If you only intend to visit one European country and drive around that, France say, then you only need to find out about the driving laws and European auto insurance in that particular country. Should you decide that you want to undertake an extended tour of Europe then things can be more complicated. When you cross European borders then you should carry not only your domestic licence and your international licence, but an auto Green Card. Green card insurance will give you a basic level of insurance cover in quite a few named European countries.

If you are renting a car then they may take care of this basic cover for you. The Green Card is actually a folder of green documents relating to your auto insurance, one of the documents is designed to be displayed in the front window of your car. This card says to people, particularly customs officials, that you have the basic level of insurance that is required for drivers in the countries listed.

If you travel to Switzerland for example then you may be required to have insurance that also covers Finland and Norway. These countries have a reciprocal agreement when it comes to auto insurance and if one of the countries is not on your list as covered by the Green Card, then the document actually excludes all three – as with all these things you should check out these rules very carefully before you actually travel. If you don’t want a lot of hassle in the event of your being involved in a road accident then you need to ask the European insurer for the European Accident Statement form as this will save you a lot of unnecessary complications.