"A green card isn't an insurance policy" (?)
 

Hi, I just read the following, part of a post by mrsroynie.


"Just to clarify, a Green Card isn't actually an insurance policy. It just shows the authorities that you have (at least) the legal minimum third party cover (under your existing UK policy) to drive in that country."


I am wondering, then, whether I do in fact have insurance.


My Land Rover is registered in Oman. The local insurance, good for Oman and the UAE ran out some time back. While travelling, I bought insurance for Iran, then for Turkey, then for Europe. At present I have a green card issued in Germany, for which I initially paid 208 Euros then 89 Euros a month.


Am I insured or am I not? Surely, a green card, costing whatever it costs per month, etc. isn't just a document showing that one is insured elsewhere? (I'm not insured elsewhere.) So does my green card provide insurance cover or does it not, I'm wondering.

I came across the following:
The countries that do require a Green Card are: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Iran, Israel, Moldova, Morocco, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine.



The countries that don't require a Green Card are: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.



Alternatively, some insurers offer European cover which will allow motorists to drive within Europe at the same level of cover they have in the UK. Confusingly, insurers often call this 'green card cover' and charge for it so it can seem as if you’re paying for something that should be free but this isn’t the case.



Isn't it the case, then, that what many of us on this forum are calling "the green card" isn't the green card? It is, rather, insurance COVER for driving in Europe. This cover comes with a green card (which is a document showing that a driver is insured) but isn't a green card. The list, above, notes that Germany, for example, doesn't require a green card. Germany and all the other countries on the list obviously require insurance.



Looking carefully at my own document (which is green, in fact) I see the words "International Motor Insurance Card" and "Signature of Insurers" (which is AXA). Nowhere does it say, in any language, "Green Card".



The term "Green Card", in other words, seems to be used to apply to two different things: (1) an actual green card; (2) an INSURANCE POLICY.

Are there listed countries (alphabetical) ? Usually there are listed all countries and crossed (XXX) those that card don't cover.

My company will provide a "Green Card " but charge about £40 so that your cover becomes fully comp in those countries rather than just the basic legal minimum . All the Green Card does is state in numerous languages that there is an insurance policy in force that will provide the legal minimum in that country you are visiting .
By the sounds of it you are paying a german company to insure your vehicle , they should issue the Green card . Providing you have a valid certificate from that company all should be well . That said a Green card does have an expiry date - usually around a month . The company may then issue another or not , depends on the policy .

The "green card" is a proof that you have 3rd party liability insurance. 3rd party liability insurance is insurance is to cover if you harm someone else, not your self which is something else.

And you really want 3rd party liability insurance, so that if you hit someone and they are hurt, then the insurance pays, and not you...

I seem to remember receiving an actual green card from my insurance company back in the pre EU days when I told them I wanted to travel abroad. "Abroad" in this context meant anywhere outside the UK.

On it there was a list of countries and those I was not going to travel to were crossed out. The point of the card was that it wasn't an insurance policy in its own right but a foreign extension of my UK policy. You couldn't buy a green card on its own, it could only extend an existing UK policy. Sometimes I had to pay extra for it, sometimes not.

These days my UK policy has to cover basic EU travel (or a subset of EU countries anyway) so I don't need anything green any more but the name seems to have stuck.