Think of TP insurance as a 'get-out-of-jail-card'.

__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Thanks for all the research and your views. Interesting. Maybe I should fall on the sword, try the all-European Green Card and report back. I am planning on traveling to several of the normally excluded countries, including Morocco, some of the Balkan states and Russia. I can see if it is accepted at the borders and if not, I'll just buy some local insurance too. Maybe first I should try to get a sense of how much money I might waste with duplicate coverage though.

I can just see it being accepted at some border but later, me being hauled off in the paddy wagon by a road cop because he's never seen a Green Card certificate before.

If you never hear from me again... well... it didn't work.

__________________
Samuel Longiaru
Kamloops, BC Canada
1975 BMW R60/6
http://thetwilightproject.net

Regarding the practicalities of relying on greencard insurance in Russia.

This summer (2011) whilst importing my bike through Vladivostok I teamed up with two Croations who had European Greencards with Russian coverage. This was their experience:
- Customs at Vladivostok took a lot of convincing by a Russian speaking friend before they would believe that the Croations had any coverage. The basic problem was because the document was (a) not in Russian and (b) the officers had not seen a "green card" before and did not understand this multi-country insurance. Without valid insurance Customs will not release the bikes. After about two hours, and mainly I think to get rid of them, customs accepted the "green card" and agreed to release their bikes.
- The locals (customs officers, local bikers and our shipping agent) pointed out to the Croations that they would need to repeat this arguing everytime they were stopped by the traffic police for a document check.

The net result was the Croations after a lot of persuading by locals ended up buying local Russian insurance to avoid possible future problems (which is cheap at $20 for 1 month or $50 for three months).

I thinkthey did the right thing; document checks by the highway police are common, in the three months I was in Russia I was stopped 6 - 8 times for these. These were all friendly but in each case they wanted to check:
- Insurance (no problem mine was in Russian)
- Driving licence (no problem - International licence was in Russian)
- Bike papers (sometimes a bit of pantomine explaining it because it was only in English - but because the Plate number and date were clear it was always quickly accepted.

With a non-Russian language greencard I'm certain at least some of these stops would have taken many hours instead of the minutes they did and might well have involved a trip to the station. So bottom line yes Russia is now part of the green card system but coming from the east there appears to be no knowledge of it and if you want to rely on it plan to spend a lot of time explaining yourself (and your Russian better be good).

Hope this helps.

__________________
Martin

finally back on the road again


http://awayonmybike.blogspot.com/

Uh... yeah... That's what I'm thinking. My Russian is pretty basic and not up to the task of arguing with a cop for sure. In fact in those situations, I'm expecting my Russian will suddenly become non-existent.

I would suspect that the Russian police and those in other countries not accustomed to being shown Green Cards would (rightfully) be suspicious of a new form of documentation... especially one not written in their language and one with which they have had no experience. It may take a while longer for changes to filter down.

Thanks very much for the information.

__________________
Samuel Longiaru
Kamloops, BC Canada
1975 BMW R60/6
http://thetwilightproject.net

I started a new thread on this, to make it easier for people to find, but thought I'd post it here also


Poly & I have FINALLY found a Bulgarian insurance company that will sell green card insurance to us for people with bikes not EU registered!

cost is
60 euros 1 month
100 euros 2 months
140 euros 3 months

3 months at a time is the limit. but it can be renewed.
this is valid for all the EU countries, doesnt include non EU like Ukraine, Serbia, etc. (this is the same insurance as mototouring offers)
I've used it the last few years, & had no problems.
we will need a scanned copy of the bike document with tag number & VIN
and a copy of your passport or drivers license
(or if you have an expired green card, the info needed is on there)
we will scan & email you a copy of the green card, and snail mail the hard copy to you, anywhere in the world.
(the last 2 years I've passed German customs at the airport with just the scanned copy)

email me at motocampbg@yahoo.com if interested.

Doug

__________________
www.motosapiens.org

My Motorcycle Hotel/Cafe in Bulgaria

Motorcycle insurance rates for non-EU residents are going through the roof. ARISA which offered reasonable rates (not exactly cheap) at 105Euro/month is no longer issuing Green Card Insurance. Most companies are now charging upwards of 200 Euro/month which is more than I pay yearly for all my motorcycles in FL.
Wonder if anyone has a lead on where to obtain affordable coverage while riding in the EU.

As a senior on a fixed income I may be forced to buy a Eurailpass for my future trips within the EU.

Have you tried these guys?: TourInsure

Hey all,

Just want to add that the insurance service Lobagola provides for Europe was incredible -- we were traveling across West Africa towards Europe and needed insurance once we entered Spain. Dooby with Lobagola gave us the best advice about which plans to get, when to get it and where to get it delivered to. It was there on time and worked perfectly. Would 100% recommend!

Safe travels

Through this thread you can follow our contribution and what green card insurance service we provide for three years now.
Search Dooby and Lobagola and let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers
Dooby

Can anyone recommend insurance for a foreign car in russia ?
Looks like Lobagola doesn't cover it.
anyone had any experience with Home ?
Thanks

+1 for Ivo and crew at Motosapiens (www.motosapiens.org) in Bulgaria for EU Green Card Insurance. I got it for my Australian registered R1200GSA this week.

Excellent service, prompt detailed responses to all my questions and half the price of others offering same insurance. 60 Euro for 1 month.

Paid on a Wednesday, received scanned copy on Sunday and received paper copy on the Monday to my house in Germany.

Thanks again Ivo!

Hi Graham,

Sorry for the late reply.

Currently we're not covering, though looking into it because of loads of inquiries and with current problems of cutting the number of places to buy insurance on site, for example in Vladivostok.

Safe travels,

Cheers
Dooby