The green card is not insurance. It is a certificate. It tells the authorities of another country that your car carries compulsory third-party cover, and that if you cause damage there, your Greek insurer will pay for it. Its official name is the International Motor Insurance Certificate. Since 2020 it may be black and white, printed on plain paper or saved on a phone.
What it costs
Nothing. Every insurer in Greece issues it free of charge, for as long as your policy runs. One large broker-channel insurer says so in its own published document, in as many words: “issued at no charge”. If somebody asks you to pay for a green card, you are paying for the errand, not for the card.
That is why this site has no comparison tool for the green card. There is no price to compare. What can be compared is the car insurance that comes with it.
Where you need it
In fewer places than most people think. Inside the European Union, the European Economic Area, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Andorra, the number plate is enough. These countries have agreed that a vehicle with a member state’s plate counts as insured. Nobody will ask you for a document at the border, and if they do, the registration certificate will do.
The card is needed in the other countries of the system: Turkey, Albania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Morocco, Tunisia, Israel, Iran and Azerbaijan. For a driver leaving Greece, the first three are the ones that matter. Without a card, at the Turkish or Albanian border you buy frontier insurance on the spot, at a price you do not negotiate.
It is worth carrying even inside the Union. After an accident in Bulgaria or Italy, the card gives the other driver and the police every detail of your insurer on one page, in their language.
What it does not cover
Third-party liability only. The card takes the compulsory cover across the border, that is the damage you do to others, up to the limit of the country where the accident happens if that limit is higher than the Greek one.
The optional covers do not travel with it. The same published document that issues the card free says on the next line: “no optional covers are provided outside Greece”. Comprehensive, theft, fire and glass usually apply across Europe, but your policy decides that, not the card. Read the clause on “territorial limits” before you leave. Roadside assistance, if you have it, often works in Greece only unless you paid for the extension.
How to get it
Ask your insurer or agent a few days before the trip. Most issue it the same day, electronically. It runs from midnight on the day of issue and expires with your policy, never later. If the policy ends in the middle of the trip, renew it first.
Three things to watch:
- The card is issued against the number plate, never the chassis number. A new plate means a new card.
- If somebody else drives, nothing changes. The card follows the vehicle.
- A trailer with its own plate needs a card of its own.
The other way round: a foreign car in Greece
If a car with foreign plates hits you, the claim goes through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, the Greek member of the system. Note the plate, the country and, if there is one, the number of the other driver’s green card. With those three, the Bureau finds the insurer and pays you as if it were Greek.