now am automatic presumption that if ur vehicle is from one of the states mentioned in the legislation then u r insured at least 3rd party

Chris:

That's a dangerous assumption to make, because it is up to the individual insurance provider to decide which countries they want to include in the coverage that they sell.

The photo below shows the portion of a "green card" document (a "green card" document being a standardized proof of insurance document for insurance that is valid in more than one European country).

Countries whose country code is NOT crossed out are countries in which the vehicle is covered. No insurance coverage is provided in countries that have an X through the country code. Each individual insurance company makes their own decisions about what countries they extend cover to, and which ones they don't cover. Even if an insurance company has the ability to extend cover to multiple countries, they might not offer that as 'basic' coverage - in other words, they might charge you extra to cover additional countries.

What I am getting at is this: Look at your green card document, and make sure that it indicates that you are covered in the countries that you plan to visit.

Michael

PS: This is a photo of an old insurance document of mine, from 2012. It's possible that 10 years later, the same company that provided this document might have extended their coverage areas to include countries that were crossed out in 2012, for example, Albania (AL) or Croatia (HR). But my point remains the same: CHECK YOUR DOCUMENT. Don't assume.

Portion of a "Green Card" showing which countries you are insured in
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

Here's a scan of a green card issued when I purchased insurance for the same motorcycle 3 years later, in 2015. You'll notice that one additional country is now covered by this policy, Croatia (HR).

Whether this was because I bought the policy from a different insurance provider, or because Croatia's insurance regulator made some legislative or policy changes that made it easier for non-Croatian insurance companies to underwrite coverage valid in Croatia, I do not know.

But, here's a surprise for all of you: Consider Andorra (AND), that little gas station and duty-free cigarette and alcohol shop located between France and Spain. You would THINK that your coverage would be valid there, because the document shows the coverage is valid in all the other Western European countries, and Andorra is administered as a condominium by Spain and France.

Well, guess what - you have no insurance in Andorra. That country (AND) is crossed out. I didn't know this until I took a close look at the document a few years ago... and I had been happily (and ignorantly) riding through Andorra for years with these policies, thinking I was covered.

Again: CHECK THE DOCUMENT and be sure! Don't assume!

Michael

2015 Document
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

Or, if your "green card" indicates you are not covered in these countries, you can purchase insurance that is valid for either one of these two countries at the border, when you enter the country.

Insurance policy documents that are valid in one country only (e.g. Albania, or North Macedonia) are not normally issued using the "green card" document format. For examples of what single-country insurance document look like, including Albania and North Macedonia, see this post: Balkans Insurance - Here's the story, with details & sample documents.

Michael

Michael.....the assumption is made by the legislation Not me.....it states it clearly in the body of the document . As u r Canadian u will need a greencard......cars registered in the states mentioned In the document don't........greencards don't exist for them anymore......just as the border official stated. As I said if u read the Cob website a will become clear . Armenia and Georgia are two other countries that May join the scheme in the future .
Happy reading........have a scotch on standby

U also mentioned Andorra.....that is a eaa country just like the UK Serbia and suisse are......my insurance automatically covers those countries......as a Canadian u would have to ask for it . Things have and are changing ,three years ago I had to buy insurance for Bosnia at the border......now I don't as they are signed up to this agreement . Obviously you need to read your own individual policy , I just renewed hence me knowing about all this as I looked it up as I wasn't sure where I was covered .
...

Just to clarify.....when I said as ur Canadian I meant the bike not you.......unless its registered in one of these states and has an insurance policy from that country in which case all of this would b of use to you.......otherwise its green card time I'm afraid
.

Chris:

A "Green Card" is nothing more than a standardized presentation of proof of insurance coverage for one or more countries.

If a vehicle is insured for operation in one country only, the insurer can issue a certificate of insurance that is recognized in that country only. Examples of this can be seen on the link I posted above about individual country insurance policies in the Balkan countries.

If an insurer issues an insurance policy valid in more than one European, North African, or Middle Eastern country (or any combination), they will provide proof of insurance coverage in a document that is compliant with COB (Council of Bureaux) specifications. This document specification has been in use since the early 1950s. The COB has since come up with other protocols to enable recognition of insurance issued by various countries, but the Green Card format is still in use and has not been deprecated by these newer protocols.

What needs to be understood here is that the Green Card is only a document specification. Hence, it is up to each individual insurer to make their own determination of what countries they wish to provide coverage in. An insurer may offer the purchaser choices - for example, they may offer their customer coverage in only the Western European countries, or in Western Europe plus any combination of additional countries in which the insurer is authorized to underwrite insurance coverage.

Participants come to the HUBB forum to gather accurate and up to date information prior to international travel. We who participate in the forum need to take care that we do not provide misleading or inaccurate information in the post that we make.

To suggest that coverage is "automatic" in any given country is misleading and inaccurate. The geographic extent of insurance coverage provided is a private commercial decision between the person purchasing the insurance and the insurance company providing the coverage. The insurer may choose to only offer coverage in certain specific countries, and likewise, the purchaser may choose to only purchase coverage in countries (or country groups) that they intend to operate their vehicle in.

The only thing that a "Green Card" guarantees is that it (the document) will be accepted as proof of having the minimum legally required coverage to operate the vehicle in countries whose code is not crossed out by an X on the document.

Your comments about whether or not one is a Canadian (or other person foreign to the Green Card region) or not, or whether the vehicle is Canadian (or otherwise foreign to the Green Card region) are not relevant at all. At the same time in the past that I was riding my Canadian plated motorcycle in Europe and had a Green Card to show that the motorcycle was insured in Europe, I was living and working in Switzerland and driving a Swiss plated car. I also had a Green Card for that car showing that it was insured for operation in various European countries.

TL;DR - The Green Card is nothing more than a standardized presentation of a proof of insurance document. Check the document to see which countries it shows you are insured in. Don't make assumptions, and don't take anything for granted.

Michael

Hi Michael.......thanks for the reply . Just one thing at no stage have I ever said cover is automatic . You need to read the legislation that applies to the eaa eu and associated countries . It only applies
to them and them only.....
Not Americans or Canadians etc etc Unless their vehicle is registered in one on those countries And insured in that country .
Each insurer will obviously differ but for the most part in the UK you are insured in all EU states all EAA states and any other state that takes part in the civil legislation covering motor vehicles.........as always you need to read your certificate.
The legislation also allows countries that operate a green card system to be able to charge money for this......so in my case this would b Albania and Nth Macedonia etc etc . So to summarise if you are for example an Indian national on an Indian registered bike none of this applies to you Full Stop

Oh forgot as for Switzerland......previously you would've needed a green card as would've if I had gone there....
.previously UK insurers did not automatically cover it , same with Andorra.....they are both now EAA countries and I am automatically covered for both .

As I said before.....read the website covering COB 44.......if you wish to disagree with me then fine.....things have changed dramatically re foreign insurance recently.....especially for us Brits .
I'm pretty sure that most Hubbers are wise enough to read the above site and read their own insurance policies.......which is exactly what you and I have been both saying . However like it or not automatic presumption is part if that legislation
Safe Roads

Uh, that is not how I interpreted your post #13 (below)

Michael

That's OK Michael......that quote is lifted directly from the website and the legislation...... So as I said I have never suggested it......I have merely stated how things now are. As for how different states interpret this well who knows . Personally if I was going to Serbia I'd prob get a green card