Driving to Ukraine

[anomaly]

I'm planning a European road trip in my 1M in three weeks time. Looking to take in Germany and Hungary and planning to meet a friend in Lviv in Ukraine. I'm perfectly happy driving long distances across Europe and have done so before in the 1M and am looking forward to it. The only issue I can see is crossing the border into Ukraine and driving a UK registered car there. My insurance company (Admiral) will not provide cover there and I'm struggling to come up with cover. Apparently you can buy local insurance at the border but it's not clear if this is 3rd party only.

So, in summary: has anyone any experience of driving to/into Ukraine and any advice? Many thanks.

[DBSV8]

anomaly said:

I'm planning a European road trip in my 1M in three weeks time. Looking to take in Germany and Hungary and planning to meet a friend in Lviv in Ukraine. I'm perfectly happy driving long distances across Europe and have done so before in the 1M and am looking forward to it. The only issue I can see is crossing the border into Ukraine and driving a UK registered car there. My insurance company (Admiral) will not provide cover there and I'm struggling to come up with cover. Apparently you can buy local insurance at the border but it's not clear if this is 3rd party only.

So, in summary: has anyone any experience of driving to/into Ukraine and any advice? Many thanks.

to be honest you may be better off finding a secure place to store your car en route prior to entering Ukraine and hire a car in Ukraine with local insurance , As all docs will be in Russian/ Ukrainian . if you have no insurance on your own car , your buggered really.
You will get stopped by Ukraine plod and its a pain in the ass , I drove many years in Russia both Western Siberia / Moscow and South Russia Krasnodar region , Its the same deal in the Ukraine

this was in the wifes car , got pulled plenty of times by plod ,
first thing they want to check
that the cars not stolen , so they check Car docs with chassis number
Then check your insurance / hire agreement
Drivers licence
International drivers licence ( which is in Russian anyway )
Passport
carry a bit of spare cash .............just in case

one more thing ......the Russians are totally mental drivers , the roads are going to be ste if you travel on b roads just check out any youtube clips are you sure you want to drive in the Ukraine ?

[llewop]

Probably the only 'good' news is Lviv is 'this' end of Ukraine (may help to mention that to your insurance company: you're not going anywhere near the conflict areas)

When I worked out there, a few others (including Brits) brought their cars over, I briefly looked into it but the journey there is very long and there is a limit on how long you can drive a foreign car there - something like 6 months (similar in UK I think), so what the guys did was drive to a border, cross and return, restart the clock... I didn't check out insurance so can't comment on that bit.

As mentioned above - the roads and driving standards are woeful. And they do like to stop foreign cars to check them out.... hoping for a bung to let you go!

[anomaly]

Just an update and thanks for the advice. I went to Lviv and returned safely. The border and insurance were hassle but manageable. Roads and driving standards as advised were shocking and the 1M was probably not the ideal choice for the country but we survived!

More details on my Reader's cars page here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...