Driving to Russia

by **serkank** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 4:26 pm

Hi All,

I searched the forum but now looking for a more recent answer (that one is from 2008 : viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31251 ) .

I am planning to go to Russia with my car, Finnish registered and I have a Finnish driving license. If you have a recent experience, could you tell how is the border crossing and paper work (besides visa and green card). After that, do you think it is dangerous to drive/park there?

Regards
-Serkan

**Sponsor:**

by **Cory** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:40 pm

serkank wrote:I am planning to go to Russia with my car, Finnish registered and I have a Finnish driving license. If you have a recent experience, could you tell how is the border crossing and paper work (besides visa and green card). After that, do you think it is dangerous to drive/park there?

Check with your insurance provider first. Make sure your insurance coverage covers Russia. Ask them whether they will also cover theft.

Russia requires a sign which needs to be placed in the window of the car..I forget what the purpose of the sign is for but if the Russian traffic police stop you without this sign, you'll get fined. I don't know if you can get that at the border or not.

Which border crossing are you intending to use?

It's not dangerous to drive there (at least from border to St Pete or Petroskoi) but you do need to be concerned about where you park your car, especially overnight.

by **Upphew** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:33 pm

Cory wrote:Russia requires a sign which needs to be placed in the window of the car..I forget what the purpose of the sign is for but if the Russian traffic police stop you without this sign, you'll get fined. I don't know if you can get that at the border or not.

Studded tyres?

by **Cory** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:15 am

Yup, that's the one!

by **davideitalia2010** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:14 am

Hi Serak

Driving in Russia is not dangerous at all except if you drive in the Repubblic of the Caucasus where you need to be more alert. I agree with the othe guy about parking the car at night, better to use private parking, last year for a night park in Voronezh i pay only 50 rubli.

At the border you need to fill a form to import your car. they don't check your insurance. My english insurance company did not cover Russia and at the border they did not do it, therefore as soon as i arrived in murmansk i went to a local insurance company and bough it there, i think it was 1500 rubli for a month.

If you need more info please feel free to contact me, i drove from murmansk to sochi last september and i m going there again in june, from murmansk to vladikavkaz in north ossetia

www.blog.drivingtorussia.com
www.facebook.com/drivingtorussia
www.youtube.com/drivingtorussia
drivingtorussia@gmail.com

ciao
Davide

by **Cory** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 5:50 pm

davideitalia2010 wrote:At the border you need to fill a form to import your car. they don't check your insurance. My english insurance company did not cover Russia and at the border they did not do it, therefore as soon as i arrived in murmansk i went to a local insurance company and bough it there, i think it was 1500 rubli for a month.

The OP did not say he was moving to Russia. He said he was going to Russia and my assumption was that he was going to visit but not stay. In this case, under no circumstances should a Finnish insured vehicle enter Russia without getting permission from their insurance provider. If something happens, insurance is void.

I'm not a "guy" btw.. I'm female!

by **Pursuivant** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 6:40 pm

murmansk to sochi

wau, your ass must have hurt... thats how many 1000 km? and the roads being interesting in places? how long did it take? got pics somewhere?

by **Pursuivant** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 6:49 pm

The OP did not say he was moving to Russia.

Russian customs is like the Finnish one, interested in the car not "moving to Russia" without import tax, so you need to do the "tourist import waiver" paperwork going in and export going out, otherwise getting out might prove "interesting". Back in the day you had to buy insurance from a Russian company, but Russia is now a "green card" country, but the claims sums are very small that get paid compensation.
Might be worth joining Autoliitto, if they have some special deals on coverage.

Oh, and "international drivers licence" is good to have.

People whining about the bureaucracy in Finland should really try a few propuska rounds in Russia. Siberia teaches :twisted:

by **serkank** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:38 pm

Thanks everybody for replies.

I am going to Russia for 4 days only and I alraedy got the green card from my insurance provider (Pohjola) and I told them that I am going to Russia, they said it's OK if my car doesn't cost more than 45.000 euros (which is true

)

I've never heard about international driving license, where to get that, is it really mandatory?

And which border crossing would you recommend? I'll be going to Saint-Petersburg from Helsinki. And actually I don't know about studded tyres, everyday I change mind to switch to summer tyres already or not

Regards

by **Pursuivant** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:57 pm

Dunno if its mandatory any more, but the Russian GAI probably likes to read something familiar-looking
http://www.autoliitto.fi/in_english/int ... g_permits/

by **Cory** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 6:58 am

serkank wrote:
I've never heard about international driving license, where to get that, is it really mandatory?

No, it's not manditory for an international driving licence anymore

by **buldozr** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:37 am

Pursuivant wrote:Dunno if its mandatory any more, but the Russian GAI probably likes to read something familiar-looking
http://www.autoliitto.fi/in_english/int ... g_permits/

When you hear something like "tak-tak, gospodin Ajokortti", you know you should have taken it with you :wink:

by **Oombongo** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:01 pm

You might want a dashboard cam for recording in case someone decides to use you for braking, and then blames you for it

by **serkank** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:53 pm

Hi Guys,

I went to Russia and came back, thanks a lot for all the replies once again. I am writing my experiences if someone might need them in the future:

- Border crossings can take much time, avoid going to border when everbody would go, eg. friday or sunday eves. If you do, take some food and drink

(Crossing time is 1 hour at best and can go up to 6 hours)

- In the border, you supposed to fill-in "temporary car import form", they have only in Russian, same when you come back. You might find instructions on the internet or from the consulate.

- Green card is enough, no international driving license asked

- Traffic is better than expected. No problem with other drivers nor the police. Hence, I was extra careful to rules to avoid any unnecessary contact with police.

Cheers

by **Pursuivant** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:18 am

buldozr wrote:When you hear something like "tak-tak, gospodin Ajokortti", you know you should have taken it with you

Not necessarily, here in the UK the biggest traffic violator is some Polish dude "Prawo Jazdy"