European Accident Statement in Greece:
the form box by box, and the friendly settlement.

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

After a minor accident in Greece, the other driver may hand you a form titled «Φιλική Δήλωση Τροχαίου Ατυχήματος». It is the Greek version of the European Accident Statement, with the same 15 numbered sections and the same 17 numbered circumstances boxes as the form used in other European countries. Both drivers fill in one form together, sign it and keep a copy. Signing it records the facts; it is not an admission of liability. The form also feeds the friendly settlement (φιλικός διακανονισμός), the direct-payment scheme of Greek motor insurers: if both insurers are members, the driver who is not at fault is paid by their own insurer, for vehicle damage up to €6,500. This guide explains the form box by box, when the friendly settlement applies, what happens with foreign-insured and rental cars, and the deadlines after you sign. Rules checked in October 2026.

What is the European Accident Statement (Φιλική Δήλωση)?

The European Accident Statement is a standard form for recording a road accident between two vehicles. It was drawn up by the insurers' European federation, Insurance Europe (formerly the Comité Européen des Assurances, CEA), and its full English title is “agreed statement of facts on motor vehicle accident”. In Greece, the Hellenic Association of Insurance Companies (ΕΑΕΕ) publishes the Greek translation, titled «Φιλική Δήλωση Τροχαίου Ατυχήματος». Many people simply call it the friendly settlement form (έντυπο φιλικού διακανονισμού).

• Same layout in every language. The document is standardised and its headings are the same in every language version. The sections are numbered 1 to 15 and the circumstances boxes 1 to 17, so you can follow your own version and fill in the Greek one number by number.
• Facts, not fault. The Greek form says at the top that it is not an admission of liability, but a record of the people involved and of what happened, to speed up the settlement.
• One form for both drivers. You fill in one form together: one column for vehicle A, one for vehicle B. Both drivers sign, and each keeps one of the copies.
• Paper or electronic. The rules of the Greek friendly settlement allow the form to be completed electronically. Ask your insurer whether it offers this.

You can download the Greek form and an English version of the European Accident Statement from the ΕΑΕΕ website, to read side by side. Printed sets with two copies are easier to use at the roadside: keep two in the car, with a pen.

How to fill it in, box by box

The form has two columns, one for each vehicle, and shared sections at the top and in the middle. This is what each numbered section asks for:

For the friendly settlement, the insurers treat a form as complete when at least sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 15 are filled in. Sections 5, 10, 11 and 14 still help to show what happened.

Section 12: the 17 circumstances

Each driver ticks boxes only in their own column. In boxes 1 and 2, strike out the word that does not apply, as the asterisk on the form asks.

The English version on the ΕΑΕΕ website is an older edition, and a few boxes are worded a little differently: box 17, for example, mentions only a right-of-way sign. The numbering is the same, and the Greek wording in this table is that of the form used in Greece.

Rules that decide how your form is read

• Tick only what is true for your car, and write the total number of ticked boxes at the bottom of your column, as the form asks. If you are unsure about a box, leave it blank and describe the facts in your remarks.
• A ticked box outweighs the sketch. Under the friendly settlement rules, if a ticked box in section 12 and the sketch in section 13 disagree, the ticked box prevails.
• Remarks count only if undisputed. What one driver writes in section 14 is taken into account only if the other driver does not dispute it.
• Police documents outweigh the form. Where the form and a police report disagree, the police report prevails.
• Do not admit fault. Describe what happened, not who was to blame, and sign only if you fully understand the form, as the European Commission's Your Europe guidance advises.
• Change nothing after signing. Once both drivers have signed and taken their copies, do not alter anything. If you forgot something, tell your insurer in your own report.

What is the friendly settlement (φιλικός διακανονισμός) and when does it apply?

The friendly settlement, officially the Direct Payment System (Σύστημα Άμεσης Πληρωμής, ΣΑΠ), is an agreement between insurers that has applied in Greece since 1 May 2000. If you are not at fault, your own insurer pays you for the other driver's share of the fault, and then settles with the other insurer through the scheme's clearing office. You do not have to deal with the other driver's insurer.

What the friendly settlement does not cover

• Pedestrians and objects. Injuries to a pedestrian, or damage to a lamp post, a wall or a sign, are claimed from the insurer of the driver at fault, outside the scheme. The damage to the two cars can still go through it.
• Larger claims. Damage or injuries above the limits are claimed from the insurer of the driver at fault in the usual way.
• Uninsured or unknown vehicles. If the other car has no insurance or drives off, there is no friendly settlement. Call the police (100). The Auxiliary Fund (Επικουρικό Κεφάλαιο) compensates victims under the conditions of the law: when the vehicle at fault is unknown, it pays for death and injuries, and for property damage only if the same accident also caused a death, or an injury that needed at least 5 days of care in a hospital or clinic, and the police dealt with the accident. See our guide to uninsured vehicles in Greece.

Which insurers take part?

Membership is voluntary. ΕΑΕΕ describes the scheme as a gentlemen's agreement open to any insurer that sells motor insurance, and says its members cover the vast majority of insured vehicles. Each year ΕΑΕΕ publishes the register of members as Annex 7 of the agreement: see the register of members for 2026 (PDF in Greek, checked on 14 October 2026). We do not copy the names here, because the register can change during the year.

• The date of the accident counts. An insurer that was not on the register on that day cannot use the scheme, even if it joins later.
• “Foreign” does not always mean “not a member”. The scheme also accepts insurers based in other EU or EEA countries that sell motor insurance in Greece through a branch or under the freedom to provide services, and some of them are on the register. The register decides, not the address of the insurer.
• Find the other car's insurer in section 8 of the form, or on the other driver's insurance certificate.
• Not sure? Ask your insurer, or ask us: we can check the register for you.

Foreign-insured cars and rental cars

When the other car is insured abroad

The register decides, not the plates. If the other car's insurer is not on the register, the friendly settlement cannot apply, even if the accident happened in Greece. In that case:

1. Fill in the form if the other driver agrees. Their own version has the same numbers, and section 8 records their insurer and Green Card number.
2. Call the police (100) if you cannot agree on what happened, if the other driver will not give their details, or if anyone is hurt.
3. Report the accident to your own insurer.
4. Claim from the other car's insurer. For a car insured abroad, the claim can be settled in Greece through the Greek motor insurers' bureau (Γραφείο Διεθνούς Ασφάλισης), and the 3-month deadline for a reasoned offer applies to those claims too (art. 6 §6 π.δ. 237/1986). Your insurer, or we, can tell you where to send it.

If your car is the one on foreign plates and insured abroad, the same applies the other way round: claim from the insurer of the Greek driver at fault, and tell your own insurer. Our guide to foreign plates in Greece explains how long a foreign-registered car can stay and when it needs Greek plates and Greek insurance.

Rental cars

A rental car on Greek plates is insured by the rental company's insurer, shown on the insurance certificate in the car's documents. Use those details in sections 6 and 8: the policyholder is normally the rental company, and you are the driver in section 9. The friendly settlement can then apply if both insurers are on the register.

• Call the rental company as soon as it is safe to do so, and follow its instructions and your rental agreement.
• Check in the agreement who reports the claim, how much excess you pay, and what happens if you do not report the accident in time.
• Keep your copy of the form and your photos: the rental company will ask for them.

After you sign: deadlines and next steps

1. Keep your copy and your photos. Photograph the cars before they are moved, unless they are a danger, and photograph the signed form before you part. Our guide to what to do after a car accident in Greece covers the steps at the scene, including when the police must come.
2. Report the accident to your insurer the same day or the next. The law requires notice immediately and at the latest within 8 working days of learning of the accident; if you delay through your own fault, a court can order you to compensate the insurer up to €2,000 (π.δ. 237/1986, art. 9). Send your copy of the form, the photos and the witnesses' details.
3. Do not repair before the assessment. Under the friendly settlement, your insurer appoints the assessor (πραγματογνώμονας) and pays for the assessment, which is compulsory when the damage is estimated above €300.
4. Fault is decided from the form, your accident report and any police documents, using the scheme's fault table. The result is 100% or 50%: for example, the driver who hits the rear of a car in the same lane is fully at fault. If fault is shared 50/50, your insurer needs the other insurer's agreement before it pays.
5. Payment. If you are not at fault, your insurer pays you without delay, in proportion to the other driver's share of the fault. You then sign the receipt that settles the claim in full. Do not let the claim drift: under the agreement, your insurer cannot pay under the scheme once 24 months have passed since the accident, and the file then goes to the other driver's insurer (art. 15).
6. Outside the scheme (above the limits, a non-member insurer, or if you claim directly from the other insurer), the insurer of the driver at fault must send you a reasoned offer, or a reasoned reply, within 3 months of your claim. If it is late with its offer, it owes default interest (art. 6 §6 π.δ. 237/1986).
7. If you were at fault, your insurer pays the other driver under your third-party cover. Your own car is paid only if you have own-damage cover; see our guide to car insurance in Greece.

How Leadinsure can help

Leadinsure is an insurance agency (registered insurance agent) for individuals and businesses, and you can reach us by phone or email from wherever you are. For your car, we ask the insurance companies we work with for proposals and explain them side by side: what third-party cover pays, what own-damage cover, legal protection and roadside assistance add, and the excesses. If you are insured through us and have an accident, we help you report the claim. There is no obligation, and you pay us no separate fee: our commission is already included in the premium. Request a car insurance quote, call +30 28210 86065 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.