Brač and Hvar: the D113, the D116 and the ferries out of Split

On these two islands the road and the timetable are the same problem. <strong>One state road crosses each island</strong>, and the ferry you can reach decides whether a damaged vehicle leaves in an hour or waits for the next day.

What defines this route

The D113 is the island road on Brač: some thirty-nine kilometres from the ferry port at Supetar to the port at Sumartin, with everything else branching off it, including the climb to Bol under Vidova Gora, at 780 metres the highest point of the Adriatic islands.

The D116 does the same job on Hvar over roughly seventy-eight kilometres, linking the town of Hvar through Stari Grad and Jelsa to the ferry ramp at Sućuraj on the eastern tip. There is no parallel route anywhere along it.

Three crossings serve the two islands and they are not interchangeable. Split to Supetar takes about fifty minutes, Split to Stari Grad about two hours, Drvenik to Sućuraj about thirty-five. The short crossing looks like the quick way to Hvar town and is not: seventy-odd kilometres of island road follow it.

One detail visitors underestimate: away from the two corridors the roads are single track with passing places, built for local traffic and not for the summer load.

The damage patterns of these islands

Loading and manoeuvring at the ramp. The most common case here. Vehicles stand close together on the deck and turn on a slope, so bumper corners, sills and mirrors meet steel edges and other cars.

Passing damage on the narrow sections. On the descents towards Bol and along the eastern half of the D116, mirrors and wings meet the rock face or the verge, and the mark runs lengthways over several panels.

Underbody contact on unmade access roads. Beach and vineyard tracks look firm and are not. Sumps, exhaust systems and underbody trays take the impact, and it is usually noticed a day later.

Stone chips behind other vehicles. Loose material sits in the middle of the lane in summer, so the result is a series of fresh chips rather than a single strike.

Damage found after the crossing. A mark noticed at the far ramp is often attributed to the crossing itself, and without a photograph taken before loading nobody can say whether that is true.

What to do after an event

Document while the vehicle is still on the island, because a car that has already crossed is hard to connect to a place and a time.

• Photograph the whole vehicle before loading if any damage already exists, with the ramp in the frame
• On the road, record the carriageway width and the rock edge together with the damage
• Note the ferry line, the sailing time and the ticket, because they fix the date and the direction
• After contact on an unmade track photograph the surface and the underbody, not only the panel
• Where nobody left their details, include the neighbouring spaces and the height of the mark

Recovery on the islands is a transport operation in itself: a vehicle that cannot be driven has to be booked onto a sailing, and out of season the timetable is thinner than the need.

The survey comes before the workshop. MOTOEXPERT records the damage where the vehicle stands, including at a campsite or a hotel car park. We work solely as independent technical experts; legal questions belong with a recommended lawyer.

Frequently asked questions

I only found the damage after driving off the ferry. Is it too late?

Not necessarily, but the record has to be built quickly. Photograph the vehicle at the port before leaving, keep the ticket for that sailing and note where the car stood on the deck. Fresh marks and transferred paint are still readable and describe the mechanism.

The car is not driveable and I am on Hvar. What happens next?

Leaving the island is a separate transport step, so the sequence matters. Document the vehicle where it stands, then arrange recovery and a booking on a suitable sailing. From Sućuraj the crossing is short but the island road to it is long, which makes the choice of port a technical decision.

I scraped the car passing another vehicle on a single-track section.

Record the place before moving, including the carriageway width and what stood at the edge. On these roads the passing places are the only widening for kilometres, so their position explains the sequence. Transferred paint on either vehicle is the strongest single piece of evidence.