Third-party motor insurance is compulsory across the EU and the minimum sums are set in law, not by your insurer: EUR 6,450,000 per accident for personal injury, or EUR 1,300,000 per injured party, and EUR 1,300,000 per accident for property damage. What is not guaranteed is your comprehensive cover, which frequently stops at the border or after a set number of days. A green card is no longer needed for most of Europe, and is still needed for a specific list of countries. Checked August 2026; your insurer's written confirmation is the only thing that protects you.
Where the minimum figures come from
The amounts are set out in Directive (EU) 2021/2118, which replaced Article 9 of the earlier motor insurance directive. Member States must require compulsory cover of at least EUR 6,450,000 per accident for personal injuries irrespective of the number of injured parties, or EUR 1,300,000 per injured party, and at least EUR 1,300,000 per accident for damage to property.
Two things follow that matter to a rider rather than to a lawyer. States that have not adopted the euro convert at a fixed reference date, so the figure in local currency is not a moving target. And the Commission reviews the amounts every five years from 22 December 2021 against the harmonised index of consumer prices, so the numbers above are the current floor rather than a permanent one.
The word doing the work is minimum. Nothing stops a Member State prescribing higher guarantees, and nothing in the directive obliges your insurer to give you anything beyond third-party liability when you leave home.
What your policy actually does at the border
The common misreading is that a policy which is valid across Europe is also as good across Europe. Those are different claims.
| Element | Usually travels | Check before you go |
|---|---|---|
| Third-party liability | Yes, at the legal minimum of the country you are in | Nothing, this is the part the law guarantees |
| Comprehensive damage to your own bike | Often only for a limited period | The day count, and whether it resets on re-entry |
| Theft cover abroad | Varies widely | Overnight security conditions, which some policies impose |
| Legal expenses | Rarely by default | Whether it covers proceedings in a foreign court |
| Breakdown and repatriation | No, this is a separate product | Whether the bike comes home as well as the rider |
| Riding a hired or borrowed bike | Almost never | The rental company's own cover and its excess |
Ask for the day limit in writing and ask what happens on day 91 of a 120-day trip. The usual answer is that liability continues and everything else lapses, which turns a dropped bike in a Spanish car park from an inconvenience into a write-off you pay for.
The green card, and where it is still required
A green card is an internationally recognised proof of insurance issued by your own insurer. It is not extra cover. It is evidence, in a format a foreign police officer or border official can read.
GOV.UK's guidance for UK motorists is the clearest published statement of who needs one. No green card is needed for the EU including Ireland, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland. One may be needed for Albania, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine. Outside Europe, including for Israel, Morocco and Tunisia, it is the working assumption.
Three procedural points cause more trouble than the rule itself.
- Allow up to six weeks if the insurer posts it. Ask whether a downloadable version is available, because that is the difference between a trip you can book three weeks out and one you cannot.
- Count the cards you need. Towing a trailer needs one for the bike and one for the trailer. Two policies covering the trip means one card each. Multi-vehicle or fleet cover means one per vehicle.
- Carry it where you can reach it. You must show it if you are involved in an accident, and you may be asked at a border or by police, which is not the moment to be unpacking a top box in the rain.
The questions to put to your insurer, in writing
A phone call is worth nothing when a claim is refused eight months later. Email these and keep the reply.
- Which countries am I covered in, and to what level in each? Name every country on the route including transit ones. A ferry that reroutes through a country you did not list is a real scenario.
- How many days of comprehensive cover, and does the count reset if I come home mid-trip?
- Is a pillion covered, and is a pillion covered in every country on the list?
- Is luggage covered, and is anything hard-mounted to the bike treated as an accessory with its own limit?
- What do you require me to do at the scene of an accident abroad for a claim to stand — a police report, a European accident statement form, photographs?
The cost of this is an evening. The trade-off is that some riders discover their existing policy is genuinely poor abroad and that fixing it means changing insurer at renewal rather than adding an endorsement. That is an annoying answer to arrive at in March, and a far better one than arriving at it in a Croatian hospital.
What insurance will not fix
It does not make you legally licensed. Riding outside your entitlement voids the policy in most jurisdictions, which is why the licence category and the permit convention matter as much as the cover.
It does not cover a machine that should not be on the road. A hire bike without valid registration is uninsurable in practice however good your travel policy looks.
And it does not settle liability. In several countries outside the EU framework, compensation is decided by processes that owe nothing to fault as a European rider understands it, and a policy written at home cannot change that. The Your Europe insurance section is the official starting point for cross-border claims within the EU, and it is worth knowing the route before you need it.
At the scene of a crash abroad, sequence matters. What you do in the first hour decides how the claim goes, and the sequence is worth memorising because you will not be thinking clearly.
- Get off the carriageway and get seen. Nothing else matters if a second vehicle arrives. Hazard lights, high-visibility layer, and distance from the machine.
- Call the emergency number and ask for police attendance even for minor damage. Many European insurers expect a police report for a foreign claim, and several countries make leaving the scene an offence.
- Complete a European accident statement form with the other driver. The form is standardised across languages, which means you can complete the same numbered boxes in English while they complete them in Italian, and both versions match.
- Photograph everything before anything moves. Both plates, both insurance documents, the road surface, the sight lines, the damage and the position of the vehicles from at least three angles.
- Take the other party's insurer name and policy number, not just their phone number. That is what your insurer needs to open a cross-border claim.
Carry a blank accident statement form in the bike's document bag. It costs nothing, and it is the single item that most reliably turns a disputed foreign claim into a routine one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum motor insurance cover required in the EU?
EUR 6,450,000 per accident for personal injury or EUR 1,300,000 per injured party, and EUR 1,300,000 per accident for property damage, under Directive (EU) 2021/2118. States may require more.
Do I need a green card to ride in the EU?
Not for the EU, Ireland, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia or Switzerland. You may need one for Albania, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.
How long does it take to get a green card?
Up to six weeks if your insurer posts one. Some insurers provide a version you download and print, so ask which applies before you assume.
Is my comprehensive cover valid throughout a long European trip?
Often not for the whole trip. Third-party liability continues, but comprehensive cover is commonly limited to a set number of days. Get the number in writing.
Do I need a separate green card for a trailer?
Yes. One for the towing vehicle and one for the trailer or caravan.
Insurance is one line on a longer list, set out in the paperwork checklist for riding abroad, and it interacts with the licence questions in European motorcycle licence categories and the permit rules in the international driving permit guide. Riders heading to city stops should also read the notes on low emission zones and motorcycles. For evidence when a foreign claim turns into an argument about who did what, a bike-mounted camera is the cheapest useful thing you can add before departure.
