One thing overlanders need to be sure of when traveling in West Africa is that their vehicles have relevant and current 3rd party insurance. You won’t make it between two big towns in many West African countries without coming across a police checkpoint where you will be asked to produce this documentation.

CEDEAO (French) or ECOWAS (English) is the Economic Community of West African States. It currently has 15 member states and the following 14 states participate in the Brown Card insurance system. Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

What is the brown card insurance system?

The Brown Card (“carte brune” in French) system in an international motor insurance card system that is an arrangement between insurance companies and multiple countries with the aim of benefiting both motorists and victims of road traffic accidents in the sub region.

The streamlined process enables motorists to easily cross borders whilst ensuring they remain insured in the other member states. You could imagine the misery of getting a new insurance policy in each country you step foot in.

Motorists can take out 3rd party vehicle insurance in any of the member states and then you are eligible for the Brown Card endorsement. Any company that offers auto insurance will be able to sell you Brown Card insurance.

In Mali, for example, we purchase this insurance with a company called Saham. In Senegal, we often find ourselves using CNART. This

An example of insurance with the Brown Card endorsement

I don’t know of any overland travelers that have made it through a trip without getting the brown card endorsement. Anyways, you do not want to find yourself at a border crossing – or a police checkpoint – caught between being stranded or paying a bribe. You would feel particularly foolish in such a situation when you learn that one year’s worth of ECOWAS insurance is not going to break the bank. For our scooter trips we pay a measly 25,000 CFA for a year’s worth of coverage.

It should be noted that the ECOWAS brown card endorsement and insurance has nothing to do with customs and whether or not you have a carnet de passage.

Want to share any of your own tips about taking out 3rd party insurance for overland vehicles in West Africa? Fire away in the comments.