You can buy insurance on most boarders in those countries. The prices vary wildly thou... I paid over 100 euro for Serbia.

What we did is got a lady at a hotel we happened to go into at a vineyard in Croatia to right us a note! It read something along the lines of "sir, needs a green card insurance". Really helped us at the border!also got a few laughs......

Dan

We [wife n i] went through and stayed in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hertzogovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Serbia again and through to Bulgaria with just the green card from Carole Nash. I did tell them i was going there first tho. Oh and Turkey. In 2009.

Hi Rob,

The only other ex-yugo states I've been through are Croatia and Slovenia, in 2009. No problems with green card insurance in either.

Matt

I'm reading that suggestion as saying that all _must_ (by law), but not all of them _realise_ they must, so prod 'em. I've just pointed my own insurer (a Swinton brand) to that page, and asked them to confirm that they do. They're currently refusing all Balkan countries bar RO/BG (EU) and HR (Green Card), hence me finding this thread, from a campsite in Puglia, heading towards the boat for Albania!

I'll let you all know what we find when we get to the various borders, if we decide that it's not all too much of a headache. In the meantime, I'm also awaiting a reply from another UK broker (Herts Insurance) who seem to offer short-term travellers policies.
https://www.hertsinsurance.com/walkabout.php
Anybody any experience with them or others?

<edit: Update - Forget them, they'll only cover Morocco/Tunisia/Turkey/Croatia + EU>

Because we don't know how much time we'll want to spend in which countries, it'd be preferable for us to not have to worry about the borders, and get a single policy that covers all. I can definitely confirm the bit about other EU countries having no such issues - our Austrian neighbours at this site were utterly bewildered that we should even need to think about it, and checked their own (standard issue) Green Card. Only a couple of "definitely dodgies" were crossed out. Iran, f'rinstance. Can't think why. We're just back from Tunisia - we bought local cover there, from a random high-st broker in Tunis, three months for ~€100. Cheers, and may your travels be good 'uns.

<edit: Updates beyond these points are the reality as we cross borders>
Albania - As we returned to the van on the car deck of the Brindisi-Vlora ferry, ready to disembark at 7am on a Sunday, we were approached by a man who asked (in English, after a few other attempts) if we had insurance. 15 days - €27, 30 days - €51. Official looking sheet of A4, badly scrawled details. 30 day premium given on sheet as €44... As we exited the boat, then port, there were several other similar vendors and an office branded with the same logo.

Macedonia - The southern Lake Ohrid road crossing (Tushemisht) does NOT have any insurance sales facility - and the border guards WILL ask for your Green Card. If you don't have one, you WILL be refused entry. Don't ask how we know this... The northern Lake Ohrid road crossing (Qafë Thanë) does have, just on the inside of the border. You'll need to leave your passports with the police, park between police & customs, and walk through. €50 for 15 days. Euro or Macedonian Denar cash only. No Albanian Lek, no plastic. There is no cashpoint here to get Denars.

Montenegro - The Vladimir/Sukobin border crossing west of Lake Shkodra accepted our SRB (Montenegro included) green card without any question, despite it having been issued in May 2012 according to the pre-Feb 2012 country list, and being a colour-print of an emailed PDF rather than an original. There didn't appear to be an insurance sales office on the Montenegrin side of the border, but there were several for Albania on that side.

Croatia - We have a green card. The border crossing south of Dubrovnik was utterly painless. If you do not have a green card, there was a phone number on a piece of paper in the customs hut window. No cash machines.

Bosnia - The border crossing NW of Bihac was incredibly laid back. Croatian customs wanted to see our V5 on leaving, but the Bosnians weren't bothered on entering. We had no green card, and had to ask about insurance. They looked surprised, but pointed us to the freight management company hut just inside the border. We were pointed from office to office until we found somebody who would sell us insurance. He could only offer 16 days cover. Initially, he asked for €122 for motorhome price. We thought this very high, and showed him our old VW. He then charged us €32 (58KM) car price, without any further discussion or argument. Euro cash, Bosnian KM (no cash machine) or Croatian Kuna (at normal exchange rate, no premium) all acceptable.

We have heard of others who were quoted, at a different border and for a bigger motorhome, €75/14 days or €55/5 days. We have also heard of somebody paying €25/3 days for a car. I think they make it up as they go along...

After a total refusal from Swinton - I escalated it to the actual insurer, Allianz.

FINALLY, I've just today received this...

:D

Thanks for the update Adrian.

I take it Swinton are the brokers for Allianz?

Enjoy your trip.

Dan

[QUOTE=danward79;378116]I take it Swinton are the brokers for Allianz?[/quote[

Yes, they are.

Even better, though - they've decided to email us a Green Card anyway, since the policy paperwork doesn't mention Serbia. And, guess what...? The note accompanying the SRB box explicitly includes Montenegro.

Woo, and a side order of Hoo.

Oh, don't you worry about that... <grin> :funmeteryes:

Macedonia was great, but we're firmly in love with Albania, especially the south. We're taking the Komani river ferry probably Wednesday, before heading to Montenegro by the weekend. Looks like the road to Theth might be a bit ambitious for our 2wd van, but we'll have a look-see, just in case it's doable.

Just a quick update here, I just paid 50E at the Bulgarian border crossing of Delsevo this morning.

A bit annoyed for 15 days when Turkey cost me 15E for 90days, no wonder there are bugger all tourists here.

Also just had the worst meal of my travel life in Vesel, hopefully tomorrow picks up a notch or I just wasted a tank of fuel!

Cheers
TS

The printed PDF green card was accepted without any problem at the Montenegrin border, despite having the pre-Feb 2012 SRB (includes MNE) country list, rather than the current separate MNE.

We couldn't get to Theth - the road's closed as you approach the top of the pass climbing up from Boge - there's too much snow still, even for off-road bikes or 4x4s.

Unsatisfacory situation
 

For what it's worth, I have just driven from the UK to Belgrade and back. Prior to leaving I searched high and low for insurance in the UK that would cover me in Serbia.
My current insurer (Admiral) didn't cover me. The only way to do it would have been to cancel my current insurance and take out a new policy with somebody like RSA but this wouldn't have made economical sense as my whole family are on Admiral's Multi Car policy. I even considered taking out an additional policy with the intention of cancelling when we got back; but this I was told was not allowed. So we set off with the intention of buying what I expected to be a fairly worthless, third party policy at the border for an exorbitant sum just in order to stay on the right side of the law.
However when we reached the border (near Lipovac) where we have bought insurance in the past, the authorities assured us that, as of Jan 1st 2012 we were covered by our UK policy, so there was nothing to worry about.
My wife who speaks fluent Serbian could not get them to understand that we were not covered and that we would like to purchase Serbian insurance. He told us that this was no longer necessary or possible as the facility did not exist at the border anymore.
So the outcome was, we had a very nervous week driving around Serbia knowing we were uninsured. Something they would no doubt have been happy to point out to us in the event of a claim...... If I had caused a serious accident, the consequences in a country like that don't bear thinking about. We breathed a heavy sigh of relief when we were back in Croatia!
The only solution I can suggest to this very unsatisfactory situation is to plan well ahead and change your UK insurance, when it comes up for renewal, to one of the few companies who will cover you in Serbia - even then, you will have complications if you go too far south in the vicinity of Kosovo.

Green Card from UK Insurance
 

This is a little off topic, but I've just moved to England from Netherlands.
I have 3rd party bike insurance thru MCE and I asked them how I get a Green Card.
They say they don't issue one and I don't need it.
My policy serves.

Is that right??

My Dutch insurance automatically sent me a Green Card.

UK insurance is VERY expensive compared to Dutch too.

Alan

Welcome to rip-off Britain.

Don't know if this will help anyone from the Uk, I have just recieved a green card from AXA ins, no problems and no extra cost.

Dave,

RAC Insurance
 

In case it's of help to anyone (this thread has been to me!) I'm with RAC motorcycle insurance, run by Devitt insurance and underwritten by Red Equity. As part of the insurance document it says, in a numbe rof languages, that the insurance document is now used instead of a green card. Further, I've just rung them and confirmed with both them and Red Equity that I'm covered for Serbia (but unfortunately not for Bosnia H or Montenegro).

I'm now with BMW Motorrad Insurance thru Devitt Insurance, underwritten by Allianz Insurance.
I jumped from MCE who were very expensive.
The BMW insurance is to a large part much cheaper because there's no broker's fee.

I asked about the Green Card and they say they will only do a selective one: you have to tell them in advance, there's a daily charge for it, and it only lasts a max of 90 days. And not all countries are covered: for instance not Russia.

So if you are looking at taking a big trip that includes Turkey or Russia it's probably worth changing companies. I think it could be quite pricey to buy 3rd party insurance at the Russian border for a foreign bike (but maybe I'm wrong).