Buying Car Insurance at Greek Border
 

I would like to drive from Turkey to Greece (Ipsala-Kipi) with my USA-licenced car. I checked with Turkish insurance companies and found out that non-Turkish licenced cars are not eligible to purchase a green card car insurance. Therefore, I am looking to buy liability insurance that is valid in Greece. Does anyone know if I can buy Greek insurance at the Greek border ?

Hello, and welcome to the HUBB.

I'm pretty sure you can buy European green card insurance at the border when you enter Greece. Greece is part of the EC, so, whatever insurance you buy in Greece will be good in the other EC countries as well.

I've only ever bought insurance going in the other direction (Greece into Turkey), this because I already had an EC green card for my return. But, considering that Turkish insurance is no good in Greece, I think it is pretty safe to assume that there will be an insurance kiosk for cars entering Greece from Turkey.

If you have some time between now and your planned entry to Greece, you might want to browse the "Where to get the cheap green card insurance" thread in this forum. Go directly to the last page, no point in reading all the posts from 10 years ago. There are several vendors mentioned there, you could order the insurance ahead of time, it will be posted to you by registered mail or sent by courier, and you would have the document before you even left home in Turkey.

Have a good trip... and be prepared for the exorbitant VAT in Greece. As you are probably already aware, the only people who pay tax in Greece are the tourists, and they have to support the entire country.

As I understand it, very few insurance agencies or companies will sell green card insurance to non-EU vehicles. I'd be happy to hear that I'm wrong about this.

In any case, my response to the OP on the other insurance thread (http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...cheap-34822-20) still stands.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Thank you for your response. I appreciate your help. However, it seems that I cannot buy green card insurance in Greece. According to the motor insurers' bureau-Greece, "It is prohibited to issue a Green Card for vehicles with foreign registration plates." (seee the website: Green Card). My only option is buying a frontier insurance at the border. However, I do not know if it is available.

Alex

As PanEuropean already mentioned big thread on green card insurance here on HUBB, we're mentioned on multiple occasions in that thread and we have also our thread here and on ADVrider as well.
We can provide green card insurance for your car sending you the scan to you email and original/hard copy to desired postal address in 24 h.

You can check my signature for links to our services or email us:

borderinsurance@lobagola.com

cheers
dooby

Yes, I had a similar situation. When I crossed the border in Turkey, I did not know that I already had expired insurance on the car. I was told at the customs office that they can safely issue insurance right at the border. However, I had to wait almost a whole day until they sorted out the documents because it's not so fast to do everything. The only thing I didn't like was that I had to spend a whole day processing all the documents. Well, it's good that they helped me, and then I already left for Turkey on my own business. Otherwise, I would have had to turn around and go back.

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https://www.moneyexpert.com/car-insurance/speed-awareness-courses/

To avoid possibly misleading readers who have not gone through the process of buying EU insurance for non-EU motorcycles, the statement above ("You can get insurance at any border") is a bit too optimistic.

Generally, you can get an EU insurance policy for a non-EU vehicle, or get a country-specific insurance policy for your vehicle (if your existing insurance doesn't cover the country you are entering) at most major road entry points into the EU (in the case of getting an EU insurance policy), or at most major road entry points into a specific country (if that country is not part of the EU-wide green card scheme).

But, check ahead of time to see what the hours of operation are.

It's reasonable to assume that you will be able to get (for example) insurance for the EU if you are entering Greece from Albania or Montenegro, or insurance for Albania or Montenegro if you are entering those countries from Greece. It's equally reasonable to assume that you can get EU insurance at a port in France, Spain, or Italy if you are arriving from North Africa, or at the Polish border if you are arriving from Ukraine.

But, you will never find an insurance office at a border between two EC countries, or at a northern European port when arriving from another continent, or at any airport if you are shipping your bike by air freight.

In summary: Unless you KNOW you can get insurance at a road border crossing, it's best to make your insurance arrangements ahead of time and have the proof of insurance in your pocket when you arrive at the border crossing. This is especially true in the case of a rider/driver needing EU-wide "green card" coverage.

In the case of EU 'Green Card' insurance, it doesn't have to take effect the day you buy the policy. You can buy a policy in the middle of winter, with an effective date 6 months later (when you actually plan to enter the EU).

Michael

This possibility is very unlikely, since car insurance is not sold at the border, as specialized companies are engaged in this. You will have to go to an insurance company in Greece and get insurance for your car there. I think you should Google this question and study it more carefully, because if you get there and you can't do it, then you'll have to drive an uninsured car. I personally look in advance in the application https://squeeze.com all kinds of insurance that I can apply for in other countries, as well as pay for this insurance through this application. This application was recommended to me by a woman in one of the insurance companies. To be honest, at first sight I didn't see this application useful, and then it seemed very convenient to me. I hope you solve your problem, good luck friend!