Greece - Turkey Border-Insurance Nonsense.
 

Last week, late in the afternoon, I tried to cross from Greece into Turkey at the main border crossing Kipi - Ipsala. As has been reported on here recently the guy at the Insurance Bureau asked 230 euros for 1 month's cover. He himself admitted that this was a rip off and made several phone calls to his superiors to try for a better price but to no avail.
He recommended I ride upto the tiny Pazarkule border 100km north where he said I'd get through without insurance and I could arrange it once in Turkey.

Suspicious but with no other option, off I went. I camped in Kastanies (no hotels in town) and hit the border first think next morning... "Greencard?"
Of course, they require insurance to cross and they don't sell it here. " Go to Bulgaria"

I crossed into Bulgaria about 20km away then headed for the KAPIKULE border, boxing gloves on ready for a row.
The guy starts off by telling me that one month is the same price as three months so he'll give me three.... here we go.... 32 EURO.

I nearly bit his hand off.

It should be noted that this is not Greencard Insurance but just a Turkish road insurance policy. Not linked to the size of the engine either, just a flat rate.

It seems like some sort of scam going on crossing on a bike (cars are much cheaper) from Greece into Turkey. It's only about 150km from southern Greece to the KAPIKULE border in Bulgaria. Fuel aside for a 200 euro saving it's worth the journey.

Be interesting to check whether it was genuine cover for Turkey

Spurious Insurance
 

It's always genuine....until you try to use it.

Suddenly there are more holes in your policy than a secondhand dartboard.

Peter, in Oslo

He he, nice definition :thumbup1:

I'm fed up with the Turkish border guards. Last year, returning to Greece just before the misfired so-called military coup, the secret service guys (the ones that don't wear a uniform) ripped my luggage apart, treated me like a "Gülenist". Probably because I travelled deep into the Kurd area.

I reckon you're right... when the guy at Ipsala was telling me I could get through with out insurance at Parzakule, I mentioned that I'd rather have it... he laughed and told me that it was all bullshit anyway.

For insurance and other documents, please find those people in Turkey.. They have offices in every Turkish border. They write price info at their webpage. I do not think their personel try to scam anybody. This one who tried to scam should be unofficial one. Here is the link;
http://www.turing.org.tr

I crossed at Kipi/Ipsala last week (late July 2018) and had no major problems. The only minor annoyance was not paying attention to the pretty crap exchange rate when paying in euro.

Coming from Greece it was pretty easy. After a bit of a delay at Greek passport control due to the queues, it was over the bridge and to the Turkish passport control. I'd got the e-visa ahead of time, so this bit was painless.

After passport control, which is the first set of booths, you're next to customs. I told the customs officer I needed insurance and he pointed be back to the duty free building just before Turkish passport control. It looked closed when i went past it the first time so I'd kind of ignored it.

However, there was a sign saying "Sigorta" (insurance in Turkish) pointing into the main building, so I followed that instead. There was a temporary desk set up with agents from a company called HDI.

Three months insurance was 194.85 lira. No 10-day option. Pay in euro and it was 45. But based on the current exchange, it should have been more like 35. I didn't think to check until after. Mildly annoying, but no biggie.

After the insurance is sorted, it's back to the customs booth for them to enter the vehicle details into the system. This is necessary as at the final exit will check the system to make sure your details are there.

The longest part of the process was queuing in Greece. The Turkish bit probably took about 30 mins all up.

:scooter:

Turkey - Greece April 2019
 

Hi Im looking for any tips or advise as I,m planning to enter Turkey from the Bulgarian boarder to travel around Turkey for 4 weeks and attend ANZAC service at Gallipolli on 25th April then get a ferry to Greece to travel around there also for 4 weeks.
Im driving a New Zealand Registered Toyota Landcruiser with NZ Passport.

Any help would be appreciated

Regards
Ray

Hi Ray,

we can provide coverage for Europe and Turkey will be again available soon on our website as well.
We're sending the scans of the policies to your email and then hard copy to desired address.

Check my signature for more info, or email us at:

borderinsurance@lobagola.com

Let me know if you need any other info maybe.

cheers
dooby