Car transport
Car transport to Marseille
1,190 kilometres: the shortest run to the Mediterranean I do. One driving day, no hotel night, and for some clients Marseille is not the destination but the quayside.
Why this route
The nearest Mediterranean, and a ferry port
Marseille sits about 1,190 kilometres from the Netherlands. That is the shortest run to the Mediterranean on this site — shorter than Nice, shorter than Barcelona — which means one driving day, no hotel night on the road and therefore a better price per kilometre than anywhere further on.
What makes Marseille distinct is that the car often does not stay. This is France's main ferry port towards Corsica, Algeria and Tunisia, and anyone who wants to go there with their own vehicle has to get it to Marseille first. For those clients the quayside is the real delivery address, and the sailing date matters more than the day of the week.
And then there is the point that applies on every French route but becomes concrete here: Marseille has a low-emission zone. In part of the centre the Crit'Air sticker is compulsory and categories 4 and 5 are refused. Those rules apply in full to Dutch plates.
Your route
Netherlands → Marseille
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 — Marseille
One-way
~ 1190 km · ~ 1 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 650
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 750
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 1.700
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 1.400 excl. VAT
Return (combi)
~ 1190 km · ~ 2 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 1.200
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 1.320
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 3.050
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 2.520 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
Marseille draws a different crowd from the Côte d'Azur: fewer second homes, more people on their way somewhere else.
The crossing to Corsica
Anyone taking their own car to Corsica sails from Marseille or Toulon. The crossing takes a night and the car goes aboard, but it has to be there first. I bring it to the terminal on the day and at the time that fits your booking, so all that is left is to board.
A house in Provence
Aix-en-Provence, Cassis, the Luberon, the coast towards Cassis and La Ciotat: all within an hour of Marseille. For anyone with a house there this is the logical delivery route, and considerably shorter than the run to the Côte d'Azur.
Working in the city
Marseille is France's largest city after Paris and a port city with everything that entails. Anyone working there for a longer period who wants their own car instead of stringing hire cars together has it brought once and collected at the end.
The first leg towards Spain
Marseille sits on the route to Barcelona and beyond. Anyone taking the car south in stages, or having something done to it on the way, can finish the first half here. Say so at booking and we plan it as one instruction.
The route
Eleven hundred and ninety kilometres in a day
The shortest of the southern runs, and therefore the simplest to plan. The only thing that can break it is the day of the week.
- 01
The Netherlands to Reims
± 400 km, toll-free to the French border
Through Belgium into France. Belgian motorways are toll-free; the toll network starts at the French border. This is where the distance gets made and where the day is won or lost.
- 02
Reims to Lyon
± 480 km, most of the toll
Via the A26 and A31 towards Beaune, then the A6. The junction at Lyon in peak hours is the only real hold-up on this route; outside those hours it runs.
- 03
Lyon to Marseille
± 320 km down the Rhône valley
The A7 straight south. On summer Saturdays this is the stretch where the whole of France drives to the sea at once. That is the day I avoid, not the kilometres. On other days it is quick and predictable.
- 04
Into the city, or to the quay
Centre, Provence or terminal
The low-emission zone applies in the centre and parking is scarce; around the Vieux-Port, stopping is restricted. If the car is going on a boat I deliver to the ferry terminal rather than into town, and then the time matters more than the address. Tell me at booking which of the two it is.
- 05
The way back
Marseille-Provence
After delivery I fly home from Marseille-Provence, about half an hour from the city. There are connections to the Netherlands all year round, and that ticket is in the price.
Practical points
The low-emission zone applies to your plate too
In part of central Marseille the Crit'Air sticker is compulsory and categories 4 and 5 are refused. In 2026 every French city above 150,000 inhabitants must run such a zone, and the rules apply in full to foreign plates. The sticker costs € 4.91 via certificat-air.gouv.fr; without one, or in the wrong category, the fine is often € 68 and can reach € 450. Give me the registration at booking and I will look up the category and arrange the sticker in advance.
Delivering to the ferry terminal
If the car is carrying on to Corsica or North Africa, the delivery address is the terminal rather than your house. Then the planning works backwards: I calculate from the boarding time, with margin for the operator's check-in. Give me the sailing date and the operator at booking.
One driving day means no hotel night
Over 1,190 kilometres there is no need to sleep on the way. That takes a hotel night with secured parking out of the price and makes Marseille the best-value Mediterranean destination on this site.
Delivery across the region
Aix-en-Provence, Cassis, La Ciotat, Salon-de-Provence: anything within an hour of Marseille sits on the same run and normally costs nothing extra. Just say where the car should stand.
Luggage travels with it
No trailer is involved, so whatever fits in your car comes along. For a crossing to Corsica that saves a great deal: everything you are taking is already in the car by the time it drives aboard.
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. 1,190 kilometres is one driving day, so with a morning departure it is in Marseille that evening or the next morning. That is also why there is no hotel night in the price.
Yes, and then I plan backwards: I calculate from your boarding time, with margin for the operator's check-in. Give me the sailing date, the operator and the terminal at booking.
Part of the centre operates a low-emission zone where Crit'Air 4 and 5 are refused. Give me the registration at booking; I look up the category and arrange the sticker in advance, so we do not find out on arrival.
Yes. Anything within an hour of Marseille sits on the same run and normally costs nothing extra. Give me the address at booking.
Purely distance. At 1,190 kilometres this is the shortest run to the Mediterranean on this site, and there is no hotel night in it. That shows on every line.
By air from Marseille-Provence, about half an hour from the city. 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 along the coast, or a different destination?
The other direction
And if your car needs to come back from Marseille?
Bringing your car back from Marseille costs ± € 1.480. Going out is ± € 1.700, 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.