Car transport
Car transport to Vienna
1,110 kilometres to Vienna. With two things worth knowing first: the Austrian vignette is only valid eighteen minutes after purchase, and the whole of Vienna is paid parking on weekdays.
Why this route
One driving day eastwards
Vienna lies about 1,110 kilometres away. That is one driving day of some twelve hours, including the required breaks. The hotel night falls on the Austrian side, before I fly home; that night and the secured parking for your car are in the price.
The route runs through Germany — the A3 past Cologne and Frankfurt, then Nuremberg and Passau — and over the border at Suben onto the A8 to Linz and Vienna. Germany asks nothing of private cars; Austria does: a motorway vignette is compulsory there.
Two things are worth flagging. First: the digital Austrian vignette only becomes valid eighteen minutes after purchase. That sounds like a detail, but it is exactly where people come unstuck at the border when they try to buy one en route. Second: since March 2022 the whole of Vienna is a Kurzparkzone on weekdays, across all twenty-three districts. Where the car ends up is therefore not an afterthought but something we agree in advance.
Your route
Netherlands → Vienna
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 — Vienna
One-way
~ 1110 km · ~ 1 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 640
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 730
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 1.660
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 1.370 excl. VAT
Return (combi)
~ 1110 km · ~ 2 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 1.200
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 1.280
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 3.010
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 2.480 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
Vienna is a capital with a classical season and a position that opens up a good deal further east.
A longer stay or posting
Vienna houses international organisations, a large university and a solid business core. On a stay of months, having the car brought out costs less than hiring, and you drive your own car. For a weekend in the Wachau, at the Neusiedler See or in Bratislava — an hour away — that car is the difference.
The ball season and the Festwochen
From January to March Vienna is a city of balls, with the Opernball at the Staatsoper as the best-known moment. May and June bring the Wiener Festwochen. In those periods hotels are dearer and parts of the inner city around the Ring are closed to through traffic.
Concerts, opera and matches
The Staatsoper and the Musikverein draw audiences from across Europe, the Wiener Stadthalle is Austria's largest venue and the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in the Prater its largest stadium. For anyone going several evenings running, your own car is more practical than arranging it afresh each time.
Carrying on into eastern Europe
Bratislava is an hour away, Budapest two and a half, Prague three. For many people Vienna is not the end point but the place where the car has to be waiting for what comes next.
The route
Eleven hundred and ten kilometres, in one day
One long day, the overnight stop on the Austrian side, and the vignette arranged in advance.
- 01
Arranging the vignette and the parking spot
Before departure
The Austrian vignette costs € 9.60 for ten days, € 12.80 for the digital version valid for nearly two months, € 32.00 for two months or € 106.80 for a year; without one the fine is € 120. The digital version only becomes valid eighteen minutes after purchase, so I buy it well in advance and not at the border. We also agree where the car will stand, because the whole of Vienna is paid parking on weekdays.
- 02
Collection in the Netherlands
Day 1, morning
I collect the car where it stands, walk round it with you and photograph its condition at departure. The same procedure as on any other run.
- 03
Through Germany to Bavaria
Day 1, ± 700 km
Down the A3 past Cologne, Frankfurt, Würzburg and Nuremberg into Bavaria. No toll for cars in Germany. I stop at a hotel on the route with secured or gated parking; that night is in the price.
- 04
Over the border to Linz and Vienna
Day 2, ± 450 km
From Passau over the border at Suben onto the A8, past Linz and Sankt Pölten to Vienna. From the border the vignette applies, as do the Austrian speed limits, on some motorway sections reduced for air-quality reasons.
- 05
Delivery and the way back
Day 2, end
I deliver to the agreed spot and tell you exactly where it stands, with photographs. Then I fly home from Vienna, which has several direct flights a day to the Netherlands all year. That ticket is in the price.
Practical points
The digital vignette is only valid after eighteen minutes
The Austrian vignette costs € 9.60 for ten days, € 12.80 for the digital version valid nearly two months, € 32.00 for two months and € 106.80 for a year. Without one the fine is € 120. The detail that catches people out: the digital vignette only becomes valid eighteen minutes after purchase. Buy it in the queue at the border and those first kilometres are unprotected against a check. The Swiss e-vignette works differently and is valid immediately, reason not to assume it works the same everywhere.
From 2027 digital only
2026 is the last year in which you can still choose between the sticker on the windscreen and the digital vignette. From 2027 only the digital version remains. For you that changes nothing — I arrange it in advance either way — but it is worth knowing if you ever drive out yourself.
The whole of Vienna is a Kurzparkzone on weekdays
Since March 2022 all twenty-three Viennese districts have a paid short-stay parking regime on weekdays, with a maximum parking time. There is therefore no district left where you can simply leave the car standing. On a stay of more than a few days a garage or a private space is almost always the better solution, and we agree that in advance rather than my leaving it somewhere and you sorting it out.
Austria has no emissions sticker
Unlike Germany, Austria has no Umweltplakette for private cars. Some motorway sections do carry reduced speed limits for air-quality reasons, but no sticker goes with them. If the car carries on into South Tyrol or Italy, the Brenner is added: that motorway carries a separate sector toll on top of the vignette.
Luggage travels with it
No trailer is involved, so whatever fits in your car comes along. On a stay of months that saves a separate shipment, and nothing has to be left at home because it would not fit in a case.
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
€ 9.60 for ten days, € 12.80 for the digital version valid nearly two months, € 32.00 for two months or € 106.80 for a year. Without one the fine is € 120. I arrange it in advance and it is in the indication.
Yes. The digital Austrian vignette only becomes valid eighteen minutes after purchase. That is exactly why I buy it well before departure and not in the queue at the border.
We agree that in advance. Since March 2022 the whole of Vienna is a Kurzparkzone on weekdays, across all twenty-three districts, with a maximum parking time. On a stay of more than a few days a garage or a private space is almost always the better solution.
No. Austria has no Umweltplakette for private cars as Germany does. Some motorway sections do carry reduced speed limits for air-quality reasons, but no sticker goes with them.
Yes. Bratislava is an hour away, Budapest two and a half. For South Tyrol the Brenner is added, with a separate sector toll on top of the vignette. I include that beforehand.
By air from Vienna, which has several direct flights a day to the Netherlands all year. 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
Back west, or the rates first?
The other direction
And if your car needs to come back from Vienna?
Bringing your car back from Vienna costs ± € 1.440. Going out is ± € 1.660, 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.