I may be in Dubrovnik, Croatia this May. I plan to rent a car in Dubrovnik (or somewhere easy to reach from Dubrovnik) and travel to the nearby Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania. How is the land border crossing when driving a rented car, as a French citizen? Do I simply show my French passport and they let me pass (since I can enter visa-free), or do you have to do any special due to the rental car or the fact that I am driving it?
asked Jan 10, 2023 at 4:51
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2at the very least make sure that your rental agreement allows you to take the car out of the country and into those specific countries. Not all rental agreements do that.– jwentingCommented Jan 10, 2023 at 8:08
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2In fact, it's VERY hard to find a rental company in the EU that will let you drive the car out of the EU.– JohnnyjankoCommented Jan 10, 2023 at 9:28
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2Moreover, since you're a French citizen, bring an ID card instead of a passport if you can. It is much more convenient and enables you to enter Serbia from Kosovo even if you previously entered Kosovo from another country.– JohnnyjankoCommented Jan 10, 2023 at 9:32
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@Johnnyjanko I have rented a car in Croatia a few times and taken it into Bosnia. I don't remember whether that was before or after Croatia joined the EU but I doubt it's that hard even today. The last rental car I had was in Spain, so there was no chance I was driving it out of the EU, but still the insurance said that it covered basically all of Europe except for Kosovo. Franck: on only one of those crossings was I asked to show the car's insurance card, but of course you may be asked to show both proof of insurance and the rental agreement to prove that you are authorized to have the car.– phoogCommented Jan 10, 2023 at 14:28
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@phoog You could have drive to Gibraltar!– Peter MCommented Jan 10, 2023 at 15:21
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1 Answer
I did this a few years ago, albeit as an American citizen (also visa-free to all of the countries you mentioned). The trick was finding a rental car company that would let me do it, but once I did that then there were no problems. You need to have the green card (insurance paperwork) that they give you with the rental car and show that at every border crossing along with your passport. The border crossings were all quick and easy.
The one catch is Kosovo, which doesn't accept the EU green card so you need to purchase auto insurance while you're there. It's something like 20 EUR for a week (more or less). There's also the catch of entering Serbia after you've entered Kosovo, but I see you've asked a separate question about that.
