Car insurance
Car insurance covers your civil liability as the owner and lawful driver of the car for material damage and bodily harm that may be caused to third parties while the car is being driven. In addition to third party civil liability, it also covers damage to the vehicle itself from various risks that you, as the insured, can choose to add.
Any private individual or business who owns any type of vehicle (car, engine, truck, etc.). A vehicle must be insured even if it is not being driven on the roads. If you own such a vehicle and are not using it and don’t want to insure it, you must hand over the licence plates to the authorities.
Basic Insurance
The mandatory cover specified by law is: Bodily harm to third parties: € 1,220,000 and material damage to third parties: € 1,220,000. This is considered to be basic cover. Other additional forms of cover can then be added to it such as:
Cover for broken windscreens, roadside assistance, legal protection, personal accident, damage caused by an uninsured vehicle
Fire/theft insurance
This covers whatever basic insurance covers as well as current value of your vehicle if it is stolen or burned in a fire. For supplementary forms of cover, basic insurance is offered along with the following additional options:
Natural phenomena, terrorist acts, uprisings, strikes
Fully comprehensive insurance
Fully comprehensive insurance is the fullest form of cover you can have. It covers basic insurance as well as fire and theft and in addition your insurance company undertakes the obligation to repair material damage to your vehicle caused by collision, impact, veering off the road, roll-overs, or precipitation, even in the case where you are responsible for the road traffic accident. Cover will be provided after subtracting the deductible specified in the contract.
The deductible is the amount you pay as policyholder to make good the loss. It always applies in fully comprehensive insurance. So to be more precise, the compensation from the insurance company covers any amount in excess of the deductible. The deductible differs from company to company (deductibles can range from € 250 to € 1,500 per accident). The higher the “deductible” you agree with your company, the lower the premiums you pay.
You can compare prices and the benefits on offer, even complete your insurance process via our e-shop, or ask us to contact you by filling out the relevant contact form.
The online insurance process is quick and easy! Completion of the process from comparison of the offers to online delivery of your policy is done 100% online and takes less than five minutes!
In addition, DF Advisors also offers innovative Easy Buy solutions; they’re special insurance plans where you don’t even have to send in supporting documents. In this case, the insurance process is even quicker to complete. It takes no more than 2 minutes, provided that you accurately fill out the following information:
- Vehicle licence plate
- Date the car was first put on the road
- Make & Model
- Owner’s date of birth
- Driver’s length of driving experience
- Postcode where vehicle is registered
In the few cases where supporting documents are required, we ask for the following:
- Car registration documentation
- Driving licence
- Photocopy of previous insurance contract
- Purchase invoice (only in the case of a new vehicle)
For additional information about car insurance, please consult the Car Insurance Guide.
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When taking out a policy with fire/theft or fully comprehensive cover, it’s really important to get the value of the vehicle right because it will determine the level of compensation payable.
In other words, the insurance company will pay compensation for theft based on the current value of the car). Otherwise you will find yourself in an over- or under-insurance situation.
Over-insurance exists when the insured value of the vehicle is greater than the current value and, on the contrary, under-insurance exists when it is lower.
Examples:
Over-insurance
Current commercial value of vehicle: € 15,000. Insured value of vehicle: € 25,000. If a risk occurs, the compensation paid for total destruction will be equal to the current value of € 15,000.
Under-insurance
Current commercial value of vehicle: € 15,000. Insured value of vehicle: € 25,000. If a risk occurs, the compensation paid for total destruction will be equal to the current value of € 15,000.
In recent years, due to the economic crisis, there has been a rise in the number of three-month policies. Some of the main reasons for this are: some vehicles are only in use for limited times of the year (such as during the winter months), the owner expects to sell the vehicle in the near future, and above all the erroneous view that three-month policies are advantageous! However, the truth is that quarterly policies are more expensive than 6-month policies (costing 3-5% more) and more expensive than annual policies. On the contrary, 6-month policies, and above all annual policies (offered at a discount of up to 15%) are more advantageous since the premium per month is clearly lower.
Certain insurance companies offer significant special discounts on their tariffs if the insured belongs to one of the following professional or other special categories. Depending on the company and the category, discounts can be up to 25% below the normal premiums. Check carefully to see if you fall into any of following categories. If so, you can significantly reduce the cost of your insurance.
Discount for civil servants
Civil servants here means active or retired civil servants, employees of urban transport companies/local government authorities/public corporations, as well as priests and monks.
Discount for the unemployed
Some companies show solidarity with citizens who’ve been hard hit by unemployment either by offering them special rates for all car insurance plans or by ensuring that their policy can be renewed free of charge if they remain unemployed.
Discounts for members of the armed/security forces
If you are in the security forces, armed forces, fire service, etc. (whether active or retired) you are entitled to a discount.
The Green Card is an International Car Insurance Certificate that guarantees third party liability cover for your vehicle when travelling abroad. In effect, the Green Card is the policy for your car when you travel outside of Greece. It’s necessary when you travel to a country outside the EEA.
In theory, the Green Card is not needed if you travel to EEA countries (the 27 Member States of the European Union plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein) but we recommend that you have one in this case too.
Key information about the Green Card:
- The Green Card is normally offered free of charge by insurance companies, though some insurance companies may apply a charge for specific destinations.
- It covers you for third party liability but not for optional forms of cover (such as theft). If you want to extend these forms of cover abroad, you need to contact your own insurance company to see if they can give you such cover, and if so, at what cost and under what conditions.
- When you receive the card, it’s a good idea to check that: the card’s validity date covers the duration of your trip, the countries you will be travelling to have not been removed from the list (if they have they will be marked with an X) and that all details of your vehicle are correct.
- Request your Green Card a few days before your trip so that you are ready to go.
Insurance companies charge higher premiums if car insurance relates to new drivers. Statistical data shows that lack of driving experience leads to a higher frequency of claims. The increase may be as much as 30% of the third party liability premiums.
Young driver means anyone who has not turned 23 or 24 years of age (depending on the insurance company) and those who recently passed their driving test (within a period of less than one year of the present). Premiums return to normal when these time restrictions cease to apply. This is usually done automatically by insurance companies.
If you want to insure your car to be driven by a new driver, you should let your insurance company know that the vehicle is being used by a new driver. You should also be aware that in the case of an accident the driving licence of the driver at fault will be checked. If he or she is an unregistered new driver, fines are imposed on the owner of the vehicle up to 60% of the annual premiums.
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