So I crossed into Russia at a very small border in Latvia

It all went very smooth! However I could not find anywhere selling insurance! (I wasn't asked either)

I am now I'm saint Petersburg, anyone have advice on what I should do to get some temporary cover?

I have had a look through past posts but been unable to find anything useful for once you are past the border!

Any help would be great!

Ask for an insurance company and go there.

So did I in Ulan Ude.

And if you dont speak russian well, they will help with google translate.

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Update:

Following the advice I found a few insurance shops in st peterburg

I have got 3 months basic road insurance pretty easily!

Спасибо!

Glad you got it sorted.

When we crossed over from Georgia last year we got nailed by the police about 300km from the border. After handing over a bribe they were not much help either. We got some help from the Audi car dealership in Mineralvode (sp?).

The company you want to look out for is this one:

The Cyrillic for insurance is страхование pronounced strakhovaniye. It sounds just like you read it.

We found it cheaper to cover our entire stay which involved three entry/exits from Russia spanning 10 months. But you may need a good translator to get this across and a lot of drawing on maps!

G

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I am guessing no green card or do you need Russian insurance along with green card?

The green card does not always cover Russia.
Most of the times you have to pay extra for Russia.

And what I heard from many Insurance agencies I have asked here, the green card just covers the european part of Russia.
It is not extra mentioned.

And I know a Person which got stopped in Asian Russia because of this.
And with a regular ticket, no bribe.

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Thanks for this information. I thought my green card covers all Russia including the asian part since it includes the "RUS" cell, but I never checked with my insurance.
I will definitely buy a temporary russian insurance at the border, independently of my green card.

That is great to know. Will check that with my insurance co but may just buy a policy at the boarder

As far as i know will no german insurance cover more than the european part of Russia. Most insurances i have asked did not cover any country east of Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.
The best possibility is to buy local insurance.

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Greetings
Wolle

Not that old chestnut again. If RUS is not crossed out on the green card, it is valid in all of Russia. If you read the fine print you will most likely find that 3rd party liability is valid within Europe AND the countries explicitly listed on the green card. There are plenty of insurers that will cover Russia, Turkey, Iran and other countries for no extra charge. Cover for your own vehicle (KASKO in German speak) is a whole different issue.

Excactly. Russia joined Green card system 2009 so European traffic insurances are valid in territory which covers whole Russia as long as you have green card to present. However insurance cover limits are relatively low, about 11 000 euros so some people like to get extra insurance.


If you do have some other insurances to your bike which covers thief, fire etc in those there might be still limitations that they cover only European part of Russia.


Also i think Colebach also gave guide good explanations why some british insurance companies dont accept that their driving insurances are valid in Russia as green card insurance but who really cares about brits

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I asked a few insurence companys, and my driving buddy works at a insurance company.

Absolutly all of them said clearly, they do not cover Russia outside Europe.

Maybe this is different in other countries, in my case Austria.
And you have to pay 50 Euros extra for the Russian Cross on the green insureance card

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I love insurance companies!

Where does it stipulate the geographic limit?

How does one decide when one has crossed into 'non-european' Russia?

Its as arbitrary as stating 'we don't cover South of France'.


I would imagine that it has to be stated somewhere as it is a contravention of the green card system/agreement.

That was my question too ... how do they define European Russia?

In theory that could take the Russian definition which generally follows the line of the watershed on the Ural Mountains and then the Ural River. Its probably the most widely accepted definition of the deliniation of Europe from Asia ... but there certainly are others

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Austria has been part of Green card system from very early from 1954, Russia from 2009

http://www.cobx.org/content/default.asp?PageID=12


"The Green Card is an international certificate of insurance. As such it is accepted without any obstacle or cost by the Authorities of all countries for which the individual Green Card is valid. The Green Card certifies that the visiting motorist has at least the minimum compulsory Motor Third Party Liability Insurance cover required by the Laws of the countries visited"


For me it seems that those Austrian insurance companies which says that they dont cover Russia outside Europe are working against agreements of Council of Bureaux which is organisation for Green Card system. Also if they are charging extra cost to deliver Green Card certificate both of these would be in my opinion behavior which would validate questionaire done to both insurance companies where you demand in written format: reasons for this decisions and contact members and also to Green Card organisation (COB) to ask if Austrian insurance companies behavior is according Green Card system practises.

I strongly belive that none in those insurance companies has updated their policies after Russia joined 2009 fully to Green Card system. Prior that it was also common that Finnish insurance companies didnt cover Russia part after Europe and it was up to each company practises and policies. After Russia joined 2009 to Green Card system all finnish companies traffic insurances cover whole Russia georophical and political terriotory (I dont know about Crimea how it is seen)

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