Exploring Europe by Car

If you plan to explore Europe this summer by car, you need to prep your car for all the countries you will be travelling through. This may include safety equipment, car repair supplies and breakdown cover.

Before you plan to leave the country you need to check your car insurance covers you when driving in other countries. You may also wish to take out European breakdown cover (pechhulp) and purchase a road map that covers the areas you will be traveling through.

Here is an overview of the items you are required by law to carry, by country:

	First Aid Kit	Warning Triangle	Safety Vests	Spare Bulbs	Fire Extinguisher
Belgium	X *	X	X		X *
Denmark		X
Germany	X *	X *	X *
France		X	X
Greece	X	X			X
Hungary	X	X	X
Italy		X	X
Croatia	X	X	X	X
Luxembourg		X	X
Netherlands		X
Norway		X	X *
Austria	X	X	X
Poland		X	X		X
Portugal		X *	X *
Slovenia	X *	X	X	X *
Slovakia	X	X	X
Spain		X	X
Czech Republic	X	X	X
Turkey	X	X (two)			X
Sweden		X *
Switzerland		X

* Not applicable for Dutch-registered cars, however, if you hire a car (e.g. a car registered in that country) then they are required.

Additional items by country

France – breathalysers/alcohol test.

UK & Ireland – headlight deflector stickers, or manually adjust your headlights.

Spain – spare tyre and equipment to change a flat.

Turkey – spare tyre and equipment to change a flat.

Crit’Air clean air stickers

France has introduced ‘clean air’ windscreen stickers, as a legal requirement in some of its major cities, to identify a vehicle’s emissions levels.

Drivers heading to France are advised that driving without a France ‘clean air’ sticker, called a Crit’Air vignette – which costs as little as €4,80 including shipping – makes them culpable for an on-the-spot fine of up to €450.

The stickers are required when traveling through the following cities:

• Paris
• Lyon
• Lille
• Grenoble

There are also concrete plans to introduce new environmental zones in Avignon, Bordeaux, Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Montpellier, Rouen, Strasbourg and Toulouse.

You can order your clean air sticker from the official French website, https://certificat-air.gouv.fr/en/

Pay attention

There are many more different traffic rules and vehicle requirements. For all the different rules in each country you can check the ANWB website for country-specific information (only available in Dutch).

 

The information in this article is based on information available via ANWB website as of April 2017.