Car transport
Car transport to Lake Como
1,000 kilometres to Lake Como: one driving day. And then the lakeside roads, where the width of your car matters more than its power.
Why this route
One driving day, and then the narrow side of Italy
Lake Como lies about 1,000 kilometres away, the same as Milan: one long driving day, no hotel night on the road. The route is identical as far as Chiasso, and then you turn off instead of carrying on to Milan.
What makes this destination different from Milan is not the regulations but the road itself. The SS340 along the western shore, to Cernobbio, Tremezzo and Menaggio, and the SS583 along the eastern shore to Bellagio are narrow, twisting and in places so tight that a wide car has to let the oncoming one through. There are villages where the gap between two façades is less than three metres.
That is exactly where an open trailer or a covered lorry stops. A transporter delivers to a car park on the through road and the rest is your problem. I drive it to the gate, because the car is on its own wheels and no wider than it is.
Your route
Netherlands → Lake Como
One direct drive from the Netherlands, your own car, one dedicated driver, from your door to the destination. Every other destination in Europe I drive just as readily.
direct route · 1 dedicated driver
Price indication — Lake Como
One-way
~ 1000 km · ~ 1 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 580
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 700
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 1.550
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 1.280 excl. VAT
Return (combi)
~ 1000 km · ~ 2 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 1.160
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 1.230
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 2.900
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 2.390 excl. VAT
Prices may vary slightly due to variable costs such as hotel, fuel and tolls.
Who sends a car here
Four situations where this works
Lake Como is house and hotel country, and the reason people want a car there is almost always the same: everything is just too far apart to walk.
A house or apartment on the lake
From Como to Colico is seventy kilometres on a road where you rarely exceed fifty. Without a car you depend on the ferry and the bus, and those do not run when you are doing the shopping or going out to dinner. For anyone there a few times a year, having your own car brought costs less than weeks of hire.
The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este
Every May the finest classics and concept cars in Europe stand on the lawn of the Villa d'Este at Cernobbio, with the Villa Erba alongside as the public side. For anyone wanting to be there with a special car of their own, driving it yourself is often not the intention, the car should arrive fresh, not after a thousand motorway kilometres with the owner behind it.
Weddings and longer stays
The lake is one of those places in Europe where people stay weeks rather than days, and where guests come from several countries. Your own car on the spot makes that kind of stay simpler, especially if the villa is not on the through road.
Collecting or returning a car
A car that spent the summer at the lake and has to come back to the Netherlands, or the other way round, one that has to winter there. I fly out, check it over and drive it back, in one day.
The route
A thousand kilometres, in one day
The same road as to Milan, with a different turn at the end.
- 01
Arranging the vignette and access
Before departure
The Swiss vignette of CHF 40 goes on the windscreen; without it the fine is CHF 200. For the town of Como I check whether the delivery address falls inside the historic centre's ZTL. If it is out on the lake, that usually does not apply and the question is mainly whether the driveway can be reached.
- 02
The Netherlands to Basel
± 600 km
Through Germany on the A3 and A5 past Cologne, Frankfurt and Karlsruhe. No toll for cars in Germany, so fuel only.
- 03
Basel to the Gotthard
± 230 km through Switzerland
From Basel via Lucerne to the Gotthard tunnel. On holiday Saturdays there can be a queue of hours before the tunnel; then I take the San Bernardino or leave earlier.
- 04
Ticino and the border at Chiasso
± 130 km
Via Bellinzona and Lugano to Chiasso. Lake Como effectively begins at the Swiss border: the town of Como is less than ten minutes from the crossing.
- 05
The lakeside road and delivery
Final 10 to 70 km
Depending on where you are, this is the slowest part of the whole run. Tremezzo, Bellagio or Varenna are close as the crow flies but an hour or more by road. I deliver to the address itself, not to the nearest car park. Then I fly home from Milan Malpensa, an hour's drive away. That ticket is in the price.
Practical points
Why a trailer does not get here
The SS340 along the western shore and the SS583 along the eastern one are nineteenth-century roads laid between the water and the rock face. There are villages — Brienno, Careno, Nesso — where the gap between the façades is under three metres and a lorry simply will not fit. A transporter solves that by delivering where it can get to. Your car is on its own wheels, so that limit does not apply.
The ZTL in the town of Como
Como itself, like most Italian towns, has a ZTL in the walled historic centre: cameras at the entrances and fines from € 80 to € 335 per violation, where several cameras on one trip can mean several fines. Out on the lake beyond the town that does not apply. Give me the delivery address at booking and I will work out what applies.
The Swiss vignette
The route to Como runs through Switzerland, the last motorway kilometres are literally at the border. The vignette costs CHF 40 and without one the fine is CHF 200. I arrange it in advance.
Recurring events
The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este at Cernobbio is, every May, the moment the lake fills with collectors and remarkable cars, with the Villa Erba as the public side of the same weekend. In those days the hotels around Cernobbio are booked months ahead and the lakeside road is slower than usual. Anyone wanting a car brought out then books well in advance.
The ferries are part of the route
The ferry services between Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio and Cadenabbia take cars and can save an hour of driving around the lake. They do run to a timetable that varies by season. I plan around that, and on delivery you know exactly where the car stands.
Compare your options
The same car from the Netherlands to Southern Europe, three ways, three price tags. With a trailer, watch which one you are comparing: riding along on a scheduled line from depot to depot is the cheapest there is, but a transporter making the run for your car alone charges per kilometre and bills the truck’s journey home as well. Between those two extremes sits a factor of five.
Trailer transport
€675 – 4,500 excl.
± 10 working days, or 2–3
- €675 – 850 if your car rides along on a scheduled line
- But then you take it to the depot yourself and collect it yourself on arrival, ten working days later
- If the transporter runs for your car alone, door to door, it goes per kilometre — open ± €0.95, enclosed ± €1.35 — and the truck’s journey home counts too. Utrecht–Marbella comes to ± €4,500
- Luggage in the car usually not allowed
Driving it yourself
± €0.25 per km + your time
± 2 – 3 days of your own
- You drive the whole route yourself
- Fuel and tolls come to roughly €0.25 per kilometre
- Plus a hotel night on the way and a flight back
- And two to three days of your own time
Monarch DriveDrive-it-Back
± €2,040 excl. for Utrecht–Marbella
± 3 days
- One dedicated driver drives your own car, door to door
- Half what a transporter charges to make that same run for your car alone
- On the day you choose, not the day the line departs
- Load the car with your own luggage
- 360° condition report + daily updates
Trailer prices, September 2026: the line prices from one large Dutch car transporter's own route pages, the door-to-door price from a Dutch specialist in exclusive car transport's own rate calculator. My figure is the indication from the calculator above for Utrecht–Marbella, one way. All amounts exclude VAT so they can be read side by side. Travel expenses are calculated up front and included in the fixed price, with no mark-up.
Frequently asked
What people ask about this route
Yes. That is exactly the difference from a trailer: your car is on its own wheels, so the narrow lakeside roads and tight village passages are no obstacle. I deliver to the address, not to the nearest car park.
1,000 kilometres is one long driving day, so with a morning departure your car is there that evening or the next morning. There is no hotel night in it.
In the town of Como yes, in the walled historic centre, with cameras and fines from € 80 to € 335. Out on the lake beyond it, usually not. Give me the delivery address at booking and I will check.
The route runs through Switzerland, so yes: CHF 40, and without one the fine is CHF 200. I arrange it in advance.
Yes. Both are within an hour of the same route and normally cost nothing extra. Give me the address at booking.
By air from Milan Malpensa, about an hour's drive from the lake. That ticket is in the price.
How I safeguard your car
Clear about cover
Your own policy stays leading. Damage caused by me: I cover the excess up to €500. What I do not have is stated just as plainly.
Signed transport agreement
Every arrangement — excess, route, planning — recorded in writing beforehand.
360° condition report
Your car's condition fully documented with photos, before and on delivery.
Reply within 24 hours
A personal answer from one point of contact, not a call centre.
Elsewhere on the site
Other Italian destinations, or the rates first?
The other direction
And if your car needs to come back from Lake Como?
Bringing your car back from Lake Como costs ± € 1.350. Going out is ± € 1.550, so the return works out cheaper: the last driving day ends at my own door, with no hotel night at the far end and no flight home. I fly out and drive it back to you.
Ready to have your car transported safely?
Request your indication with no obligation. Within 24 hours you will have a personal reply.