At a glance

Can a foreigner buy car insurance in Greece?

Yes. Car insurance in Greece for foreigners works as it does for Greeks, but you need a Greek tax number (AFM), which anyone can get online. The policy covers a car on Greek plates. A car on foreign plates stays insured from home and may stay six months in every twelve.

  • First, get a Greek tax number, the AFM. It costs nothing, and anyone, local or foreign, resident here or abroad, can request it online1.
  • Greek insurers cover vehicles on Greek plates. Every Greek registration certificate names its owner by that tax number2.
  • Visitors who live abroad may keep their own foreign-plated car here six months in every twelve, and nobody else may drive it3.
  • An EU policy already works in Greece, on one premium4. Non-EU vehicles need a green card or frontier insurance before entry4.
  • Since 2024, Greek companies that count claim-free years must treat a statement from another member state like a domestic one5.
  • Compulsory third-party cover here starts at €1,300,000 per injured person, and the same per accident for property5.

Car insurance in Greece for foreigners is the same product that Greeks buy. Nobody asks which passport you hold. What matters is paperwork: a tax number, a vehicle registered in your name, and a licence valid here. This guide is for people meeting that paperwork for the first time: a Dutch couple who moved to Crete, an Albanian builder in Thessaloniki, a British retiree on Corfu, a Cypriot student who shipped her hatchback over. It explains who can buy cover, what happens to foreign plates, whether a clean record from home follows you, and where the green card fits.

Who can insure a car in Greece

Any owner of a Greek-registered vehicle can insure it. Insurers do not ask about nationality. They ask about three things: the vehicle, its owner and its drivers.

Ownership comes first. A Greek registration certificate, the άδεια κυκλοφορίας, lists each owner with a tax number. AADE, the tax authority, issues road tax to that number, as its published answers to taxpayers explain2. The Auxiliary Fund, which compensates victims of uninsured drivers, runs a public check that finds any vehicle by two keys: plate and owner AFM6. Policy, road tax and public record therefore hang on one identifier. Without it you cannot own a Greek-plated vehicle, so you cannot insure one either.

How to get an AFM

Every natural person can receive one, whatever their age, citizenship or country of residence. Requests go through myAADE, the online portal of the authority, free of charge1. Foreign nationals without a Greek identity card attach a passport copy. Citizens of non-EU states also attach a valid residence permit. Papers issued abroad may need an apostille plus a translation. After submitting, you confirm your identity either by video call through myAADE Live or in person at a tax office1. Missing documents mean rejection.

Many newcomers obtain the number long before buying a vehicle: for a lease, a job, a bank account or a mobile contract. If you already have one, give the same number for the car.

Drivers and licences

Next comes the question of who drives, and on what licence. A licence issued elsewhere in the EU is valid unchanged. One from outside the EU stays valid only while your normal residence is not in Greece, and must then be exchanged. Our guide to a foreign driving licence in Greece explains those rules and what each insurer asks. Declare every regular driver. A claim is the worst moment to discover that the company never knew who sat at the wheel.

A car on foreign plates

Many people arrive with their own car. What happens next depends on where you live, not on where the car comes from.

If you live abroad and visit

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs sets out the rule for people whose normal residence is outside Greece. You may use your private car in Greece, without paying Greek duties and taxes, for six months in every twelve. The six months can be in one stay or in several3. The car must carry its official plates and the registration certificate of its own country, and it must be insured. Three more conditions matter:

  • Only you may drive it. The rule names the person who brought the car. A person whose normal residence is in Greece may not drive it at all, and a breach brings fines3.
  • You must be able to prove the dates. The authorities may ask for proof of your residence abroad, or of the day the car entered Greece3. Keep the ferry ticket or the receipt from the motorway toll.
  • After six months, the car leaves or stops. It is either taken out of Greece or immobilised by the customs office. The immobilisation may last up to 24 months. To drive the car for another six months, you prove again that you still live abroad3.

If you live in Greece

The scheme above is for people who live abroad. Once your normal residence is in Greece, it does not cover you, and the customs office is the place to ask about registering the car here. Do not let the foreign plates carry on by default. A car that should be registered in Greece and is not can be a problem with customs, and a policy from abroad is no help with that.

What cover a foreign-plated car needs

A car from another EU country. Its own policy already covers Greece. The motor insurance directive requires every compulsory policy in the EU to cover the whole Union on a single premium. In each country it gives the cover that the law of that country requires, or the cover of the home country when that is higher4. Greece does not stop such a car to check its insurance at the border5. Check the optional covers, though. Theft, fire, damage to your own car and roadside help are a matter of the contract, and some contracts limit them to the home country.

A car from outside the EU. It needs a valid green card or a certificate of frontier insurance before it enters the EU4. The green card guide explains the system and which countries are in it.

A Greek policy for a foreign car. In general, a Greek insurer insures cars on Greek plates. If you want a Greek policy for a car on foreign plates, ask the company first and in writing. There is one clear exception, and it helps people who buy a car abroad to register here. When a car is sent from one EU country to another, the country of destination counts as the place of the risk for 30 days from delivery, even before the car is registered there4. A Greek insurer can therefore cover the drive home of a car that you bought in Italy or Germany.

Your years without a claim

This is the question that costs the most money, and the one with the least clear answer.

What the law gives you

You have the right to ask your insurer, at any time, for a statement of the claims against your policy in the last five years, or of the fact that there were none. The insurer must give it to you within 15 days4. Greece wrote this right into its own law in 2024, as article 6c of the decree on compulsory motor insurance. The statement follows a template of the European Commission, so it looks the same in every EU country5.

The same article sets three duties for Greek insurers5:

  1. When an insurer takes statements from other insurers into account, it may not treat you less well, or charge you more, because of your nationality, or only because you lived before in another EU country.
  2. When it uses statements to set premiums and discounts, it must treat a statement from another EU country as equal to a statement from a Greek insurer.
  3. It must publish a general overview of how it uses claims history statements when it calculates premiums.

What the law does not give you

The law does not oblige an insurer to give a discount for claim-free years at all. It says how a company must treat a foreign statement if it uses statements. The equal treatment also covers only statements from other EU countries. A record from the United Kingdom, the United States or Australia has no such protection.

What the companies publish

We read the published car terms and product pages of the insurers in our comparison, looking for a rule on claim-free years at another company. Most of them say nothing either way. You can see the result for each company on what each insurer offers. The terms of Groupama Phoenix are among the few that say it in plain words: to place you on its bonus-malus scale, it also counts the unbroken claim-free years and the claims of your insurance with other insurance companies7. The terms do not name a country. Read with the law, a statement from another EU insurer must count there like a Greek one.

In practice:

  1. Ask your old insurer for the claims history statement before you cancel the policy. A company that no longer has you as a customer answers more slowly.
  2. Bring it to every Greek company you ask for a price. Ask whether it changes your class, and get the answer in writing.
  3. If your record is from outside the EU, bring a letter from the insurer with the years and the claims, with a translation if it is not in English. The company is free to refuse it, so ask before you pay.

The green card, in both directions

The green card is a certificate that your car carries the compulsory third-party cover. It matters in two cases.

When your car comes from outside the EU, it needs a green card or frontier insurance to enter Greece4.

When you insure a car in Greece and drive it out, you need a green card in the countries outside the system of the EU, the European Economic Area and a few neighbours. Three of those countries are neighbours of Greece: Albania, North Macedonia and Turkey. The green card guide lists them all and explains how Greek insurers issue the card.

What the law says

  • Presidential Decree 237/1986 requires third-party insurance for every vehicle in traffic. Since 1 January 2022 the minimum is €1,300,000 per injured person for bodily injury and €1,300,000 per accident for damage to property5.
  • Article 6c of the same decree, written by article 7 of Law 5113/2024, gives you the claims history statement within 15 days and sets the duties of equal treatment above5.
  • Article 13 of the same decree, written by article 8 of Law 5113/2024, stops checks of insurance at the border for cars based in another EU country5.
  • Directive 2009/103/EC sets the single premium for the whole EU in article 14, the 30 days for a car sent from one EU country to another in article 15, and the green card or frontier insurance for cars from third countries in article 84.
  • AADE decision A.1185/2023 (Government Gazette B 6708/2023) sets the online issue of a tax number and a key number to any natural person, Greek or foreign1.

Two examples

Anna, from Munich, spends the summer in Chania. She drives down in her own car on German plates and stays from May to the end of September, five months. Her German policy covers Greece, and the cover is at least the Greek minimum4. Only Anna may drive the car. Her Cretan neighbour may not borrow it, even for an hour3. She keeps the ferry ticket from Piraeus as proof of the day she entered. In October she drives home, with a month of the six to spare.

Mark, from Leeds, moves to Thessaloniki for good. He gets an AFM online before he arrives, with his passport. He then buys a used car from a Greek seller, and the car is transferred to his name and tax number. He asks three Greek insurers for a price and shows each one a letter from his UK insurer: nine years, no claims. The law does not protect a UK record, because the United Kingdom left the EU. So the companies are free to decide. Mark asks each one to say in writing which class it gives him, and he compares the prices with the class in view. A cheaper price at a worse class can cost him more after the first claim.

The mistakes that cost money

  1. Lending a foreign-plated car to a friend who lives here. The rule forbids it, and a breach brings fines3.
  2. Counting the six months wrongly. They are six months in every twelve, not six months in a calendar year. Keep proof of every entry3.
  3. Cancelling the old policy before you have the statement. The 15 days run from your request. Ask for the statement first4.
  4. Accepting a price without asking about your class. A company that ignores your history may look cheap this year and cost more for years.
  5. Assuming the optional covers of a foreign policy work in Greece. The compulsory part travels with the car. The optional part depends on the contract.
  6. Driving out to Albania or North Macedonia without a green card. Check the green card guide before you cross.

Once the paperwork is in order, the price is the part you can change. Our car insurance comparison shows our own estimate for each company, for a car and a driver like yours, and says where each number comes from. Take the two or three lowest, ask each company about your claim-free years, and choose with the answer in writing.

Frequently asked questions

Can I insure a car in Greece without a Greek tax number?

In practice, no. A Greek registration certificate carries the tax number of the owner, and the public insurance check of the Auxiliary Fund finds a car by its plate and that number. The tax number, the AFM, is free. Any person, Greek or foreign, resident here or abroad, can ask for it online through myAADE, with a passport and, for a non-EU citizen, a residence permit.

How long can I keep my car on foreign plates in Greece?

If you live abroad, six months in every twelve, in one stay or several. Only you may drive it. A person who lives in Greece may not drive it, even a relative. After the six months the car leaves Greece or the customs office immobilises it, for up to 24 months. If you move to Greece, this scheme no longer fits you.

Will a Greek insurer give me a discount for my years without a claim abroad?

It can, and the law protects you if it does. Since 2024 an insurer that takes claim-free years into account must treat a statement from another EU country like a Greek one, discounts included. It may not charge you more for your nationality. But the law does not oblige an insurer to give the discount. Ask each company, in writing, before you pay.

Does my UK or US driving record count?

The equal-treatment rule covers statements from other EU member states, and the United Kingdom left the EU. So a UK or US record has no legal protection here. A company may still accept it. Bring a letter from your old insurer that lists the years and any claims, with a translation if it is not in English, and ask the company to put its answer in writing.

My German policy covers Greece. Do I need anything else?

Not for the law. An EU policy covers the whole EU on one premium, at the higher of the German minimum and the Greek one, and Greece does not check it at the border. Check two things: that the optional covers, such as theft or roadside help, also work in Greece, and that you keep to the six months in every twelve.

I bought a car in Italy and will register it in Greece. Who insures the drive?

A Greek insurer can. The motor insurance directive treats Greece, the country of destination, as the place of the risk for 30 days from the day you take delivery, even before the car has Greek plates. Ask the Greek company for a policy that starts on the day of delivery, and carry the purchase papers on the road.

Laws the article cites: Directive 2009/103/EC art. 8, 14, 15 and 16 · Presidential Decree 237/1986 art. 6c and 13 · Law 5113/2024 art. 5, 7 and 8 · AADE decision A.1185/2023

Sources

  1. ↑National Register of Administrative Procedures (Mitos), Issue of a tax number (AFM) and key number (in Greek), October 2026
  2. ↑AADE, Frequently asked questions on road tax (in Greek), questions 2 and 7, 8 December 2025
  3. ↑Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Greece in the USA: private vehicles of persons with their normal residence abroad (in Greek), October 2026
  4. ↑Directive 2009/103/EC on motor liability insurance, articles 8, 14, 15 and 16, 16 September 2009
  5. ↑Law 5113/2024 (Government Gazette A 96/21.06.2024), articles 5, 7 and 8: minimum amounts, the claims history statement (art. 6c of Presidential Decree 237/1986) and insurance checks (art. 13), 2024
  6. ↑Auxiliary Fund (Epikouriko Kefalaio), insurance check of a vehicle by plate and tax number, October 2026
  7. ↑Groupama Phoenix, general and special terms of car insurance (in Greek), edition 03.2025: the bonus-malus scale, February 2026