omangeorge

I am going to drive from Oman to France via: UAE, Saudi, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Germany.

I want as little hassle as possible along the way. I have my Carnet and IDP and I am on with visas. Now I want to minimise the hassle with Car Insurance.

Any advice on where I can find one company which will insure me for the trip?
Since my car will then stay in France, ideally I would have a European insurance with extensions for these countries.

Any other advise on the trip will be welcome.

diablo

I am sure there are a few Omanis there who did similar trips; perhaps you should find one and talkk to him. An Omani friend of mine did a similar thing a while back and has some funny stories about the trip - and he was an Arab! You'll be travelling through Saudi - make sure you get that visa right - not the one like me which said (in Arabic) by airplane only - which I found out only when I reached the border from UAE.

I'd avoid Serbia too and drive from Bulgaria direct to Hungary (unless you're Serbian;even then I'd be thinking).

I think the paper work is the main issue and you'll have no clue what they will be telling you / asking you (unless you speak Arabic). So have all the papers in one envelope - number them so you can check if you've got all back - and good luck.

An alternative - ship the car to Hamburg; fly there and pick up a car from people you understand culturally and language wise.

omangeorge

Thank you Diablo the advice; a bit cynical though!!!
Almost all my experience has been with Omani's, who are wonderful people and who always want to help and be friendly. Perhaps I should be more realistic about what I will find on the trip. My wife does speak a bit of Arabic.
My thinking on Serbia rather than Romania is that my map shows a motorway all the way (except for about 200km) from Istanbul to Belgrade via Sofia and then dual carriageway or motorway almost all the way to Budapest. I cannot see an easy route through Rumania. What exactly is your reason for preferring Rumania?
I would love to speak to your Omani friend. I will try to work out how to send you my phone number but I am new to this so...

diablo

Didn't want to be cynical at all. I lived in Oman for 4 years and have great friends and memories. I really thought if you can talk to a few people from Oman and find out if anyone did a similar trip (of course even better if you find an expat because their experience will be more applicable to you; perhaps some guys in PDO club would know of someone).

I mentioned Serbia mainly because I have some concerns about driving a car with Arabic plates through that country?? I forgot about Romania

Why don't you take a ferry from Greece to Italy and then go that way?

red rum

Ive been to Serbia several times and dont think you would have any problems in driving through the country.Also there is some really beautiful scenery which you should try to take in.The country is very cheap ( maybe except 5 star hotels in Belgrade !!!) and on the whole the people are very friendly and helpful.Most of the people do speak at least some English and many of the younger generation are fluent.
Sounds a great trip which your planning,and would be very intersted to know how you are going to deal with getting your car in and out of KSA ? as I would have thought this is by far the most difficult part
Good Luck