The Paper Trail

Rixy takes us step-by-step through the maze of essential paperwork you’ll need in foreign lands

- Brian Rix

Get used to being asked for insurance, registration and your licence when you get checked by the police or military on foreign roads. It’s not something we’re accustomed to Down Under, but very common everywhere else. Here are some tips to make sure you’re legal.

The free and easy life of the world traveller is a lot more complicated today than it used to be when it comes to paperwork and, in particular, insurance. It seems everyone wants a bit of the hard-earned that you’ve scrimped and saved to head off on your big adventure. The thought of kissing the apex, corner after corner as you climb up some distant mountain pass in Europe, can get drowned in the paperwork. But don’t be put off. Let’s see if I can help.

Before any country will allow you to ride on its roads, the authorities want you to have compulsory third-party insurance. You will not be allowed to cross a border without it. So how do you do this? It all depends on where you are and where you are going. If your pride and joy is worth a small fortune, you may want to insure it too. Sometimes the cost of insuring your bike is just too much so you may want to carry that risk yourself.

EUROPE

Let’s start with Europe as that’s where most Aussies and Kiwis have a hankering to ride — and why not. The roads are great. Compulsory insurance in the European Union is known as Green Card. If you jump onto UK insurance websites it all looks okay until you tell them you are not a permanent resident. Those that I’ve looked at refuse to cover you and your bike. One way around this is to have a Pommie mate you trust implicitly buy a bike for you in their name and have you as a registered rider.