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Compulsory insurance (AO) for an imported car in Serbia

MUP asks for a compulsory third-party liability (AO) policy at registration, and for PROBA plates too. For a private passenger car the premium is set by the engine-power band and the bonus-malus class; a first policy for an imported car is in class 4, and in September 2026 it cost 23,240.70 RSD for 85 to 110 kW and 27,597.15 RSD over 110 kW at Wiener Städtische, 5% premium tax included. A German no-claims record does not count, but you can carry over the class of a car you sold, gave away or deregistered in Serbia in the last three years.

When MUP asks for the policy

Compulsory third-party liability insurance (AO) covers the damage you cause to others with the car. MUP asks for proof of it at the first registration, at every renewal and when it issues PROBA plates (Compulsory Traffic Insurance Law, article 20), and the policy must be valid for the period you register the car for (registration rulebook, article 5).

The cover is at least €1,000,000 for injury to persons and €200,000 for damage to property per event, however many people are harmed (article 22; Government decree, Službeni glasnik RS 108/2014). It is a different policy from the German insurance for export plates, which is proven by the Doppelkarte.

Who sets the price

Every insurer that sells AO must apply the common conditions, premium system and minimum tariff, bonus-malus included, which the Association of Serbian Insurers (Udruženje osiguravača Srbije, UOS) adopts with the prior consent of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS; Compulsory Traffic Insurance Law, article 108). On that basis each insurer sets its own tariff and files it with the NBS at least 90 days before applying it (article 6). An insurer may not refuse you a policy if you accept its conditions and tariff (article 5).

According to the NBS, AO prices rose by 5.26% in May 2024, by 2.2% to 2.6% at seven insurers in August 2024 and by 2.6% at one more in January 2025, so prices differ slightly between insurers. The UOS minimum tariff now in force could not be found on the UOS or NBS websites, and no 2026 prices were found for insurers other than Wiener Städtische and Sava osiguranje.

What a first policy costs in 2026

For a passenger car for private use the premium is set by the engine-power band and your bonus-malus class. A first policy for a car you have just bought is in class 4; at Wiener Städtische on 23 September 2026 it cost, with the 5% premium tax:

  • up to 22 kW: 9,548.70 RSD
  • 23 to 33 kW: 11,408.25 RSD
  • 34 to 44 kW: 13,280.40 RSD
  • 45 to 55 kW: 15,152.55 RSD
  • 56 to 66 kW: 17,012.10 RSD
  • 67 to 84 kW: 19,509.00 RSD
  • 85 to 110 kW: 23,240.70 RSD
  • over 110 kW: 27,597.15 RSD

There is no band above 110 kW, so a car of 111 kW and one of 400 kW pay the same. The car's year, its engine size and your municipality did not change the price at Wiener Städtische or at Sava osiguranje, which asked 23,757 RSD for 85 to 110 kW and 28,210 RSD over 110 kW the same day. For an owner with a disability Wiener Städtische's calculator gave a price 10% lower (24,837.44 RSD over 110 kW); whether other insurers give this discount was not checked.

The 5% tax on non-life insurance premiums is included in the price (Law on the Tax on Non-Life Insurance Premiums, article 5); insurance carries no VAT (VAT Law, article 25). For a hybrid it was not confirmed whether insurers count the power of the combustion engine or of the whole system; Sava osiguranje's calculator asks for the power in field P.2 of the Serbian registration certificate.

Bonus-malus, and why a first policy is in class 4

The premium is the class 4 premium times the coefficient of your class, from 0.75 in class 1 to 2.5 in class 12 (NBS decision on the bonus-malus system, Službeni glasnik RS 24/2010, 60/2011 and 84/2020). Each claim-free year on a policy of at least a year moves you one class down: class 3 costs 5% less, class 2 15% less and class 1, the highest bonus, 25% less. Each claim you are liable for moves you three classes up, to class 12 at most, which costs 150% more.

Anyone insuring a newly acquired car, new or used, for the first time pays the class 4 premium unless they have a class to carry over (point 6). The system applies only to cars registered in Serbia (point 2), so a no-claims record from Germany or elsewhere abroad does not lower the price.

Carrying over the class of your previous car

The class belongs to the owner, not to the car, and does not pass to whoever buys your old car (point 9). You can move it to the newly acquired car, insured for at least a year, from the last car of the same premium group (a passenger car for a passenger car) that you sold, gave away or deregistered in Serbia in the last three years, if its class has not already been moved (point 10). With a carried-over class 1, a policy at Wiener Städtische cost 17,430.53 RSD for 85 to 110 kW and 20,697.86 RSD over 110 kW in September 2026.

Generali, for example, asks to see proof of deregistration (the cancelled saobraćajna dozvola or a MUP certificate) or the certified sale contract, invoice or deed of gift, and the old car's last annual policy, expired no more than three years ago. Ask for the transfer when you first insure the imported car: if you insure it in class 4 while you still own the old one, Generali moves the bonus only when that policy ends or is cancelled. Generali also does not move the class from a policy that was ended early with a refund of premium.

When and how to take out the policy

MUP asks for proof of AO before it issues PROBA plates, if you use them, and before it registers the car. Generali lists insurance of a car on PROBA plates as a separate kind of cover, and it was not confirmed whether one policy serves for both the PROBA plates and the registration, so ask the insurer. Any insurer that sells AO can issue the policy. Dunav osiguranje, for example, asks for the owner's ID and the car's papers, among them the registracioni list or the purchase invoice.

Cover starts when the day stated as its start ends, unless agreed otherwise (Compulsory Traffic Insurance Law, article 5), so if you must drive at once, check, as the NBS advises, that the policy names the hour and minute it starts. The policy is taken out for a year and paid in advance. A shorter one is possible, but it earns no bonus. If you deregister the car, you can claim back the premium for the rest of the period.

The green card: where you need it

With Serbian plates you need no green card in the countries of the Multilateral Guarantee Agreement: the EU states, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Andorra, the United Kingdom, BiH and Montenegro. You need one for North Macedonia, Albania, Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Tunisia, Morocco and Azerbaijan; Russia, Belarus and Iran are suspended from the system, so there you buy border insurance (Association of Serbian Insurers).

The green card is issued by the insurer of your AO policy and is valid as long as the policy. In September 2026 Wiener Städtische, Dunav osiguranje and Sava osiguranje charged 2,000 RSD for it. You do not need it to register the car.

A new law is being prepared

The Ministry of Finance held a public consultation on a new Compulsory Traffic Insurance Law from 22 May to 14 June 2026. The draft keeps the UOS minimum tariff and the bonus-malus system until Serbia joins the EU (draft articles 41, 43 and 115). An insurer that takes claims-history statements into account would have to treat those issued in EU states as it treats Serbian ones (article 84), and the green card would be issued free or at its administrative cost (article 32). On 23 September 2026 the draft was not before the National Assembly, so the 2009 law still applies; the new one would apply six months after it enters into force.

Common mistakes

  • "The price depends on engine size, the car's age, where it is registered and the driver's age." For a private passenger car the power band and the bonus-malus class set the price: at Wiener Städtische and Sava osiguranje the year, engine size and municipality did not change it, and the driver's age is not asked.
  • "Every insurer charges the same" or "the difference can be several thousand dinars". All apply one premium system, but since 2024 some have raised prices by 2.2% to 2.6%: over 110 kW Sava osiguranje asked 28,210 RSD and Wiener Städtische 27,597.15 RSD, about 610 RSD less.
  • "The highest bonus is a discount of more than 50%." The highest bonus, class 1, is 25%.
  • "The bonus goes with the driver, not the car." It belongs to the owner and moves only from a car the owner sold, gave away or deregistered in Serbia in the last three years; otherwise a newly bought car starts in class 4.
  • "Over 110 kW the policy costs 15,716 RSD, VAT included." That price list is out of date: in September 2026 a first policy cost 27,597.15 RSD at Wiener Städtische, with the 5% premium tax, and insurance carries no VAT.
  • "You need a green card for BiH." BiH applies the Multilateral Guarantee Agreement, so Serbian plates are enough; North Macedonia and Albania still require the green card.

This step of the import

Work out the whole cost

Sources

The official laws, decisions and pages this guide rests on, read on 23/09/2026. Rules and amounts change, so check the ones that matter to you before you buy.