Hi everyone,

We posted earlier this year asking info for out trip from Thailand to UK in a tuktuk. We are currently over half way and in Russia. www.tuktotheroad.com

I was in touch with Stefan from Knopftours earlier this year to ask about Green Card insurance for Europe. I have tried to conatct him recently by email to organise the insurance but haven't got a reply. We will be entering Europe in about 2 weeks and desperately need to organise our insurance. Does anyone know how to get in touch with him or any other ways to get green card insurance that we can organise over the internet and get sent out to us in the Ukraine?

If not, is it possible to get third party in EU countries at the border?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Cheers.

Hello Ants:

It is possible that Stephen is away on vacation at this time. In Europe, it is not uncommon for businesses to simply 'close for vacation', rather than making arrangements to stay open 52 weeks a year, as is the practice in North America.

I am not sure where you will be entering Europe, however, if you are entering via Germany, just go to any ADAC office (the German automobile club - there have offices in every city), and buy your foreign moto insurance there. It costs €22 per month. You have to buy it in person, you cannot buy it via mail. What Stephen does is simply to go the ADAC office and buy it there for you, then he posts it to you.

Another alternative - perhaps better if you will be travelling outside of the EC countries - is to contact Gail Goodman at Motorcycle Express (http://www.motorcycleexpress.com) and buy insurance from her. You will have to fax her copies of your documents, etc., and she will then courier the insurance document (the 'green card') to you. The insurance from Gail is considerably more expensive than the ADAC insurance, but: It covers everywhere from Iceland to Israel, with the sole exception of Iraq - heck, even Iran is covered. The ADAC insurance only covers the EC countries plus Switzerland. From the description you gave of your planned route, I think you would be better served getting the insurance from Gail.

I bought a policy from ADAC a few months ago to cover my wandering around Western Europe (F, CH, D, I), but when I made my trip to Ukraine and Romania a few weeks ago, I called Gail to get a month's coverage from her.

Gail is a good person to deal with, I have been buying European insurance from her company for about 4 years now. It's not cheap, and they do require a lot of documentation to be completed, but they are fast and efficient once they have all the documents, and if you have a claim (I had one once), the post-accident service is absolutely first class - no hassles at all.

Just a PS:

I don't know if your tuk-tuk will be considered a motorcycle or an automobile for insurance purposes. Be prepared for considerably higher costs if it is considered an automobile. The ADAC fee for an auto is about 4 times higher than the ADAC fee for a moto - I know this because the last time I bought ADAC insurance, the lady there thought I was buying car insurance and charged me about 80 Euro for one month.

Also - if you plan to pass through Ukraine - uh, have fun, perhaps you might want to read the post I made to this thread after visiting Ukraine a few weeks ago: click here. I wasn't very impressed with the place.

Michael

We can also recommend Gail at MC Express, excellent service - and if you mention Horizons Unlimited, you get a discount from the normal price - and we get a cut too!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Hey, Grant, why didn't you tell me that two weeks ago when I bought the policy? Sheesh, I buy a policy from Gail every year...

Michael

We will go about contacting Gail asap and mention HUBB of course. We have all the documents so sending them via fax should be fine. Interesting to hear so many different opinions about the Ukraine- we are going to Oddessa, Kiev, Lviv. Despite hearing horror stories about Russian police re. fines/bribes, they have not asked for sllarov yet. We were stopped 5 times yesterday, but they were just being nosy about the tuk tuk and mostly seem quite friendly. Hopefully our tuk tuk will continue to weave her magic spells over all the authorities she meets.

Just had a look at their website and we are both British citizens with a Thai registered vehicle- will contact her anyway and she if she can help.