We were hit on the A1 near Zagreb on the way to the coast. Can we carry on?

Only if the vehicle is safe: steering, brakes, lights, tyres, no fluid loss, no loose body parts. If it is, document everything at the scene, keep the police confirmation, and have the damage recorded properly at the first opportunity. If it is not, the holiday plan has to wait for the vehicle.

My car went through a flooded underpass and stopped. What should I not do?

Do not try to restart it. An engine that has drawn in water is damaged further by every attempt, and that additional damage is exactly what an insurer will separate out. Photograph the location, the water level and the vehicle, and have it recovered.

Something bit through the cables overnight. Is that covered?

Marten damage is covered under many comprehensive policies, sometimes with a limit and sometimes only for the bitten parts rather than the consequential damage. Photograph the bite marks before any part is replaced — without that photograph the damage cannot be attributed to the event.

Zagreb and the transit corridors A1, A2, A3 and A4

Almost every road journey to the Croatian coast passes Zagreb, and a large share of the damage we see from Croatia happens to people who never intended to stop there.

Four motorways and one interchange

The A2 arrives from Slovenia and the north, the A4 from Hungary, the A3 runs east to west along the Sava valley, and the A1 begins the descent to the coast. They meet around the city, and the Lučko interchange south-west of Zagreb is the busiest point of the network on a summer Saturday.

The damage here is the damage of dense, fast, unfamiliar traffic: rear-end collisions in slowing queues, side contact during lane changes, and the mirror-and-flank damage that happens when a caravan is towed through a merge by a driver who has been at the wheel for eight hours.

Continental weather is not coastal weather

Inland Croatia gets a different summer from the Adriatic. Storm cells over the Sava basin produce hail that is less frequent than on the coast but often larger, and the flooding of underpasses after a downpour is a recurring event in and around the city.

Water damage is the one to be careful with. A vehicle driven into standing water may suffer engine damage that has nothing to do with the depth of the water and everything to do with what the driver did in it, and insurers examine those claims closely. Do not attempt to restart an engine that has stopped in water — photograph the situation and have the vehicle recovered.

Overnight stops and marten damage

Zagreb is a natural overnight stop on the way south, and cars parked overnight near green space are exposed to marten damage: bitten cables, cooling hoses and insulation. The symptoms often appear a hundred kilometres further on, as a warning light or a loss of coolant.

It is worth knowing what it looks like, because the cause is visible under the bonnet and the repair is entirely different from a mechanical failure. Photograph the bite marks before anything is replaced — that photograph is what allows the damage to be attributed to the event rather than to wear.

Passing through with a damaged vehicle

Being in transit changes the calculation. A vehicle damaged near Zagreb is within reach of workshops and of the road home in a way that a vehicle in southern Dalmatia is not, and the sensible order is still the same: record the damage, establish whether the vehicle is safe to drive, then decide.

Photographs over WhatsApp bring a free preliminary assessment, normally the same day. MOTOEXPERT documents and values damage; we do not settle claims on your behalf and we do not give legal advice, and where a lawyer is needed we recommend a specialist in traffic law.

Frequently asked questions

We were hit on the A1 near Zagreb on the way to the coast. Can we carry on?: Only if the vehicle is safe: steering, brakes, lights, tyres, no fluid loss, no loose body parts. If it is, document everything at the scene, keep the police confirmation, and have the damage recorded properly at the first opportunity. If it is not, the holiday plan has to wait for the vehicle.
My car went through a flooded underpass and stopped. What should I not do?: Do not try to restart it. An engine that has drawn in water is damaged further by every attempt, and that additional damage is exactly what an insurer will separate out. Photograph the location, the water level and the vehicle, and have it recovered.
Something bit through the cables overnight. Is that covered?: Marten damage is covered under many comprehensive policies, sometimes with a limit and sometimes only for the bitten parts rather than the consequential damage. Photograph the bite marks before any part is replaced — without that photograph the damage cannot be attributed to the event.