Croatia: insurance.

[Brian Kirby]

On a recent trip to Croatia we met quite a few people who hadn't fully appreciated the complications of visiting this country.

Firstly, Croatia is non EEC and non-Euro.  There are therefore border controls entering, and leaving.  This can take time: it took us 45 minutes to get back into Slovenia.

Second, whereas you may be able to use Euros in many places, you will not in all.  Also, Croatian shop/supermarket/restaurant Euro/Kuna exchange rates are not necessarily favourable if you do this.  Same applies to using cards, but rates will vary according to card.  So, overall, it seems prefereble to get the local currency, Kuna, before leaving UK.  The best source seems to be the Post Office, via their website, and if you buy enough currency, which can include other than Kuna, for example Euros, it is delivered to your home free by secure courier.  Any surplus can be changed back at your local PO, provided you keep the receipt for the internet service.  Rates are generally quite good and the service excellent.

Third, if you have heard that Croatia is cheap, it ain't!  Prices are comparable to France/Italy, but service standards, generally, are not.  Tourism is a major contributor to the Croatian economy: as a tourist you are therefore of major commercial interest.  This is sometimes overly apparent.

Now, the insurance.  Some UK insurers cover Croatia as a matter of course, but not all.  Check carefully before you go, as you may be deniad cover if you have already entered the country when you discover your company required notification to extend your cover.  Some companies, it seems, issue an actual "Green Card" for Croatia: if yours does, you must get this before leaving home.

Next, if you plan on visiting Dubrovnik, be aware (very aware!) that a stretch of the main road passes through Bosnia.  The road passes through the Bosnian town of Neum and extends for approximately 15 kilometers.  Only a few UK insurers will insure you for Bosnia, Saga, I understand being one and, I believe, the Caravan Club insurance service being another.  However, in the latter case, you need to be with the "right" insurer to benefit.

There is no alternative road that avoids Bosnia.  However, you can take a ferry from Ploce to Trpanj, which joins the Croatian mainland to a peninsular which extends North-West from Dubrovnik.  You then drive down the peninsular, so by-passing the stretch of Bosnian coast.  However, the ferry is quite small, and sea conditions can result in cancellation, or loading complications at Trpanj that may result in your motorhome being rejected.  Also, the road between Trpanj and Dubrovnik is in places "interesting", possibly sufficiently so to cause heart failure if driving a large van!  In my opinion, therefore, this work around is not reliable.

The best, and only truly reliable, solution is to make sure you are insured with a company that will issue cover for Bosnia, or drop Dubrovnik from your ininerary. 

Quite a few people we met hadn't realised about the Bosnian stretch, hadn't checked their insurance, and had just continued on down the road.  I do not know what would have happened if they had had an accident on the Bosnian stretch, but suspect they may have been driving completely uninsured, so may have been liable to arrest, or confiscation of their vehicle, if their actual circumstances had been discovered.

THEREFORE, IF YOU PLAN ON VISITING CROATIA, BUT ESPECIALLY DUBROVNIK, CHECK YOUR INSURANCE VERY, VERY, CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME!!

[Don Madge]

Brian,

 

You can buy third party cover at the border to keep you "Legal" and then drive very defencivly with everything crossed. 8-) 8-)

 

We are wintering in Turkey and returning via Albania, Montenegro and Croatia we will have to buy cover at the border for Albania/Montenegro and start praying. :-D

 

Don

[Brian Kirby]

Don Madge - 2008-10-19 12:14 PM Brian, You can buy third party cover at the border to keep you "Legal" and then drive very defencivly with everything crossed. 8-) 8-) We are wintering in Turkey and returning via Albania, Montenegro and Croatia we will have to buy cover at the border for Albania/Montenegro and start praying. :-D Don

Sorry to disagree, Don, but at this border it seems you can't buy even the third party cover.  I had heard about this possibility before travelling, but also that it was not necessarily correct, so checked very carefully while there, and could find nowhere (and virtually no-one) at either end of the Neum corridor where any insurance could be bought. 

To give a flavour of what is there; there is only a single border control post, i.e. there is no seperate Croatian/Bosnian control, and no separate passport/customs posts: in fact, there is virtually no control of any kind.  It was unclear to me whether it was the Bosnian or Croatian Police who were in charge, but whichever it was, the other lot weren't!  They were supremely uninterested in who crossed or why, in what they were carrying, or in whether or not they were insured.  They checked no papers, vehicle or other.  The sole function of the one "guard" present seemed to be to wave vehicles through.  He spoke very little English, but did ask if we had passports.  When we said yes, he just waved us through without looking at them.  However, I guess all this is fair enough, and has been agreed between the Croatian and Bosnian states.

I could not get him to understand that I was interested to know if insurance was available.  I therefore had a good root around on foot (which caused some puzzlement), and visited a couple of the border offices, all with the same result.

So, with all due respect (as they say :-)), I think the only safe advice must be that there is no third party "transit" type cover available at this particular "border", and people should make very sure the Neum corridor is covered by their insurance before leaving the UK. 

If anyone does know otherwise, for certain, could they please post full details of what was bought, exactly where from, and what cover was obtained?

Incidentally, Don, you will also have to traverse Bosnia somewhere, will you not, as you travel up from Montenegro?  I don't think you can get from Montenegro to Croatian Dalmatia without passing through Bosnia, unless you use (infrequent, out of season) the Trpanj to Ploce ferry.

[Don Madge]

Hi Brian,

 

Your right I had not engaged my brain when I wrote that, I was thinking of the Albanian/Montenegro border posts.

 

Yes I will have to cross the "Neum" but like many others I will take a chance on that short distance. I've spoken to Magbaz about it, they did it last year and I know a few others as well.

 

We may chicken out at the last moment and take the ferry, we will be there late May and we do have the ferry time table.

 

We would like to visit some of the off shore islands at the same time.

 

Don

[AndyStothert]

Brain,

Sorry Brian,

 

We got the ferry and eventually drove through Pelijesac to Dubrovnik after a week of messing about snorkelling, drinking, eating and having wild nights of sex in wonderful places at the end of the peninsula. I may be exagerrating about one aspect of our week at Loviste, but with a name like that.....

 

The ferry and roads are absolutely fine in our normally Scottish experience of ferries and roads which lead to nowhere. And the ferry is HUGE against some of the CalMac ones.

In fact there is less chance of wrecking the gearbox in an X250 Fiat based 2.3 litre 6 speed motorhome here than in Scotland or Wales.

I had to get that in somewhere.

[Brian Kirby]

Andy

When we first presented the van at the ferry terminal at Ploce, they would not take us on board, because sea conditions at Trpanj would not have allowed us to disembark.  They were adamant that we would ground, either at the mid-point between front and rear axles, or at the rear overhang.  So, passage is not necessarily guaranteed.

The road up the Plejesac, between Ston to Dubrava, was indeed quite narrow and had numerous rock overhangs on the NW bound side.  You were travelling the other way, i.e. SE, so weren't up against the cutting face!  Imagine travelling in the opposite direction, but in that Kimu you tried out a few months back!  After all, your van is quite small compared to some: I wouldn't like to try to negotiate that stretch, or the approach through Trpanj to the dock, in a Concorde, or a Clou, especially if you met the local school bus! 

That was the point of my warning, not that it is impassable, just that drivers of larger vans may encounter difficulties negotiating the narrower stretches, only to find they are turned away from the ferry, as we were, on arrival.

[AndyStothert]

Yep,

We had a bit of discussion about ramp angles and the like with the crew (I was more interested in not knackering the gearbox than grounding) and the sea was very calm when we travelled.

The worst road of the lot was the one over the mountain to Loviste from Orebic, but being a bumbler (and having a small van) we just went very slowly.

There were a couple of much bigger vans in the campsite at Loviste, and perhaps we all have a different take on what is or isn't a good road, but to be honest I'd be happy with anything under 25 feet on any of those roads. Well not happy, and certainly not fast, but they are wider and less exposed than some of the roads in the hilly areas of Britain.

And the sea, that warm wonderful clear water is worth every rutted mile.

Your point about the insurance and everyone just hoping for the best is absolutely spot on, and I have to admit that we travelled back through that ten miles of Bosnia with vehicle insurance but without travel insurance covering us.

[Don Madge]

AndyStothert - 2008-10-22 9:23 AM

I have to admit that we travelled back through that ten miles of Bosnia with vehicle insurance but without travel insurance covering us.

 

Hi Andy,

 

Who is your vehicle insurance with (?)

 

Don