I have purchased third party liability (green card) insurance underwritten by Arisa many times in the last 6 years. It is purely liability insurance - meaning, it will pay the cost of fixing anything you hit with your motorcycle - it is not theft or collision insurance. Much like North America, you are required by law to have liability insurance to ride in Europe.

There are several ways to buy the policy that Arisa underwrites. What I most commonly do is go to an ADAC (German Automobile Club) office and buy the insurance there. It is offered over the counter, and the cost is about 22 Euro a month for a motorcycle. It's easy for me to do this because I usually fly into Switzerland - I can then use a company car to make the 1 hour trip to Germany, go to an ADAC office, and get the policy. Once I have it, I can legally ride my Canadian registered motorcycle.

I have also purchased the exact same Arisa insurance cover in the past from Knopf Tours. Knopf charges a markup (about another 20 Euro a month) to procure the insurance for you, but convenience sometimes justifies buying the insurance through Knopf. Unless you happen to have a friend who lives in Germany who is willing to go to an ADAC office with your paperwork and get the insurance for you ahead of time, Knopf is the next best way to get the insurance before you arrive in Europe.

Be aware, though, that it seems you can only buy a cumulative total of 12 months of insurance for any given vehicle (VIN number) during the life of the vehicle. I've shipped my moto back and forth to Europe numerous times over the past 6 years - this summer, when I went to buy insurance, ADAC informed me that Arisa had told them that they could only issue one more month of insurance for my bike. This question is still open - I am not sure if Arisa is aware that my moto goes back to Canada each year - I will have to write them and get some clarification about this.

Michael