Kosovo Driving Advice and Car Hire Info
Driving In Kosovo
You should check your government’s website for the latest advice if travelling between Serbia and Kosovo as there may be travel advisories in place covering border areas.
Kosovo drives on the right and you can use the photo licence of any country to drive here, providing it is written in Roman alphabet. Drivers from other countries need their own licence plus an international driving permit. Speed limits range from 130kmh on motorways to 80kmh on other roads and 50kmh in urban areas.
Kosovo is developing its road network and currently has two multilane motorways covering around 200km with another under planning/construction-
R6- Linking Ferizaj, Kosovo Polje, Lipljan, Pristina
R7 – Linking Pristina, Prizren, Suva Reka
R 7.1 – under construction – linking Gjilan, Pristina and Kamenica.
Main roads are usually in reasonable condition but minor roads may be in a worse state of repair and mountain roads can be narrow and poorly marked, and lack guardrails, and can be dangerous in winter when fog can reduce visibility. Roads in towns can be narrow, crowded, and used by a variety of vehicles, from armored personnel carriers to horse-drawn carts. Driving standards are often poor- with high speed aggressive driving much in evidence in Pristina. Drivers routinely ignore road rules including red lights at junctions so you should expect the unexpected and drive very defensively. Many vehicles are old and in a poor state of repair and many will be poorly lit so you should take extra care when driving abroad here at night.You should avoid driving to North Mitrovica area due to sporadic violence there.
If bringing your own vehicle into Kosovo, you must have vehicle registration and ownership documents and a local insurance policy. European Green Card vehicle insurance isn’t valid in the country so you will need to buy local third party insurance at the border or from the nearest town at the earliest opportunity. I understand that it is possible to purchase border insurance before arriving in Kosovo, via a site which can be accessed on Google -KIB-Kosovo Border insurance. The site looks a little ‘unofficial’ so I’m unsure how genuine it is. If you use it successfully please let me know.
If you rent a car in Kosovo or drive into the country via Macedonia or Albania, you will not be allowed to drive North into Serbia. This is because Serbia doesn’t recognise the Kosovo border so will view you as having already entered Serbia, without going through an official entry route.
Although I try and keep the information in the site updated as much as possible, in a rapidly moving world, situations can change daily. Therefore please use the site as an approximate guide, and in conjunction with other resources in order to form your view on driving conditions, roads, safety etc.
Kosovo Car Rental –
Sixt, Hertz, Europcar, have outlets here.
We currently have no local car rental partners in Kosovo. If you are a local car rental company who would like to feature on DriverAbroad.com please check details on our Partnering page or contact us on ADriverAbroad@Outlook.com
Kosovo Self Drive Rules-
Cross border rentals may be possible to certain countries if you arrange this with the rental company at the time of reservation. However, cars are not generally allowed into Serbia.
