Insurance... riding from Italy to Turkiye
 

Hello,

I'm riding from Italy to Turkiye, via Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece in May this year. Can someone here please guide me to an insurer for my Canadian registered and insured motorcycle? It's a 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan VN900 Classic LT. I have traveller's insurance, so I'm covered. I also have a carnet for the motorcycle.

Thanks in advance for any info. (Moderators, apologies if this question has been flogged enough. The information I did read here is from a few years ago.)

Jeet
Toronto, Canada

You will need green card insurance for the EU but other countries require it to be purchased when you get there - I think that the UK is covered as well but I am not 100% sure - I know I am covered in the EU with my UK insurance* but you know how much fun insurance companies are.

Dooby is someone that comes onto the site regularly that deals with motorcycle insurance on a regular basis as part of his job.

* - I had to show my motorcycle insurance at a motorcycle dealers when getting a new back tyre fitted last year - no idea why.

Hello Jeet:

You will need to do several insurance purchases along your route.

Croatia, Slovenia, and Greece are countries that are all normally covered by the "Green Card" system. You can find out more about this by looking at this post in the Trip Paperwork sub-forum: Here is where you get the cheap european green card insurance. Don't read that post from the very beginning or it will take you hours to go through it. I suggest you start reading at post #213 of that 295 post thread.

The executive summary of that discussion is that there are several different places you can get "Green Card" coverage for your Canadian motorcycle. One of the better-known vendors is Dooby at Lobagola, you will see his posts in the above-referenced discussion. I have bought insurance from him in the past and can recommend him.

As for Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, and Turkey, you will probably need to purchase an insurance policy at the border when you enter each of those countries. That's not difficult to do, just plan to enter at one of the larger and busier border crossings (not some little goat-path in the middle of the forest). Prices vary - see this discussion for an overview of the process: Balkans Insurance - Here's the story, with details & sample documents. That's an old post, but the concepts are still the same. There's a link at the end of that post to a newer discussion of the same subject.

It's a quick process (10 minutes) to purchase the border insurance at those countries, with the exception of Turkey. When entering Turkey, it will probably take you about an hour to get everything done. Be certain you have your driver licence and ownership of the motorcycle (original documents) with you. The Turks are quite meticulous about checking paperwork.

At all of those border crossings (Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, and Turkey), be sure you have lots of small Euro notes & 1 and 2 Euro coins to pay for the insurance. The vendors never have change, it's sort of a scam they run to get to keep the change that is due to you if you only have large denomination notes. Paying for border insurance with a credit card is not possible.

For what it's worth, you do not need a carnet for a Canadian motorcycle in any of those countries.

If you need more information, send me a private message through this forum and we can talk on the phone. I also live in Toronto, and have travelled with my Canadian motorcycle through Europe every year for the past 20 years.

Michael

Thank you for the heads up.

As for showing insurance policy when changing the tire, so the service shop knows that motorcycle is insured which means it is legal to operate on the road and has done the MOT.
That aligns with the responsibility if something happens after the tire was mounted and who is going to be blamed if someone gets hurt or the bike will be damaged/other parties and their posessions will be damaged.

When we do technical check ups of motorcycles and overland vehicles here in Lobagola MotoTours and Lobagola Insurance Croatia for our clients from overseas (NZ, AUS, USA, China, Russia etc) we also request that insurance for these vehicles/motorcycles needs to be valid.
Only then we are able to do the MOT and client can use that document in english to extend his/her's registration back at home and get new insurance for the home country where the motorcycle/vehicle is registered.
In case of lack of insurance, that means the vehicle/motorcycle is sorn-ed and it is operated on the road illegally.

I believe this explains the framework.

BR
dooby

Thanks for that. Reading through that I get the impression that you can do MoT tests - I didn’t know that anyone outside the UK did those. Interesting.