Car insurance abroad in 2026: what to look out for before your trip

Quick overview

• Check the territorial validity of the compulsory insurance (destination and transit countries) and the form of the document (green card).
• Compulsory insurance covers damage to others, not your car or your injuries – this is dealt with by breakdown/travel insurance for people.
• If a country is excluded on the green card, this is dealt with in advance (extension or border insurance).
• The most common holiday killer is towing/breakdown – assistance limits tend to be lower than people expect.

Car insurance abroad in 2026 is based on three layers: third party insurance (damage you cause to third parties), breakdown cover (damage to your car) and assistance (towing, repair, replacement car, repatriation). First check the territorial validity of the compulsory insurance and whether the state is excluded on the green card. A digital green card is generally accepted in the EU from 2025, outside the EU it is often safer to have a paper one.

If something goes wrong and you start to have problems after you return from holiday (a dispute with the insurance company over a claim, a reduction in compensation, unacknowledged assistance, a claim dealt with abroad or communication with a car hire company or garage), don’t delay in dealing with it. An available attorney can help you quickly navigate, prepare challenges and documents for the insurance company or the other party, and suggest a course of action.

What does which insurance abroad cover

Compulsory basis: compulsory insurance and green card

When it comes to insuring your car abroad, it always starts with compulsory third party insurance. This is legally compulsory for the operation of the vehicle and is typically valid abroad, but you need to check the territorial validity. Just because you have a compulsory insurance policy in the Czech Republic does not automatically mean that you are covered everywhere abroad. The insurance always has a territorial scope (typically the countries of Europe, sometimes other countries listed). It is crucial for you to check: destination country (where you are going), transit country (what you are going through), and possibly countries where a detour might take you.

Green Card (international proof of insurance)

In practice, you’ll need proof of insurance – called a green card – to check abroad (often electronic nowadays, but some countries/offices still prefer paper). The green card is international proof that you have taken out third party insurance. You typically don’t need to carry it in the Czech Republic anymore (it’s checked online), but it’s still handy to have it ready for an inspection or accident abroad. Abroad, you may be asked for it by the police at a roadside check, by the person involved in the accident, by a towing service, or even by the road manager.

What the compulsory insurance abroad actually covers (and what it doesn’t):

• It covers damage you cause to someone else (e.g. crashing someone else’s car, damaging property, injuring a pedestrian).
• It does not cover damage to your car (this is covered by breakdown insurance).
• It does not cover your own injuries (this is covered by travel/personal accident insurance).

If you set off without valid liability insurance, you not only expose yourself to fines, but also to having to pay for the damages yourself, plus you may face administrative penalties under local regulations. And beware: even if you are insured but, for example, you violated the conditions (alcohol, racing, intent), the insurance company can recourse (reclaim what it paid for you).

What to do if the green card is not valid in the country?

It may be that you are planning to travel by car to a country that is not within the territorial validity of your compulsory insurance – you can typically tell by the fact that the country is specifically excluded on the green card, or the insurance company will confirm this to you. This is a situation that needs to be dealt with before you leave, because in practice it means one thing: you do not have legal liability insurance in that country for the operation of your vehicle, and you run the risk of fines and full compensation from your own money. So how to proceed?

1) First, check whether it is a destination country or just a transit country

A common mistake is that the driver only addresses the destination but underestimates the transit. If your journey is to pass through a country where the green card does not apply, the problem is the same as if it were the destination. From a legal perspective, where you actually operate the vehicle (even just a few miles) is critical.

2) Contact your insurance company and see if the territorial validity can be extended

Sometimes there is the option of extending the territorial coverage or arranging a product that will cover the country in question (depending on the insurer and the specific destination). But don’t take this for granted – for some countries the exclusion is systemic and the insurer simply doesn’t offer it.

3) Pay for frontier insurance

If your compulsory liability insurance doesn’t apply in that country, that’s where the so-called frontier insurance comes in – local, short-term liability insurance arranged for the entry and operation of the vehicle in that country.

Where it is arranged

• at the border (at designated counters/stations, at some crossings),
• at local insurers/authorised sales outlets at the border,
• sometimes online in advance (depending on the specific country and availability).

It is important to take into account that they may not be available at every crossing and conditions may vary.

How long is it for and what is covered

Border insurance is usually taken out for a short period (typically days to weeks, sometimes a month). It covers what our compulsory liability insurance covers: damage you cause to third parties (property and personal injury) in the territory of the country.

It doesn’t cover damage to your car (that’s accident insurance) and often doesn’t cover other things like towing and assistance (that’s covered separately).

What you will need to settle

• proof of identity,
• vehicle information (license plate number, VIN),
• vehicle documents (registration certificate / small registration certificate),
• sometimes also information about the owner/operator.

If you are driving a company or lease car, a power of attorney / consent to travel may also be useful (but this is more a question of checks in general, not just insurance).

What happens if there is an accident

If you cause damage in the country, you follow a similar procedure to our compulsory liability insurance:

• you write an accidentreport , secure evidence,
• call the police depending on the situation (injury, dispute, major damage, etc.),
• report the damage according to the instructions on the border insurance document (contacts, forms).

Why it tends to be more expensive and complicated to deal with

Boundary insurance tends to be more expensive and complicated to handle, mainly because it is a short-term product designed for situations that the insurance company perceives as higher risk, since they do not have your insurance history and thus cannot make a good assessment of the likelihood of a loss.

At the same time, there may be limited competition in a given location and insurance can only be arranged at selected locations, typically at specific border crossings or at designated retailers.

Last but not least, it is important to take into account that some places may have stricter conditions: insurance has to be arranged in person, cash may be required, limited languages may be spoken, and arranging the insurance itself may mean a long wait.

4) When border insurance is not available

Sometimes arranging valid insurance for a particular country proves difficult, unclear or difficult in practice. In such situations, it is often wisest to adjust your travel plan to avoid the risk altogether – for example, by choosing a route that avoids the problematic country or travelling to it by another means of transport. Another option is to leave your own car at home and use a rental vehicle directly at the destination, where basic insurance is usually provided by the operator.

This may seem like an unnecessary complication, but in terms of legal and financial implications it is often the safest solution. Especially in the case of personal injury, claims for damages can run into sums that are practically unaffordable for a normal budget.

Car travel insurance vs. personal travel insurance

People often look for car travel insurance for holidays and expect it to be a single product. But these are two different areas of insurance: one that protects the person on the road, and one that protects the vehicle and the risks associated with its operation. And it is this misunderstanding that often causes someone to find out only at the time of an accident or breakdown that they have insurance, but not the one they need.

Personal travel insurance

Traditional travel insurance is built primarily on the fact that it addresses health and personal risks. It typically covers medical expenses abroad, accident, and sometimes liability or baggage. If you break your leg on vacation, end up in the emergency room, or need a ride, this is exactly the type of situation that travel insurance exists for.

It’s just that the car usually plays at most a secondary role in this package. Travel insurance typically won’t pay to repair your car after an accident or cover towing off the highway. Sometimes there may be additional cover in the travel insurance that affects the car (for example, legal assistance, summoning help, or minor related costs), but it’s not a good idea to rely on this. From a legal point of view, it is important to know that travel insurance is a contract set up to cover the risks associated with the insured person – not the operation of the vehicle, its ownership and damage to it.

Car insurance and car add-on insurance

Compulsory third-party liability insurance (i.e. third-party liability) is the basic layer of car insurance abroad, but if you want to protect your car too, breakdown cover and excess insurance come into play.

Collision insurance deals with damage to your vehicle – typically after an accident, vandalism, natural disaster or theft (depending on what you have arranged). Added to this are the assistance services that are often most practical abroad: towing, on-site repair, replacement car, accommodation, vehicle repatriation or interpretation. And then there are the “specials” like windscreen insurance, collision with wildlife or extended theft cover.

The legal level is typically sharper with car insurance in that the policy conditions tend to be more detailed and the insurer is more likely to investigate whether the insured’s obligations have been met. It decides, for example, whether you documented the accident correctly, whether you called the police, whether you used the helpline, or whether you breached exclusions (e.g. alcohol, intent, racing).

Collision insurance: when you want to protect your own car

As we’ve already outlined, holiday car insurance is often dealt with by breakdown cover. While compulsory liability insurance pays for damage you cause to someone else, collision insurance deals with damage to your car (accident, vandalism, elemental, theft – depending on the extent).

Beware, however, that the insurance terms and conditions specify very precisely what is considered an “insured event”, what situations are excluded from the insurance and what obligations you have to fulfil as an insured after an accident or other damage event.

Typical exclusions include, for example, drink driving, gross negligence, driving without a valid licence or situations where the vehicle has not been properly secured (for example, leaving keys or documents in the car). Equally important are the procedural obligations – i.e. when and how to report the damage, how to document it, when to call the police and what documents to subsequently provide.

If you violate these obligations, the insurance company may reduce or even deny the claim altogether. This is the most common stumbling block in practice: people may have insurance, but they underestimate the procedure after the event – and thus make it harder for the insurance to actually work.

Assistance abroad: the most practical part of the cover

When people deal with car insurance for holidays, surprisingly often it’s not so much the big damages that concern them, but the very ordinary situations that can complicate a trip most often: a breakdown on the motorway, a flat tyre, a dead battery, lost keys, bad fuel, an accident that leaves the car immobile. And it is in these cases that it turns out that roadside assistance services abroad are often the most practical and most used part of the cover – not only because of the money, but also because of the organisation and speed of the solution.

After all, assistance typically doesn’t just mean that someone will reimburse you for something. It’s about the insurance company or partner assistance company providing you with specific help when you call the helpline: sending a technician, arranging a tow, recommending a contractual service, arranging communication in a foreign language and telling you what to do to avoid causing problems in the subsequent claim.

What assistance abroad covers

In practice, the following types of services are most commonly used:

• on-site repair (if possible),
• towing to a workshop,
• recovery of the vehicle,
• assistance with a puncture or fuel change,
• arranging a replacement vehicle,
• accommodation for the crew if the repair cannot be resolved immediately.

Some packages also include the organisation of the crew’s return home, transport of the driver for the repaired car or repatriation of the vehicle to the Czech Republic if the repair abroad does not make sense.

There’s also a big difference in the services that you’ll appreciate especially in times of stress: interpreting when dealing with the garage or police, legal consultation in the basic scope, or help with seeking medical care if the accident involves injuries.

Which areas are decisive

But assistance always works within certain limits. Therefore, it is important to find out what limits and conditions it has. Four areas are most often decisive:

1. Towing: Some places set a limit by amount, others by mileage, or a combination of both. The difference between being towed to the nearest garage and being towed 200 miles away to a place where you can arrange and repair is available can be significant, as can the difference between being towed off the motorway and a complicated drop-off.
2. Accommodation: some packages deal with just one night and a low per person ceiling, others will cover multiple nights or even crew transport. This is especially worthwhile when the service department can’t fix the car right away and you don’t want to spend your vacation in a parking lot.
3. Replacement vehicle terms: Sometimes a replacement car is only available after a certain amount of time, only for a limited number of days, only in a certain category, or only if specific conditions are met (e.g., the car is inoperable after an accident but not after a breakdown).
4. Repatriation: this is often linked to whether the repair abroad is economically or time wise. The insurance company (or roadside assistance service) may have set times when the car is still being repaired abroad and when it is being transported home. With cheaper packages, repatriation is usually limited or conditioned very strictly – yet repatriation can be the most costly item.

What rules must you follow

With assistance, one thing is key to understand: it’s not just that the insurance company will reimburse you for something, but that you are obliged to follow the rules of the service. Typically, the insurance policy or the rules of assistance will say that you should contact the helpline first and get the procedure approved. For example, if you order a towing service on your own without prior approval, the insurance company may deny payment on the grounds that the service was not ordered under the assistance scheme, was not reasonable, or was not documented to the extent required.

In practice, it will help if you have the number for assistance stored on your phone and ideally written down somewhere on paper. When a problem occurs, prepare basic information: where you are (ideally GPS), what happened, whether the car is drivable, how many people are in the car and whether the situation is dangerous (motorway, tunnel, accident). Take a few photos of the situation and, if it is an accident, take photos of the other vehicle and license plates. The assistance will then decide much more quickly whether to send a technician, tow or give you instructions on how to proceed.

In our law practice, there are three typical situations we see most often. The first is that a client has signed a document in a foreign language after an accident or towing abroad and only afterwards deals with what they actually signed and what impact it has on the insurance claim. The second common scenario is that the at-fault party drives off (typically in a parking lot or minor accident) or does not want to talk, and the client is then at a loss as to how to properly file a claim and who to contact. The third situation occurs when the client has insurance but the insurance company cuts or refuses to pay because the correct procedure was not followed – for example, the police were not called, the necessary documentation was missing or the helpline was not contacted in time. It is at times like these that it is good to have a legal plan at hand, not just an insurance plan.

If you are dealing with a situation where the at-fault party has fled or is uncooperative, we can help yourecover compensation from the at-fault party: we can help you make a proper claim for compensation, take over communication with the at-fault party’s insurance company, and, if necessary, arrange for cross-border recovery so that the matter doesn’t get stuck just because the other party has “disappeared” or stopped responding.

Short-term car insurance abroad: when it makes sense

Not everyone wants or can pay for a year-long package. Short-term car insurance abroad typically comes in handy when:

1. you’re going on a one-off holiday,
2. taking your car abroad for transfer/temporary use,
3. you have a car for a short time (e.g. on loan) and need to top up assistance or breakdown cover,
4. you want to add higher limits of assistance for a specific trip only.

Please note: short-term products vary – sometimes it is an add-on to an existing contract, sometimes it is a stand-alone product (e.g. assistance for X days). Always read the territorial validity, limits and exclusions.

Car insurance abroad online: what to look out for

Taking out car insurance abroad online is now a matter of minutes. Often, it’s either an add-on breakdown cover, a short-term package for a holiday or a simple modification to an existing policy (for example, extending cover or increasing limits). But it is the speed and convenience that tempt people to click through the form without checking exactly what they are buying, and this can be annoying when something happens.

In practice, four mistakes in particular are repeated:

1. People often skip the policy terms and conditions or skim over them, so they overlook exclusions and obligations that are often critical to the benefit.
2. Just as often, they fail to check the territorial coverage and automatically assume that “Europe is Europe” – only some countries may be excluded from coverage, or the scope of coverage may differ between third party liability, accident and assistance.
3. Another typical problem is limits that look sufficient at first glance but may not be sufficient abroad – typically for towing, recovery or accommodation.
4. Finally, many people are unaware of the correct procedure in the event of an insurance claim, who to call, when the police are needed, what documents to provide and when to contact an assistance line before ordering the service themselves.

It is therefore important to remember that a contract concluded online is just as binding as one concluded in a branch. It is what is actually agreed in the documents and policy conditions that is decisive – not what the person thought they were buying. That’s why it’s worth doing a quick check before you go online: save your policy documents even offline, check the list of covered countries, review the limits of assistance and have clear instructions at hand on what to do in the event of an accident or breakdown abroad.

What can happen if you enter a country without valid compulsory insurance

When travelling abroad, it pays to distinguish between two different situations. The first is really critical: you enter a country where you are not covered by compulsory third party insurance (i.e. you are not insured for liability for damage you cause to others). The second is more common and more inconspicuous: you drive abroad without breakdown insurance and without assistance. While this is not illegal, it means that even a relatively common complication will cost you a lot of money and sometimes make it legally difficult to return home.

1) Entering a country where you are not covered by compulsory third party insurance

Compulsory insurance is a legal requirement for operating a vehicle in many countries. If you drive into such a country without valid liability insurance, you could be hit by a routine check. The police or other controlling authority may ask for proof of insurance, and if you don’t produce it (or it turns out not to be valid for the territory), you could face a fine and, in some countries, other measures: a ban on driving, a requirement to take out local insurance immediately, or seizure of your documents or vehicle. The specific course of action is always a matter of local law and practice, but the common denominator is simple: without compulsory insurance, you are a car operator without cover for the state, and the authorities take that seriously.

Even more fundamental are the consequences in the event of an accident. If you cause damage and you don’t have valid compulsory insurance, the injured party will claim compensation directly from you. For property damage this can be annoying, but for personal injury claims the sums often run into orders of magnitude that are liquidating for the average person. In addition, this increases the risk that the situation will not be dealt with by default through the insurer, but through the authorities, solicitors or the courts.

2) Travelling without breakdown insurance and without assistance abroad

The second situation is much more common: the driver has compulsory liability insurance, so he or she meets the legal basis, but does not have breakdown insurance and no assistance abroad. This puts you at risk of having to deal with many common problems entirely at your own expense.

A typical scenario is a breakdown or an accident that renders the car inoperable. Without assistance, towing it off the motorway or to the nearest garage can be significantly more expensive than people expect – not to mention repatriating the vehicle back to the Czech Republic. In addition, if you are waiting for repairs, you may incur additional costs: accommodation, crew transport, a replacement vehicle. Moreover, assistance is not only about money, but also about organization – interpreting, coordination with the service, recommended procedure, verification of the towing service. Without it, you are on your own in a foreign environment, which increases the risk of unfavourable conditions or even fraudulent behaviour.

The lack of collision insurance becomes fully apparent the moment damage occurs to your own car. If you cause the accident, the third party insurance will not pay to repair your car. If someone damages your car in a parking lot and drives off, without collision coverage you have nothing to pay for the damage. And if theft or vandalism occurs, the financial impact can be even more significant.

From a legal perspective, there is also the problem of proof – abroad you need to get the supporting documents right (photos, witnesses, police report where needed). Without assistance and a clear procedure, it is much easier to make a mistake, which then makes it more difficult to make any claims (e.g. against the guilty party, the rental company, the car park operator, etc.).

Summary

Car insurance abroad in 2026 is a combination of several types: compulsory liability (basic due to liability), breakdown cover (protection of your own car) and, most importantly, assistance (real help on the road). The most important thing is to check the territorial validity before you go and prepare evidence and procedure for emergency situations (accident, towing, parking damage). In the EU, the recognition of the digital green card has moved on, but outside the EU it is still worth having a paper one.

If something happens, whether you follow the procedure (police, documentation, assistance, communication) is often crucial.