BALKANS INSURANCE (Green card) - border insurance prices and experiences

As most will find when they take their bike to the Balkans they may need to buy border insurance (green card insurance) as most insurers these days wont extend the insurance beyond Croatia. I have found differing information everywhere in regards to this and thought I would start a thread so that everyone can get an idea for what they are in for. It seems that everyone has varying experiences but some area also paying 50 euro while others are paying 10 euro for the same cover. If everyone knows about what the going rate is, could help when bargaining at the border and keeping overall costs down.

This will be a thread constantly updated, if anyone wants to post theirs so I can edit and add them to the list that would be great. Plus if you got past the border without paying for insurance, please post so we can list which border crossing that was. I expect that experiences will change depending on the mood of the border officer of the day but over time if we can work out the best places to cross the borders it would save inmates a lot of cash. Over the next fortnight I will be crossing all of these so will be adding my experiences plus I am adding in a few from the research I have done.

By all reports you should not have to pay more than 100 Euro in Insurance fees to visit all the Balkans countries.

If you are looking for cheap green card insurance for the EU member countries (does not include Balkans) see this thread.

Please post, Country crossing into, Location crossed at, Price and date crossed.
Prices per bike.


Albania
- 12.40 Euro for 15 days, crossed from Montenegro near Ulicnj, date unknown.
- Waved through free, from Greece, Sagiada/Konispol, Early 2012.
- Waved through free, from Montenegro, on the north side of lake Skada, Bozaj/Hani i Hotit, 12/06/2012
- Waved through free, Debar / maqellare border, October 2012.
- Waved through free, South of Leskovic, August 2013.


Bosnia and Herzegovina
- 10 Euro (7 days cover) - 08/06/2012 - crossing from Croatia at Metkovic
- crossing through small section of coastline to get to Dubrovnik from Split, no green card required
- 36 Euro (7 days) - Aug/Sep 2012 - crossing at Brod in North - on Sunday made it difficult to buy insurance.
- 21 Euros (3 days cover) - Aug 2013.
- 21 Euros (3 days cover) - From Montenegro at Vilusi, just east of Niksic

Croatia
No longer need - part of the EU, if you have coverage for the EU, you have coverage for Croatia.


Kosovo[a]
http://www.iak-ks.com/CIU.html - Here is the official page. Looks like you get out for around 13 Euro for a bike for a short trip.
- 15 Euro for 7 days, paid in Euro - from Macedonia near Shkolla on M3/E65 from Skopje, 23/06/2012
- 15 Euro - date unknown.
- 15 Euro - Aug/Sep 2012 - crossing at Rožaje, Montenegro


Macedonia
- 50 Euro for 15 days- from Albania, near Librazhd (Lake Orchid), date unknown.
- 50 Euro for 15 days- from Albania, as above SH9 crossing, 16/06/2012
- 50 Euros, Kymenichka / Uzem border, October 2012
All reports are that it is 50 Euros for Macedonia


Montenegro

- Waved through free (very nice border officer with good English said 'don't worry about insurance'), From Bosnia (from Sarajevo) on E762, near Hum, headed towards Zjabliak, 10/06/2012
- 10 Euro for 14 days, From Croatia Near Plolice (E65), date unknown
- Waved through free, From Albania at Muriqan/Sukobine crossing, early 2012.
- Waved through free, sukobin / Muriqan border, October 2012.
- 10 Euro - Aug/Sep 2012, crossing From Dubrovnik.
- Waved through free, Near Vermosh, August 2013.


Serbia

Reports coming through that you no longer need green card insurance if you have EU insurance. See these threads
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/europe/current-balkan-insurance-details-particularly-64211-2 We will see how this comes into practice when crossing border in a week from now.
- Waved through free, from Macedonia, on the E-75/M1 near Tabanovce, 24/06/2012, Didn't even ask to see the papers for the bike.


References:
http://motoventurers.com/borders

This could be very useful summary, but you also need to specify/ understand with each of these reports, whether the vehicle/ bike "original" coverage is:
USA or other non-EU registration, already EU Green Card covered.
EU registration--but not UK
UK registration.

Unless this is specified, it may be confusing, "apples vs. oranges" comparison.

thanks

Yeah it would depend on insurances as to whether you are covered for the country, but with nearly all British insurance companies (not sure about other EU countries insurance) you will not be covered for the Balkans (excepting Croatia and Serbia).

So I want to cover for anyone who doesn't have insurance for these countries (which will be most) - I don't think it makes a difference to border insurance prices what the country of registration is? Is there a reason the original cover on the bike would matter when buying border insurance?

The pricing of separate Green Card (minimum required third party liability only) insurance purchased at "Balkans" border crossings probably doesn't depend
on the original cover. But, there's been some confusion because some UK
underwriters of vehicle cover for UK-registered bikes have not
recognized their legal obligation to include Croatia, and more
recently, Serbia.

Separate issue: the original list above includes "Bulgaria" (BG).
That implies that some people might have to buy separate Green Card
crossing into Bulgaria.
Nobody, regardless of original registration, who already has any minimum European vehicle insurance, should have to buy separate Green Card crossing into Bulgaria, to cover Bulgaria alone.
Bulgaria, like Romania, Hungary, etc is already part of the EU, and the
Green Card system, http://www.cobx.org/system_map/
To avoid (that) confusion, consider dropping "Bulgaria" from this list.

Of course, for riders coming from the "East" (e.g. Turkey) crossing into Europe via Bulgaria or Greece, who don't already have EU/ Green Card cover, may have a different set of coverage & purchase/ price options at those borders.

Good point, Bulgaria removed.

Will keep posting peoples experiences and see if we can see any patterns.

good job, will need the info here for my trip. I'll be starting from Thessaloniki to Italy (to Ireland). prob will get greencard from my Irish insurer (carole nash) 15E a week. bike is irish reg.

does anybody knows if i can buy green card for all the non-eu countries while I'm in Thessaloniki?
I mean, you can buy it on the borders, so can I buy it on-the-spot while in town and don't need to get it posted?

cheers

Cheers, yeah, I have heard you can get green card cover elsewhere, just not sure on that one, would be good if you find out and I can add the details to the above. Some people though, may only decide at last minute to go to the Balkans or wont be able to get green card cover, in which case, this is here :)

Let us know how you go around the Balkans for the thread if you have to end up getting Border insurance :)

Have finished all the Balkans states now and the insurance total for us was Euro 87.40. Not too bad. All the examples are above but would help if other people post their experiences too. Maybe we can find more spots where they will wave you through free.

I am Belgian, bike is Belgian and my green card is Belgian; my point is: All the balkans are covered in my green card, except for Albania and Kosovo.

Kosovo = fixed price that is marked on the booth/office where you go into to buy it: 15€.
Albania = asked my insurer and got a separate (free!) green card for two weeks there.

So the whole thing starts with the fact what country is included in you national green card and which don't, so you're right to make a difference between US/EU/UK etc.

Yeah, the summary here is for people to check how much it is going to cost them for balkans countries that their insurance does not cover. Thanks for your info, can you let us know where you crossed into Kosovo and the date you crossed please?

Hey guys, I just thought that I would send my information in,
I didn't have my insurance on me in a physical form only in my emails.

I've just ridden through

Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia.
over the last week
10-10-12 - 17-10-12

Bulgaria- I wasn't asked.
Macedonia - 50 Euros, Kymenichka / Uzem border
Albania - Nothing - debar / maqellare border
Montenegro - Nothing - sukobin / Muriqan border
Croatia - Nothing - njivice / gornji Kraj border

Cheers Tobbas, put in the updates now.

Thanks for the reminder and information.

Specific Country Insurance/road tax/motorway tolls
As long as you guys realise that driving through, being waived through, or otherwise avoiding paying is never going to be an issue until it is...ie you get pulled over, checked, get involved in an incident etc. The "taxes" at the border aren't worth avoiding, you may even have to "force" them to charge you or accept the risk.

Green Card
I checked and double checked with my insurer (Austrian plated bike with a UK rider) and got them to specifically extend my coverage for the Balkans (all the way from Austria to Greece along the coast)...no extra charge.

Valid point - people take their own risk. There will still be varied prices at border points based on who is reselling insurance - with some countries, so is good for people to know what they should pay, so thread still has value.

We were in the Balkans in August/September 2012 on Irish registered bikes, insured with Liberty (formerly Quinn). Green card cost €50 and covered Croatia, Albania and Macedonia.

We crossed into Bosnia at Brod in the north. Initially we had problems buying insurance because it was a Sunday and the office was closed. Eventually we got someone to sell us insurance at €36 for 7 days.

Crossed into Montenegro coming from Dubrovnik, insurance cost €10.

We entered Kosovo from Rožaje in Montenegro. Kosovo is not part of the green card system, insurance was €15.

Interestingly leaving Macedonia we were asked for our insurance/green card at the exit border, when we were heading into Bulgaria. All other exit borders only wanted to see passports and registration documents.

Hello , is there option to buy insurance for Bulgaria at the Bulgarian border (entering from Romania) and what documents for the bike are requested ???????

Bulgaria is covered as standard with any EU motor insurance policy.

They may request your vehicle registration. Although this was not needed when I traveled between Bulgaria and Romania this summer… a passport was enough.

Cheers for the updates.

As per below Bulgaria covered by any Euro policy.

Croatia will become the 28th EU member country on 1 July 2013. Handy site is http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm