Good morning

As many board members will know, I work at Can Sigorta (insurance). I am in the UK at present recovering from my latest spinal surgery. Just in case times had changed since I have been here, I asked head office in Nicosia your question, here is the answer:

Good morning Carol,

Working hours; 8am till 5 or 6pm.

Kind Regards,
Ayse

Hope that helps

Best regards

Carol

PS: Back in the TRNC March 18th

I assume you mean at 'aynic' ?

In mid-December they were open at about 23.00 hrs when we came through.

But prior to this, to be on the safe side I arranged insurance through my hire company at Larnaca. They had the document ready for me when I collected the car. Yes, it may be more expensive, but another 20 euros spread over a month was not too punishing.

HTH

guin

YES of course they did, why else would I write it?

You may be an insurance agent but I spent a long time listening to rumours, counter rumours and myths about the availability of insurance for cars at border crossings from both insurance companies and individuals in TRNC. The last myth was that it had to be a form that is only printed at the border insurance office.

 I also work on contract in Lefkosa and got advice from people close to the authorities who really know the situation.

 I hired from Petsas and very cautiously asked them about this well in advance. They said they wished more people asked them to arrange the insurance rather than rely on the rumours that abound in TRNC.

Over a month I crossed over to the south several times and was never queried on my hire car, its permit to use TRNC roads, or the validity of my insurance issued by a TRNC company.

It can be done easily if one makes an effort.

guin

Yes Tom, on rare occasions my replies are heavy when my integrity is questioned. That is for the morons on 44, not here. There is usually a degree of respect here.

guin

Then lets keep it that way! I was only trying to help and to make sure that insurance could be purchased on the south side for the north.

Kaz

There are many insurance companies dotted all over the island (North & South). Most of them deal with insurance of this kind. I beleive if one chooses to live and work in TRNC it would make sense to support locally based firms. I'm sure most companies are usually competitive.

Without any bias whatsoever Kaz has been very efficient and competitve with her insurance services over the last few years. I wish her all the best in the coming years.

Please try and support  the north KKTC in all ways possible.

Martin, you are right of course.

My property insurance is local, I have not bought one of those UK issued policies as many do. But when it come to cross border insurance in a car its a case of which airport some people can fly into. Ercan does not suit everyone but Larnaca does. (Not just flights from England but a lot of us travel from Scotland, Ireland the Gulf and other places). Therefore for them it makes sense to hire at Larnaca, and in that case one has to arrange insurance as best one can. Yes the office at the border does sell policies from locally based companies, but there is such uncertainty at the opening hours that it is a risk that one can end-up sleeping in a car at the crossing for 8 hours. (Most flights from west Europe arrive in the evening - have you noticed?). Not good when one has the family in the car too.   So buying it as part of the hire deal  is a practical solution.

Yes one can get a taxi and hire in TRNC, but then one cannot drive over the border to take a look further afield, and hands up who likes to go to Paralimni for some nice ham and pork steaks? (Yes I know there is a small supermarket at aynic, but they don't have everything).

Incidentally the policy I had included 'fully comprehensive' for all accident claims to a value of 20k euro with a 300 euro excess. Thankfully  I did not have to claim on it, but it also defies all the naysayers who say that only 3rd party is possible. (Often the same people who just use the standard 3rd party for their own TRNC registered cars without a second thought). Remember, this is a local TRNC company writing this policy which says a lot for the industry taking notice of the requirements of visitors, good for them. So I still supported a local insurance company.

guin

Fair reply Guin.

Guin, you say you are on contract in Lefkosa.

What do you do for a living, if you don't mind me asking?

I needed to get to the bottom of this discussion, so made an appointment to talk to board member of the Northern Cyprus Insurance Council. I explained the situation.

He assured me that it was totally ilegal for a south Cyprus hire car company to sell such a document and that his Government, ie, the ROC would penalise him heavily if he was found out. However, I think it a brilliant marketing policy for the TRNC company who are selling the TRNC policies via a ROC company! Very clever!

I will be over in Bogaz this Sunday am if anyone would like to see me re their insurance requirements.

Best regards to ALL.

Kaz

0533 864 4115

Can anyone clarify the situation with buying hire car insurance at the border? Last summer my brother was charged 80 euros at the border for hire car insurance.

Previously i was over last May 2009 and was charged about 25 euros, has the price gone up that drastically?

Cheers

Barry

Some answers......

Martin - I work in a diplomatic mission

Kaz - well done, you have followed a similar route to me to get some factual answers. Solutions to problems are out there but one has to do a little pioneering first to acheive the desired result.

Rigsby - sorry I can't answer the question, but you can now see why I went the direct route to find out the facts, and then find a car hire company that would issue a policy from a co-operative insurance company in TRNC. (yourway-carhire. com)

guin

Most interested in what you say Guinness.  I don't suppose you know whether it is possible to buy insurance in the South for the TRNC for a private car registered in RoC? 

 I've always been told full comp was impossible.  Quite worrying when you spend a lot of time over there as I do.

 I used to insure annually. The last time I insured mine for a year at the Aye Nick border (about 18 months ago) they charged me 150 (smallest class of car).  The insurance guy told me it would be going up to 189 euro within 3 months so better get it fast! He did say that it would however cover ANYONE driving my car? I was later told I was overcharged and it should have been no more than 100 euro. At the time I queried 1 month insurance and was told by the same guy it is now only available for Hire Cars (later found out this wasn't true).

 When it expired back last Nov, I was then telephoned at home, here in the RoC, in what I can only describe as a quite threatening tone by someone from the Insurance Co.! I expressed surprise at them phoning me and said I did not intend to reinsure until I needed it.  He then said 'well it is going up a lot soon' when I cut him off saying 'Yes - that's what I was told last time I purchased it, and that turned out not to be true' and then asked him for his name.  He put the phone down.

 I have just this past week purchased 1 month ins. for 25 euro.  

 You are right about one thing in particular - the amount of rumour, misinformation and scaremongering there is about this car insurance stuff.

 The first time I ever drove over to the TRNC was about 5 or 6 yrs ago.  It was in a car hired from Limassol (Tourist Area) and I told them I wanted to drive over there - they had no objection and explained how I had to purchase the insurance at the border crossing.

Sorry Ole but can say no more. I am afraid you will have to follow your own lines of research. But at least it appears you are prepared to do so, unlike many others on  these forums.

It often appears to me that most people view their PC as a typing machine and not the information terminal that it is. Therefore they just post inane comments and questions with no foundation, when all they have to do is use search engines intelligently and then politely ask questions of potential sources of help.

So why not start with a southern hire company that issues cross-border insurance and ask them for help, one would think there would be a commission in it for them too, so would be helpful.

I have been offered a cheap car to keep in TRNC for my visits, but I am wary of all the bureaucracy involved !

cheers

guin

There is no difference to the bureaucracy involved in owning a car in the TRNC compared with UK.

No research needed on that score.

It's not rocket science i.e

1/ Buy car

2/ Buy Insurance.

3/ Get  MOT (same as in uk)

4/ Then obtain road tax.  Bobs your uncle

Kind Regards.

Martin, you are quite right of course.  When the time comes for me to spend more leisure time in TRNC I will do the same.

But read his comment again, Ole was referring to his ownership of a car in ROC and bringing it north on occasion.

guin

Yes Guin, I am aware that Ole was referring to car ownership in the RoC.

I was referring to your comment that "you are wary of the bureaucracy of buying a cheap car in the TRNC "

OK Martin  understood, my comment was in respect of rarely needing to use a car that I have to pay for - either hired or otherwise. The breakeven point of cost of hire vs cost of ownership in the particular circumstances of an occasional holiday visitor is quite high up the scale. 2 months visiting a  year costing say £400 in car hire per visit. I would much rather pay that than have my own car sitting for 10 months at my cost, plus meet all the bureaucratic requirements. Hope that clarifies it.

guin

Agreed! See your private messages.

Thanks.