At a glance
What is the average car insurance premium in Greece?
The average car insurance premium in Greece is about €179 a year net per vehicle, or around €210 with the 15% tax and the Auxiliary Fund levy: €1.23 billion for 6.38 million vehicles in 2024, per the insurers' association. Your own price differs, because claims are far more frequent in Attica than on the islands.
- The motor line collected about €1.23 billion in premiums for 20241.
- The 24 companies of the survey, with about 92.7% of the market, covered about 6.38 million vehicles1.
- The division gives about €179 per vehicle a year, net1.
- With the 15% premium tax and the levy for the Auxiliary Fund, the amount the customer pays comes to around €21023.
- The price index for transport insurance stood at 97.92 in December 2025, with 2015 at 1004.
- Attica had 8.69 liability claims per 100 vehicles in 2024, against 6.87 for the whole country1.
- No company prints a public price list for car insurance, and the law does not ask for one5.
The point
Every time you renew the insurance on your car, you have the same thought: “do I pay a lot or a little compared with everyone else?”. The question is reasonable and the answer does not come easily, because in Greece no company publishes a price list.
There is, however, a way to approach the figure. Each year the industry publishes how much it collected in premiums in total and how many vehicles it covered. Dividing one by the other gives the average. It is not your price, but it is the only objective point of reference there is, and it explains more than it seems.
Below are the figure, the way it is worked out, the reasons your own price is different, and what has changed over the last ten years.
How the €179 figure is worked out
Each year the Hellenic Association of Insurance Companies (ΕΑΕΕ) gathers data from the companies that take part in its survey. Two figures matter to us: the written premiums of the motor line and the number of insured vehicles.
For 2024, premiums were about €1.23 billion for the whole market, and the vehicles of the survey about 6.38 million1. The division gives about €193. But the survey covers companies with about 92.7% of the market, so the premiums that match those vehicles are 92.7% of the total, and the resulting figure sits around €1791.
Two clarifications change what it means.
It is net, not gross. Written premiums are what stays with the company. The customer also pays the premium tax, which is 15%2. On third-party liability there is also the levy for the Auxiliary Fund: up to 6% of the liability premium, of which the insured person bears 30%, so up to 1.8%3. Together the two raise the bill to around €210.
It is per vehicle, not per car. The 6.38 million include about 1.05 million motorcycles, about 0.75 million private and farm trucks, buses and taxis1. Most of them pay less than a passenger car, and they pull the average down.
Why your own price does not look like the average
The average is a point. Reality is a curve, and its two ends lie far apart.
The ΕΑΕΕ figures show it by use of vehicle. In the market average for 2024, third-party liability cost about €147 a year before tax for a private car, €114 for a motorcycle, €230 for a private-use truck and €433 for a taxi16. A taxi had 22.93 liability claims per 100 vehicles, a motorcycle 2.771.
Between the two ends there are five factors, and none of them is small.
First factor: the region
It is the strongest of all in Greece, and the least known.
Companies do not publish what they charge by region, but the ΕΑΕΕ publishes the claims of each prefecture. Third-party liability claims per 100 vehicles, in 2024:
| Region | Claims per 100 vehicles | Average claim |
|---|---|---|
| Municipality of Athens | 9.67 | €1,513 |
| Attica, all of it | 8.69 | €1,429 |
| Achaia (Patras) | 7.28 | €1,301 |
| Whole country | 6.87 | €1,410 |
| Thessaloniki | 6.85 | €1,381 |
| Heraklion | 6.67 | €1,487 |
| Larissa | 4.14 | €1,257 |
| Samos, the lowest | 2.75 | €1,163 |
Source: ΕΑΕΕ yearbook, table 61.
Inside Attica the picture changes again: the west sector of Athens had 9.01 claims per 100 vehicles, East Attica and the rest of West Attica 7.301. The postcode says more than the prefecture.
The reason is not administrative but statistical: where there is traffic, there are collisions, and where there are collisions there are claims.
Second factor: engine size and horsepower
Every quote asks for the engine size and the power written on the registration certificate. How much each step adds differs by company, and none publishes it5.
Third factor: the driver
Age and the years of the licence. Every quote asks for both. The terms of some companies also cut the cover if an undeclared young driver was driving: in the Ydrogios vehicle terms, own damage then pays only half of the damage7. Declare every driver who uses the car.
On top of that come the discounts, and each company has its own list. Allianz, for example, gives a discount for paying by standing order on a credit card8. The claims record matters most, and the law gives you the right to get it from your company at any time, within fifteen days3.
The same law asks each company to publish a general overview of how it uses claims records in its prices, but it does not oblige it to publish the details of its pricing rules3.
Fourth factor: the covers
Compulsory third-party liability is the base. Whatever else you choose is built on top of it. The ΕΑΕΕ figures give the market average of each cover for a private car in 2024, before tax:
| Cover | Market average, private car, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Third-party liability | about €147 |
| Own damage | about €131 |
| Total theft | about €40 |
| Glass breakage | about €20 |
| Fire | about €10 |
| Legal protection | about €7 per policy |
Sources: ΕΑΕΕ motor yearbook and legal expenses survey, with the arithmetic of the comparison196.
Roadside assistance is one of the few covers with printed prices. Hellas Direct prints €2.50 a month for an annual policy paid in 12 instalments by debit card10. Interamerican prints €35 a half-year for its Basic programme in Greece and €41 for Basic+ with Europe11.
Own damage on its own comes close to the cost of the whole compulsory cover. On an expensive car it costs more than the average, because the premium follows the value.
Fifth factor: the company
For exactly the same driver and the same car, the companies give different prices. No public figure measures how far apart they are.
The reason is not that some companies are “expensive”. It is that each one weighs the same facts differently, and the law lets each set its premiums freely, according to its own technical and economic needs5.
This has a practical consequence worth more than any other sentence on this page: no company is the cheapest for everyone. The only way to find out is to ask several for a quote with the same details.
What the price index shows since 2015
The statistical services measure the price of transport insurance as part of the consumer price index. With 2015 at 100, the index for Greece stood at 97.92 in December 20254.
So, after ten years, the average price was still slightly below its 2015 level. The path was not straight: a fall to about 91.4 by 2021, a sharp rise in April 2024 to 98.32, and a small decline during 20254.
This is unusual. Over the same period the index of all consumer prices in Greece rose to 123.874. Car insurance is one of the few things in the Greek economy that costs about the same today as it did a decade ago. The index does not say why.
Where your money goes
Of every euro of premium, a part comes back as compensation. The ratio of the two is called the loss ratio.
For the whole motor line it was 61.51% in 2024, and 65.99% for third-party liability alone1. For private cars, all covers together, it was 67.73%1.
The rest is not profit. It goes to network commissions, operating costs, reinsurance and the reserves for claims still open. The ΕΑΕΕ notes that the liability claims of an accident year keep growing as they close: with the actuarial reserves, the liability loss ratio of 2024 comes to 80.80%1.
An example
Let us look at two people with the same car, a ten-year-old 1,400 cc, and third-party liability only.
Kostas, 42, in Larissa. Licence held for twenty years, no at-fault claim, annual payment. Suppose his quote is €190 a year. Larissa had 4.14 liability claims per 100 vehicles in 2024, among the lowest in the country1.
Natalia, 24, in central Athens. Licence held for four years, no claim, quarterly payment. Suppose her quote is about twice his, near €390 a year. The Municipality of Athens had 9.67 claims per 100 vehicles, more than twice Larissa1, and she is younger, with fewer years of driving.
Same car, same clean record, twice the price. Both of them, compared with the average of €179, are “above average”, which shows how limited the use of an average is when we talk about one case.
A third case, from the other end. There were about 1.05 million insured motorcycles in 2024, with 2.77 liability claims per 100 and an average liability premium of about €114 before tax16. A small scooter on a quiet island pays less than that. Vehicles like these are the reason the average comes out so low.
Why there is no published price list
In Greece no company publishes its price list, and the law does not ask it to. Under Law 4364/2016, which brought the European rules into Greek law, each company sets its premium rates freely, and its terms and rates need no prior approval and are not filed with any authority5. The supervisor checks that the company can pay, not what it charges.
The result for you is twofold. Prices can compete, and the index shows they did not rise in ten years4. On the other hand, there is no official number against which to compare the quote you hold in your hand. The only published figures are aggregates, and they come with a year’s delay.
That is why comparing quotes is not a luxury but the only way to learn your price. And that is why the gaps between companies can stay large: if nobody sees the prices of the others, each company can keep its own policy for years without being pressed.
What you compare, besides the price
Two quotes twenty euros apart may not be the same product. Six points separate the good value from the merely cheap.
The limits of third-party liability. The legal minimum is €1,300,000 per injured person for bodily injury and €1,300,000 per accident for damage to property3. Some packages give more.
Cover for material damage from an uninsured vehicle. The limit varies a lot: Hellas Direct writes €15,000 in its document and Allianz €100,000128. It can spare you a long procedure with the Auxiliary Fund.
Accident care and towing. Accident care after a collision is one thing, roadside assistance for a breakdown another. Read which of the two your package has.
Legal protection. It costs about €7 a year per policy on average, and almost all of it is sold with car insurance96. Hellas Direct, for example, writes a limit of €6,00012.
Driver personal accident. Hellas Direct writes €15,000 in its basic package12. Read the amount in each offer.
Protection of the discount. Some companies let you have one claim without losing your discount. Allianz, for example, writes that its protection covers one claim of up to €30,0008. It is worth asking.
What to expect in the coming years
Three forces press on the price, two upwards and one downwards.
Upwards, the cost of repair. A modern bumper has sensors, a camera and radar. Damage that used to be paintwork is electronics and calibration today. This raises the average claim even when accidents decrease.
Upwards, the cost of bodily injury. In 2024 the average bodily injury claim of a private car was €11,691, against €1,005 for material damage1. A few serious injuries weigh more than many dents.
Downwards, safety technology. Automatic braking, lane warning, better tyres. Fewer collisions means fewer claims.
The net result of the three over the last ten years was almost zero, as the index shows4. There is no reason to assume this will change abruptly, but no reason to assume it will last for ever either.
What the law says about what you pay
The price is free, the content is not. Three texts define what you buy by law and what is added on top of the premium before it reaches you.
Presidential Decree 237/1986, which codifies Law 489/1976, makes third-party liability compulsory. Since Law 5113/2024, the duty lasts from the day the car gets its licence and number plates, whether it moves or not, unless it has been declared off the road3. Since 1 January 2022 the minimum amounts are €1,300,000 per injured person for bodily injury and €1,300,000 per accident for damage to property3. No quote, however cheap, is allowed to give you less. If you read a smaller number somewhere, you are reading an old document.
The tax and the levy are not the company’s money. On top of the net premium comes a 15% premium tax, which goes to the state2. On third-party liability there is also the levy for the Auxiliary Fund, the fund that pays the victims of uninsured drivers and of companies that closed. Its rules are in Presidential Decree 237/1986, articles 17 to 20, as Law 5113/2024 rewrote them, and the policyholder bears up to 1.8% of the liability premium3. These two charges explain why the average of €179 becomes around €210 on the paper you pay.
Law 4583/2018 gives you the only comparison tool you have by law. The company must write a short, standard insurance product information document, and before you sign the seller must explain the product to you13. The seller must also tell you in what capacity they speak: broker who searches across the market, agent of one company, or agent of several, with their names13. Ask for the document for both quotes you compare. It is short, with the same order of subjects at every company, and it shows the exclusions that are not mentioned on the phone.
What you need to get a correct quote
Most invalid quotes are not lies. They are answers to wrong details, because you gave them from memory.
Keep the registration certificate in front of you. It gives the chassis number, the cubic capacity, the power, the year of first registration and the make. Keep the driving licence too, because what counts is the date of first issue, not of the last renewal. You will also be asked for your tax number and the postcode of your home, which is where your claims risk sits.
The item most people forget is the claims record. The company you have today must give it to you at any time if you ask, within fifteen days, for the last five years of your contract3. It shows the at-fault claims of recent years. With it in hand, the new company can put you in the right band from day one. Without it, you may lose the discount you earned with years of clean driving.
Start comparing a few weeks before expiry, so that you have time to get three or four quotes and see them side by side. Ask how long each quote holds. Watch one point that costs a fine: the cover depends on payment, so do not leave even one day of gap between the old and the new8. The electronic check matches the records of the companies against the vehicle register.
Check whether your policy renews by itself. Some do not: the Allianz document, for example, says that each new period needs a new payment in advance, because there is no automatic renewal8. If your policy does not renew, cover stops on the day of expiry.
The mistakes that cost money
Comparing yourself with the average. The average includes motorcycles and farm trucks. Compare quotes for your own details, not with a national figure.
Staying with the same company out of habit. Pricing changes every year, and the company that suited you last year may not suit you this year.
Paying by the quarter for no reason. Paying in instalments can cost more than paying once a year. Ask for the price of both before you choose.
Taking own-damage cover on an old car. Own damage follows the value, but the excess stays fixed. Below a certain point, you pay for cover that will not pay you back.
Not declaring the postcode correctly. It is not a detail. The claims of your area weigh on the price, and a wrong declaration can give the company an argument in a future claim.
Looking only at the price. Two quotes €20 apart may have entirely different limits, excesses and exclusions. Compare like with like.
The car insurance comparison shows the market average from public figures, and our own estimate for each company, from the cheapest. The aggregate figures of the market, with their sources, are on the market data page.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I pay €320 when the average is €179?
Because the average includes everything. Among the 6.38 million vehicles there are more than a million motorcycles, which pay less than a car on average, and farm trucks that pay less too. A passenger car in Attica with own-damage cover does not compare with that average.
Does the €179 figure include the taxes?
No. It is written premiums, that is net. The customer also pays the 15% premium tax and, on third-party liability, a levy of up to 1.8% for the Auxiliary Fund. With these included, the same figure comes to around €210.
Have prices gone up in recent years?
Less than most people think. The price index for transport insurance in Greece stood at 97.92 in December 2025, with 2015 at 100. So the average price was still below its 2015 level, after a fall and a recovery, while all consumer prices rose by about a quarter.
How much does the price differ from one region to another?
Far more than one would expect, because the claims differ. In 2024 Attica had 8.69 liability claims per 100 vehicles, against 6.87 for the whole country and 2.75 on Samos. Companies price that difference, but none publishes by how much.
Why does each company give such a different price?
Because each one weighs the same facts differently. The law lets every company set its own premiums freely, without approval from any authority. So the same driver can get quite different quotes, and the only way to know is to ask several companies.
Is there an official price I can check?
There is not. Greek law says that premium rates need no prior approval and are not filed with any authority, so no price is published in advance. Only aggregate figures are published after the end of the year, and the averages on this page come from them.
How much can I save if I switch company?
No public figure measures the gap between companies for the same driver, so nobody can promise a number. There is no single company that is cheap for everyone. Ask three or four for a quote with exactly the same details and the same covers, and compare.
Laws the article cites: Presidential Decree 237/1986 · Law 4583/2018 · Law 4364/2016 art. 18
Sources
- ↑Hellenic Association of Insurance Companies (ΕΑΕΕ), Motor Insurance Statistical Yearbook 2024: summary, tables 1A, 3A, 3B, 6 and 7A, 2024, published November 2025
- ↑Law 5177/2025 (Government Gazette A 21/14.02.2025), Indirect Taxes Code, art. 43: the premium tax, 2025
- ↑Law 5113/2024 (Government Gazette A 96/21.06.2024), art. 4, 5, 7 and 14: the new wording of Presidential Decree 237/1986 art. 2, 6, 6c and 20, 2024
- ↑Eurostat, HICP monthly index (prc_hicp_midx), Greece, 2015 = 100: insurance connected with transport (CP1254) and all items (CP00), December 2025
- ↑Law 4364/2016, art. 18: premium rates are set freely and need no prior approval, as in force
- ↑How the comparison works: where every figure comes from, October 2026
- ↑Ydrogios, Vehicle insurance terms (Όροι Ασφάλισης Οχημάτων), January 2020
- ↑Allianz, IPID My Motor Complete, January 2025
- ↑ΕΑΕΕ, Legal Expenses Insurance 2024, table 1, 2025
- ↑Hellas Direct, car roadside assistance: the price on its page, 12 October 2026
- ↑Interamerican, roadside assistance: the Basic and Basic+ prices on its page, 12 October 2026
- ↑Hellas Direct, Insurance product information document, Cars, March 2025
- ↑Law 4583/2018, art. 29 and 30: what the seller must say, and the insurance product information document, as in force
