Car accident in Greece:
what to do, step by step.

Updated 26 October 2026Reading time 12 minBy Leadinsure, registered insurance agent (no. ΧΑΝ/395) · How we are paid

After a car accident in Greece, stop, make the scene safe and check whether anyone is hurt. If they are, call 112 (or 166 for an ambulance) and the police on 100, and wait for the police: with injuries, that is the law. Then photograph the scene before the cars are moved, exchange details, fill in the accident statement form if you agree on what happened, and report the accident to your insurer straight away, within 8 working days at the latest. Who pays depends on who was at fault: usually the other driver's insurer, sometimes your own insurer under the direct-settlement system, and the Auxiliary Fund when the other vehicle was uninsured or the driver unknown. The same steps apply whether you drive a car, a motorbike or a scooter.

What to do at the scene

Greek law sets out what every driver or other road user involved in an accident must do (Road Traffic Code, ν. 5209/2025, art. 47). Work through these steps in order:

1. Stop at once and make the scene safe. You must stop without creating further danger and take measures for traffic safety; if you cannot, you must tell the nearest police station. Switch on your hazard lights and, where it is safe, put out a warning triangle.
2. Check whether anyone is hurt. If so, call 112 (the single European emergency number) or 166 for an ambulance, and the police on 100. Give the injured the help they need, but do not move them unless they are in immediate danger.
3. Take photos before the cars are moved, unless they are blocking traffic dangerously. If anyone is injured, the law asks you not to change the scene, except to get traffic moving again.
4. Exchange details. Every driver involved must give their identity and vehicle details if the others ask (art. 47 §1γ). Note the other driver's name, phone number, licence, plate number, insurer and policy number, and the names and phone numbers of any witnesses.
5. Do not admit fault, even out of politeness. Stick to what happened.
6. Fill in the accident statement form with the other driver, if you agree on the facts (see below).
7. Call your insurer's assistance number, if your policy includes roadside or accident assistance.

What to photograph

• The whole scene from several angles, showing both vehicles, road markings, signs and traffic lights.
• The damage to each vehicle, close up and from a few metres away.
• Both number plates.
• Skid marks, debris and anything else on the road.
• The other driver's licence, registration certificate and insurance certificate, or write the details down.

You hit a parked car and the owner is not there

Leave your details. When only property is damaged and the owner is not present, you have 24 hours to give them your identity and vehicle details, in whatever way works best or through the nearest police station (art. 47 §1γ). Driving off without doing so can be punished with up to 6 months' imprisonment or a fine (art. 47 §3).

When should you call the police?

Greek law makes the police compulsory when anyone is injured or killed. Every driver involved must then help the injured, notify the nearest police authority and stay at the scene until the police arrive. You may leave only to call the police or to get medical care for the injured or yourself, and you must then report the accident to the police as soon as possible (art. 47 §2).

When only vehicles or other property are damaged, the law does not require you to call the police, unless you cannot make the scene safe yourself (art. 47 §1β). In several situations it is still the right call:

Before the officers leave, ask how you can get a copy of their accident record: your insurer, or the Auxiliary Fund if it pays, may ask for it.

The accident statement form

The accident statement form (in Greek «Φιλική Δήλωση Τροχαίου Ατυχήματος», often called the friendly-settlement form) is the European Accident Statement. The two drivers fill in one form together at the scene, each in their own column, draw a sketch of the accident and both sign it. Each driver keeps a copy.

• Describe facts, not fault. Tick only the circumstances that apply to your vehicle.
• Copy the insurance details from the other driver's insurance certificate, not from memory.
• Do not sign if you disagree with what the form says: call the police instead.
• Keep your copy and send it to your insurer with your photos.

According to the Hellenic Association of Insurance Companies, the form is no longer required for a claim to go through the insurers' direct-settlement system, but it makes settlement and payment faster. Our guide to the European Accident Statement in Greece goes through the form box by box.

How soon must you tell your insurer?

Report the accident the same day or the next, while the details are fresh. The law requires the policyholder or the insured person to report every accident involving the insured car to the insurer immediately, without culpable delay and within 8 working days at the latest of learning of it (art. 9 π.δ. 237/1986, as replaced by art. 6 ν. 3557/2007). This applies even if you were not at fault.

A late report does not automatically mean the claim is refused. If you breach this duty through your own fault, a court can order you to pay the insurer compensation of up to €2,000. The same applies if you do not do what you can to limit the damage, or do not give the insurer the information and documents your policy requires (art. 9 §2–3).

What to send your insurer

• The signed accident statement form, or the details of the police record.
• Your photos of the scene and of the damage.
• The other driver's name, plate number, insurer and policy number.
• Your driving licence and the vehicle's registration certificate.
• The names and phone numbers of any witnesses.

Who pays? The at-fault driver's insurer, direct settlement and the Auxiliary Fund

Every vehicle on Greek plates must have third-party liability cover. It pays other people for the harm the insured vehicle causes, up to at least €1,300,000 per injured person and €1,300,000 per accident for damage to property (art. 6 §5 π.δ. 237/1986). It includes compensation for pain and suffering, and it also covers injuries to family members of the policyholder or the driver (art. 6 §2). It never pays for the at-fault vehicle itself: only own-damage cover does that, if the owner has it.

The 3-month deadline for the insurer

Once you have claimed, the at-fault driver's insurer must, within 3 months, send you either a written, reasoned offer of compensation, if liability is not disputed and the damage has been assessed, or a written, reasoned reply, if liability is disputed or not yet clear, or the damage has not been fully assessed. If it is late with an offer, it owes default interest (art. 6 §6 π.δ. 237/1986).

How long do you have to claim?

Your claim against the insurer of the vehicle at fault is time-barred 5 years after the day of the accident, subject to the general rules that suspend or interrupt time limits (art. 10 §2 π.δ. 237/1986, as replaced by art. 7 ν. 3557/2007). Do not wait that long: evidence fades, and the 8-working-day deadline for telling your own insurer applies much sooner.

Direct settlement («φιλικός διακανονισμός»)

Under an agreement between insurers, administered through the Hellenic Association of Insurance Companies, the driver who was not at fault is paid by their own insurer, which acts on behalf of the at-fault driver's insurer. It works only if both insurers have joined the agreement. It has covered accidents with damage to vehicles since 2000 and, since 1 September 2005, accidents with minor injuries too.

The Auxiliary Fund (Επικουρικό Κεφάλαιο)

The Auxiliary Fund compensates victims for death, injuries and damage to property when the vehicle at fault was uninsured or officially immobilised, or when its insurer is in liquidation (art. 19 π.δ. 237/1986). When the person liable remains unknown, it pays for death and injuries; it pays for damage to property only if someone was also killed or was injured and needed at least 5 days of care in a hospital or private clinic, and the police dealt with the accident.

• Passengers who chose to travel in a vehicle they knew was uninsured are not compensated, if the Fund proves that they knew.
• You apply directly to the Fund, with the forms on its claims page. You do not have to prove that the person liable cannot or will not pay.
• The Fund then claims the money back from the person liable. For the fines an uninsured driver faces, see our guide to the uninsured vehicle fine in Greece.

Accidents with a foreign-registered or rental car

A car on foreign plates caused the accident

Under the EU's motor insurance rules, each country's national insurers' bureau ensures that claims are settled for accidents on its territory caused by vehicles normally based in another EU country, whether or not those vehicles are insured (Directive 2009/103/EC, art. 2). In Greece this is the Greek national insurers' bureau (Γραφείο Διεθνούς Ασφάλισης), and the claim is settled under Greek law. The 3-month deadline for a reasoned offer also applies to claims settled through the bureau (art. 6 §6 π.δ. 237/1986).

At the scene, note the country of the plates and photograph the other driver's insurance certificate or Green Card. To find out which insurer covers a vehicle registered in another EU country, and its claims representative in Greece, contact the Hellenic Information Centre (Ελληνικό Κέντρο Πληροφοριών), which is part of the Auxiliary Fund.

You live in another EU country and had an accident in Greece

If the vehicle at fault was based and insured outside your home country, EU law lets you claim from home. Every motor insurer must appoint a claims representative in each other EU country, who handles claims from people living there and must be able to deal with them in that country's official language or languages (Directive 2009/103/EC, arts 20–21).

• The information centre of your home country, of Greece or of the country where the vehicle is based must give you the insurer's name and address, the policy number and its claims representative in your country, for 7 years after the accident (art. 23).
• If the insurer or its representative has not given a reasoned reply within 3 months of your claim, or the insurer has no claims representative in your country, you can turn to the compensation body of your home country, unless you have already taken the insurer to court (art. 24).
• If the vehicle cannot be identified, or its insurer cannot be identified within 2 months of the accident, you also apply to the compensation body at home (art. 25).

You were driving your own foreign-registered car

The compulsory third-party cover of an EU policy applies in Greece on the same premium, at the level Greek law requires or at your home country's level if that is higher (Directive 2009/103/EC, art. 14). Report the accident to your own insurer, as your policy requires. If the car is staying in Greece for months, read our guide to foreign plates in Greece.

An accident in a rental car

A rental car on Greek plates carries the compulsory third-party cover of the rental company's policy, which pays other people for the harm caused. What you pay for damage to the rental car itself depends on the damage waiver and the excess in your rental agreement. Follow the same steps at the scene, call the rental company's emergency number from your agreement straight away, and send it the accident statement or the police details.

Injuries: hospital, reports and claims

If anyone is hurt, call 112 or 166, and the police on 100: with injuries, calling the police is compulsory (art. 47 §2). Even if you feel fine, have a doctor check you the same day, at a hospital emergency department or a health centre. Some injuries show only later, and a medical record made soon after the accident links them to it.

• Visitors from other EU countries: the European Health Insurance Card gives access to medically necessary, state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay, under the same conditions and at the same cost as for people insured in Greece. It does not cover private healthcare or a flight home, and it is not a substitute for travel insurance (European Commission). See also our guide to health insurance in Greece.
• Keep every document: hospital and doctors' reports, sick-leave notes and receipts for treatment and medicines. Insurers ask for them, and the Auxiliary Fund lists medical certificates and receipts among the documents for its claims.
• Who pays for injuries: the insurer of the vehicle at fault, up to at least €1,300,000 per injured person, including compensation for pain and suffering (art. 6 §2 and §5 π.δ. 237/1986). It covers all passengers except the driver, and pedestrians and cyclists who are entitled to compensation under civil law (Directive 2009/103/EC, art. 12).
• If you were the driver at fault: your own third-party cover does not pay for your own injuries. Only a driver's personal accident cover does, if your policy includes it.
• Unknown driver: the Auxiliary Fund pays for injuries even when the vehicle at fault is never found.

How Leadinsure can help

Leadinsure is an insurance agency (registered insurance agent) for individuals and businesses. If your car insurance was arranged through us, call us after an accident: we help you report it to the insurer and tell you which documents it needs. Looking for car insurance? We ask the insurers we work with for proposals and explain them side by side, with no obligation. You pay us no separate fee: our commission is already included in the premium. We help by phone, email and online, wherever you happen to be. Request a car insurance quote, call +30 28210 86065 (Monday to Friday 09:00–16:00 and 17:30–20:30, Saturday 09:00–14:00, Greek time) or email info@leadinsure.gr. We reply within 24 hours on working days.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

The laws, decisions and official pages we checked for this guide. Many of them are in Greek.