I'd prefer to pay the €5 euros just for the banter with the guards . Think they would have been a bit pissed off if we'd had full insurance and it's only £4 as one of our group pointed out .Basically, get a green card that covers Bosnia before you leave - some companies will provide it.
I'd prefer to pay the €5 euros just for the banter with the guards . Think they would have been a bit pissed off if we'd had full insurance and it's only £4 as one of our group pointed out .
Spot on! Our banter went like this:
(At the Bosnian border crossing at Llubovija, and after being stamped out of the country at the Serbian border)
Us: Hello Mr Border Guard, may we please we buy insurance and so enter your lovely country?
Border Guard. Yes, of course, but not here - it's only available at the main crossing at Zvornik
Us: But we've got 200km further to go to get to Visegrad on dirt roads from here, and it's 4 clock, and Zvornik is 50km in the wrong direction, adding 100km to our trip. Can we pay here?
Border guard (smiling): Tough tits. The crossing at Zvornik closes at 5pm so I'd crack on if i were you
(hiatus while we get stamped back in to Serbia and then break lots of laws to get to Zvornik by 5pm)
(at border crossing at Zvornik, very hot and sweaty, at 4.55pm)
Us: We've just come from Llubovija to cross here as we understand we can buy insurance here. May we please buy insurance and cross into your country?
Border guard: yes, from that booth all the way over there
Us: Oh good. How much is it, and can we pay in €
Border Guard: We don't use €. It's 30KM. KM is the currency of our country. (note to audience, 30KM is €15)
Us: But we don't have any KM
Border Guard: You can get KM in that scruffy building all the way over there in the other direction. It closes at 5pm though, and I expect it will be uncomfortable running all that way in your heavy bike gear, since of course you can't take your motorbikes in. They're not insured!
Us: (sweaty run to money changer, followed by another sweaty run to the insurance booth, then run back to border where our bikes are, and which closes at 5pm)
Us: (rather breathlessly and much smellier than we were on arrival at his booth) Hello Mr Border Guard, here's the insurance for our motorbikes
Border Guard: Welcome to our country
Us: Which way to Visegrad?
Border Guard: Normally that way (points) but the road is closed. You'll have to detour over the mountains and though the forests using lots more dirt roads. It's kilometres and kilometres, and it will be dark soon. There are no villages or houses on the way, and no fuel. Have a safe trip!
Us: Thanks, we'd better be off!
Border Guard: Bye, and by the way, don't stop as there are packs of wolves up there!
(footnote. There really are packs of wolves up there)
jLots of comments about buying at border and if you want to travel to some of these countries that is about the only option. Remember though that you are most certainly buying the absolute minimum legal cover required. For example. We have been into Bosnia a few times on bike and by car. 2017 price for a week in the car was 30 Euros which equates to 1560 euros per year. What you normally get in these countries is third party personal injury ONLY. No cover for damage to your bike/car. No cover for any damage to vehicle or property you may cause. Just damage to people !!. If you have a no fault collision best of luck trying to claim off a local and you do not of course have any cover if you bike or car is nicked.
If you can get cover from your UK insurers (managed to get Bosnia once on a free green card) even if the price seems high, go for it. An earlier post commented that NFU was charging £85 and that was too much so the intention was buy at border. If my insurer offered me cover for £85.00 I would jump at it. For £55 more than the worthless piece of paper I can buy at the border I would get the fully comprehensive cover I enjoy at home. Not much money on the cost of a European adventure.
We will be back in Montenegro this summer. Their cover for two weeks is a lot less than Bosnia's for one but its a real pain getting it.
1) go through immigration control. No insurance so they hold your passport while you drive a few hundred yards to another control booth where they will sell you the expensive piece of paper in between taking road toll money.
2) go back to first booth to prove you now have insurance and get passports back.
3) drive back to booth that sold you the insurance and pay the road toll.
This is time consuming hassle on a bike. In a car its a real pain as the congestion means you are forever stuck in queues.
For Bosnia we have developed a technique to reduce the long queue time (can be hours). The insurance booth is in "no man's land" so once we reach the queue the passenger walks to the Croatia control taking passport and V5. Leaves Croatia as pedestrian, buys insurance, enters Croatia again as pedestrian and walks back to vehicle. Now we can leave Croatia and enter Bosnia with no delays.
We still enjoy travelling to these countries but the potential cost does focus the attention and encourage us to look for accommodation with secure parking. Nice to see insurers now extending cover to Serbia so we will try there as well this summer as well safe in the knowledge that we have our full insurance cover..
May I ask about payment for insurance at the border crossings? Do they generally only take local currency or a bank card?
I'm particularly interested into Serbia and into Bosnia as I am conscious I'll have no local currency on me.
Good, hands-on advice from andyclift.
How the comfortable (no green card) arrangement UK insurance holders enjoy vis-à-vis the EU member states - and other countries - alters (if at all) post Brexit, remains to be seen. Those that recall the joy of buying green cards, Spanish bail bonds and the like, will be hoping that something smooth will be worked out. But for the others, the freeing of Britain from the tyranny of Brussels and Polish shops on every high street, will be its own reward.... and anyway, who ever wants to leave England anyway?
Is, my username @gmail.com
+355692095891, in case of emergency.
Sent from my HTC_M910x using Tapatalk