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The green card: what it is, where you need it, what it costs

The certificate that takes your car's third-party cover across the border. It is issued free, eight countries ask for it, and it carries no optional cover.

Author: Editorial Desk
Published: 13 September 2026
Updated: 13 October 2026
Reading time: 5 minutes

At a glance

Where do you need a green card when driving from Greece?

A green card is needed in eight countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Moldova, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Turkey and Tunisia. In the EEA, Switzerland, the UK, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Andorra the Greek plate is enough. Hellas Direct issues the card free, and it carries third-party cover only.

The green card is a certificate, not insurance. It proves abroad that your car carries the compulsory third-party cover that the law of the country you visit requires¹.
Hellas Direct sends it with the policy, by email, free of charge, and it is valid for the whole term of the policy².
You do not need it in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, the UK, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro or Andorra. The number plate is enough there¹.
You need it in eight countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Moldova, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Turkey and Tunisia².
Israel is not in the green card system, and the membership of Iran has been suspended since 1 January 2024³.
It carries third-party liability only. At Hellas Direct, the other covers of the policy apply only in Greece².

The green card is not insurance. It is a certificate, officially the International Motor Insurance Certificate. It gives the authorities of another country proof of the minimum compulsory insurance that their law requires, and it tells them that your Greek insurer stands behind your car. It no longer has to be printed on green paper¹.

What it costs

Nothing, at least at Hellas Direct. Its terms say that it sends the card with your policy, by email, without any charge, and that all you do is print it and keep it with you². If somebody asks you to pay for a green card, ask what the charge is for.

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. In the European Economic Area, that is the EU with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and in Switzerland, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Andorra, the number plate is enough¹. The United Kingdom is part of the same arrangement: its own bureau says that UK drivers need no card in these countries¹. Under this agreement, a car with a valid plate of a member country is presumed to carry valid compulsory insurance³. Hellas Direct still advises you to keep the card in the car there, because it is an international document that any officer recognises².

The card is needed in the other countries of the system. Hellas Direct names them one by one: Albania, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Moldova, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Turkey and Tunisia². The British bureau names the same eight¹.

Older lists also named Israel and Iran. The Polish bureau lists the markets of the system outside Europe as Azerbaijan, Iran, suspended since 1 January 2024, Morocco and Tunisia. Israel is not among them³. Russia and Belarus are out as well: the EEA countries and Switzerland cancelled their green card agreements with them from 30 May 2023⁴.

For a driver leaving Greece, Albania, North Macedonia and Turkey are the ones that matter. Without a card, you will need local insurance to drive there. For Kosovo and any other country outside the system, Hellas Direct says that you must buy local insurance when you enter, for as long as you stay².

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. Inside the EU, a single premium gives the cover required by the law of the country of the accident, or the cover of the country where the car is based if that is higher⁵. The Greek minimum is €1.3 million per victim for bodily injury and €1.3 million per accident for damage to property⁶.

The optional covers do not travel with it. At Hellas Direct, the other covers of the policy apply only within Greece and cannot be extended outside it². Read the clause on territorial limits in your own policy before you leave.

Roadside assistance is a separate cover with its own limits. At Hellas Direct it works across Greece. With the Greece and Europe option it also works in European Turkey and the rest of Europe, the Balkans included, but not in the countries of the former Soviet Union².

How to get it

Ask your insurer a few days before the trip. If the policy ends in the middle of the trip, renew it first.

Since 1 January 2025, a digital card on a phone is accepted in every country of the system, Albania, Turkey and North Macedonia included¹. Carry a printed copy as well, in case the phone has no signal or no battery at a mountain border.

Two things to watch:

If somebody else drives, nothing changes. The compulsory cover covers the owner, the holder and every driver of the vehicle⁷.
A trailer counts as a vehicle under the Greek law on compulsory insurance⁷. Ask your insurer whether it needs a card of its own.

The other way round: a foreign car in Greece

If a car with foreign plates hits you in Greece, Greek law gives you a direct claim against the Greek bureau of the system, the Γραφείο Διεθνούς Ασφάλισης, when the conditions of the law are met⁷. Note the plate, the country and, if there is one, the number of the green card of the other driver. With those details, the bureau can find the insurer behind the car.

Laws the article cites: Presidential Decree 237/1986 art. 1 · Presidential Decree 237/1986 art. 6 · Presidential Decree 237/1986 art. 31 · Law 5113/2024 art. 5 · Directive 2009/103/EC art. 14

Sources

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