Do i need green card insurance?
 

I am about to set off on a trip from France to Siberia. I have world wide insurance coverage the includes third party and limited liability for the bike that i am riding. It doesnt cover the bike but i can live with that.
Is it mandatory to get green card insurance for Europe?
Coming from New Zealand im unsure about how this works.

I would start by checking exactly what cover you have, I have never heard of world wide motorcycle liability insurance and doubt that is what you have, it could be personal liability which is not the same thing, I expect you will need to take out a green card for European cover.

European traffic police will expect to see a document in a format they recognize. Green Card forms should be issuable by the insurance agency for free, so just ask your insurer to send you one, and print it out. (It does not need to actually be printed on green paper.)

The first question is, where is the bike registered? Second question:- have you bought it or are you hiring it? If you are hiring it then the hirer must supply insurance cover for you and supply a green card certificate. If you have purchased a bike, then to get any ''valid'' insurance the bike must be registered to you either fully or in part ( joint ownership with two names on the reg document). If you are starting from France do I assume you might have bought a French registered bike? or have you shipped a bike in from NZ which is registered in NZ? If you have bought a French registered ( or European reg) then for Europe you will have to insure it in the country where the bike is registered to you and a ''green card'' insurance doc is obligatory. Outside European borders you will probably have to buy local insurance at all border crossings irrespective of your ''world wide cover'' unless it is one of the countries coverd by and shown on the green card certificate.( like Turkey for example) If your bike is NZ registered then your NZ insurer must issue you with an insurance document which shows world wide coverage for the bike, and especially all European countries.

( If you have acquired a bike from one of the reputable sale/ return companies in Europe, they should organise Europe wide cover for you as part of your purchase /registration deal, and will give you the cert when you collect the bike).

Hello

Your insurance has to be accredited by the country, on which roads, you want to ride the bike.
Can you post the site of your insurance, especially the "small print".

sushi

Hi Pat,

World wide green card insurance doesn't exist.

I presume you're riding NZ registered bike, with NZ comprehensive insurance, having green card coverage for NZ only.
Stepping outside of NZ means you're obliged to hold minimum insurance required by international agreements and that is green card insurance. So EU is for starters first where you need to get green card insurance, Balkan countries are the next etc etc.

More info is on our thread here:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...een-card-93020

If you need more info PM me or send us an email,

Cheers
Dooby

Hi Pat:

The "problem with insurance" that international travelers like you and I have is that each individual country in the world has their own accreditation process for the company that issues the insurance, and, unless two countries happen to be side by side (like Canada and the USA) or associated together in some kind of common economic zone (like the EU), insurance issued by a company in one country is not recognized by any other country.

For example, I live in Canada, and have a Canadian-plated motorcycle. My domestic (Canadian-issued) insurance is valid in Canada, and because of a mutual-recognition treaty between Canada and the USA, it is also valid in the USA. But it is "not recognized" (in other words, not valid) in any other country in the world.

I frequently ship my motorcycle to Europe, to ride there. Europe has a "common market", and because of that common market, it is possible for insurance companies to sell policies that are valid in all of the EC member nations. This means that you can ride (for example) from Ireland all the way to the eastern border of Romania on one policy.

Because tourists sometimes ride into European countries from outside this "common market", just about every country in Europe (both EC countries and non-EC countries) has at least one insurance company that offers policies to tourists from outside Europe, like you from NZ or me from Canada.

What you need to do is purchase insurance from one of these companies. I suggest you contact Dooby (who posts here as Frgich). He sells this 'green card' insurance that is provided by a Croatian insurance company, and it is valid in about 20 countries (more about that in a moment). I have been buying insurance for my Canadian-plated bike from him for several years, his level of service is excellent. Buying this tourist insurance is kind of like buying gasoline: the product is identical no matter who you buy it from, so, you buy it from the place that offers the best price and best service.

The "green card" we are talking about is an EC-defined form. When you buy an insurance policy in Europe, it is written up on this standard green-coloured form, and the form has check-boxes on it to indicate what countries the insurance is valid in. These policies are valid in all EC countries and some (but not all) of the EC candidate countries.

If you plan to go from France to Siberia, you will probably need to make three insurance purchases, as follows:

1) A 'green card' policy that will cover you in all the European countries from France to Slovakia or Poland (inclusive).

2) A policy for Ukraine. You buy this at the Ukraine border crossing. It's dirt-cheap and a quick process to get it, the sales office will be at the same location as any major border crossing into Ukraine. I've done this many times, most recently last year, there is nothing to worry about, and no point in trying to buy it before you reach Ukraine.

3) A policy for Russia. I don't know how this works, but I expect you buy it at the Russian border, same as with Ukraine. I'm pretty sure another forum member will explain how that works to you.

In all cases, what you are buying is "liability only" insurance that indemnifies you for damage or injury caused to others by you when you are riding your motorcycle. None of these policies gives you any benefits, for example, if you get hurt or your motorcycle gets wrecked or stolen, too bad, you have no insurance coverage. For what it's worth, it is practically impossible to buy that kind of coverage for a foreign (tourist) vehicle, so ride carefully.

Michael

Is Russia not now part of the "green card" system as of 2009?

Yes... But that doesn't automatically mean that your insurer is obliged to offer you cover there. My Italian green card was valid for Russia until this year when I noticed that after the last renewal it no longer is. Same thing for Bosnia and a few others.


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http://www.cobx.org/content/default.asp?PageID=7
This might help clarify the situation about Green Cards, EU Free Movement Zones, etc.