Car transport
Car transport to Lisbon
2,200 kilometres to Lisbon. With one thing people only notice months later: on Portugal's electronic toll roads an unregistered car cannot pay at all.
Why this route
Twenty-two hundred kilometres, in two days
Lisbon lies about 2,200 kilometres away. After Faro that is the furthest destination on this site: two driving days of a good ten hours, with one hotel night en route in south-western France. That night and the secured parking are in the price.
The route runs through France via Paris or Reims to Bordeaux, then over the Spanish border at Irun, past Burgos and Salamanca, and into Portugal at Vilar Formoso. That is three countries with three different systems: French tolls with barriers and a Crit'Air sticker, Spanish low-emission zones that work differently for a foreign plate than for a Spanish one, and then Portugal.
Portugal is where it goes wrong if you do not know. Part of the Portuguese motorway network has no toll booths: the blue signs reading 'Electronic Toll Only' mean there is nothing there to pay at. A foreign car not registered beforehand therefore literally cannot pay, and gets a penalty notice posted home weeks or months later.
Your route
Netherlands → Lisbon
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 — Lisbon
One-way
~ 2200 km · ~ 2 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 800
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 1.210
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 2.440
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 2.010 excl. VAT
Return (combi)
~ 2200 km · ~ 4 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 1.500
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 2.240
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 4.530
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 3.740 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
For Dutch people Lisbon has changed in recent years from a holiday city into a place to live. That changes what a car is worth there.
Moving or staying long-term
More and more Dutch people live part of the year in Lisbon or on the coast near Cascais. For a move or a stay of months, having the car brought out is the alternative to two days of driving yourself or to selling the car. And because no trailer is involved, whatever fits in the car simply comes along.
A house on the coast
Cascais, Estoril, Sintra and the Costa da Caparica are half an hour to forty-five minutes from the city. That is second-home country, and without a car you depend on a train that does not reach everywhere. For anyone there a few times a year, bringing it out costs less than weeks of hire.
The Web Summit and business stays
In November the Web Summit fills the Altice Arena and the Parque das Nações with tens of thousands of visitors, and hotel prices across the city follow. Lisbon also draws entrepreneurs all year who stay for weeks or months. On a stay like that your own car is more practical than hiring.
Collecting or returning a car
A car that was in Portugal and has to come back to the Netherlands, or the other way round. I fly out, check it over, photograph its condition and drive it back. Two days of my time instead of four of yours.
The route
Two thousand two hundred kilometres, in two driving days
Three countries, three systems, and one overnight stop with secured parking.
- 01
Arranging tolls and zone access
Before departure
Portuguese electronic tolling has to be set up against the registration beforehand, via EasyToll, a TollCard or a hired Via Verde transponder. The French Crit'Air sticker also goes on the windscreen, and I check what applies in the Spanish cities en route and in Lisbon itself. That is one job at my end and none at yours.
- 02
The Netherlands to Bordeaux
Day 1, ± 1,000 km
Via Antwerp and Paris or Reims to south-western France. The most toll-heavy stretch of the trip, and the fastest going. Hotel night with secured or gated parking.
- 03
Bordeaux to Salamanca
Day 2, ± 750 km
Over the border at Irun, then past Burgos across the Spanish plateau to Salamanca. Empty, high and fast. This is the first part of the second day.
- 04
Into Portugal
Day 3, ± 700 km
Over the border at Vilar Formoso, then the A25 and the A1 past Coimbra to Lisbon. This is where the Portuguese toll network begins, including the sections with no booths at all.
- 05
Delivery and the way back
Day 3, end
I deliver to the agreed address, with the tolling arranged and photographs of the condition on arrival. The tolls actually incurred go onto the invoice one-to-one. Then I fly home from Lisbon, which has daily direct flights to the Netherlands; that ticket is in the price.
Practical points
On the electronic toll roads you cannot pay
This is where foreign drivers come unstuck in Portugal. Part of the motorway network is signed with blue 'Electronic Toll Only' boards: there are no booths, no machine and no way to settle on the spot. A car on a foreign plate that has not been registered beforehand therefore drives through without being able to pay, after which a penalty follows weeks or months later, by then at home in the Netherlands, in Portuguese. This is not a fine you can avoid by driving carefully; it is paperwork that has to be done in advance.
Three ways of doing it properly
EasyToll links the plate to a bank card and is registered via portugaltolls.com or at a Welcome Point at the border. There are also the TollCard and the TollService, and foreigners can hire a Via Verde transponder for ninety days. Which suits best depends on how long the car stays in Portugal. I arrange it and put the tolls actually incurred onto the invoice rather than adding a mark-up.
Crossing Spain works differently again
The Spanish emissions sticker is not available for foreign plates, so Spanish cities work with their own per-city registration. For a through run to Lisbon that is usually not a problem because we do not need to enter the city centres, but it is the reason I fix the route in advance rather than improvising on the road.
Lisbon has a low-emission zone of its own
The Avenida da Liberdade – Baixa – Chiado axis is a Zona de Emissões Reduzidas with requirements on the emissions class. What applies to your car I work out from the registration and the delivery address, rather than assuming it will be fine.
Recurring events
June brings the Festas de Lisboa, with Santo António on the night of 12 to 13 June and the marchas populares through the Alfama; whole districts are closed off then and the city does not sleep. In November the Web Summit fills the Altice Arena and the Parque das Nações. In both periods hotels are dearer and I agree the delivery address especially precisely.
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
On sections signed with blue 'Electronic Toll Only' boards there are no toll booths: there is no way to pay on the spot. An unregistered foreign plate therefore gets a penalty notice weeks or months later. I make sure the car is registered beforehand via EasyToll, a TollCard or a hired Via Verde transponder, and put the tolls actually incurred onto your invoice one-to-one.
Two driving days with one hotel night en route. That night and the secured parking are in the price.
That depends on the car. The Avenida – Baixa – Chiado axis is a low-emission zone with requirements on the emissions class. Give me the registration and the delivery address at booking and I will check what applies.
Yes. Cascais, Estoril, Sintra and the Costa da Caparica are within forty-five minutes and on the same run; that normally costs nothing extra.
Yes. No trailer is involved, so whatever fits in your car comes along. For a move or a long stay that saves a separate shipment over 2,200 kilometres.
By air from Lisbon, which has daily direct flights to the Netherlands. 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
Further into Portugal, or the rates first?
The other direction
And if your car needs to come back from Lisbon?
Bringing your car back from Lisbon costs ± € 2.220. Going out is ± € 2.440, 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.