Car transportacross Europe

Contractual carrier, not a broker

Five car carriers have been ours since 2014. Alongside them, around a hundred trucks run on our schedule with certified partners, following demand — and that figure means nothing on its own, so here is the sentence that counts: HTL remains the contractual carrier (Frachtführer), liable under CMR on every consignment, including those a partner drives, with a single point of contact from quotation to delivery. We operate under Community licence D-05-026-G-125, issued by the Bezirksregierung Düsseldorf.

A broker works differently. It introduces two parties, hands the transport to a third, and steps out of the contract: when there is a delay or damage, you discover that the company you contracted with is not the one on the road. Subcontracting is our normal operating model, not a way of absorbing peaks. What never changes is the name on the consignment note.

Full loads and single vehicles: what is possible where

Into Italy, Spain and Portugal we accept full loads only: the whole truck, which is 6 to 10 vehicles depending on their height. The rule applies to everyone, private customers included — over those distances a single vehicle cannot be moved at a sensible price.

On the northern corridors — Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark — we can still take a single vehicle, placed on a rotation already running. Private customers are accepted; priority goes to trade flows, whose rhythm sets the planning.

Indicative transit times: two figures not to be confused

Two different figures get quoted in this trade, and mixing them up is all it takes to create a misunderstanding., and mixing them up is enough to create a misunderstanding.

Driving time is the time the truck spends on the road: 1 to 2 working days on the short northern corridors (Germany, France, Benelux), 2 to 3 towards Italy, Spain and Portugal. Add 3 to 4 days between quote confirmation and collection, the time it takes to place your vehicle on a rotation.

End-to-end time runs from collection to delivery and includes building the load: Denmark ↔ France 3 to 6 working days, Denmark → Germany 2 to 4, Scandinavia 5 to 6.

All of these figures are indicative and confirmed on the quotation. They are never guaranteed.

Paperwork, liability, tolls

At collection we issue a CMR consignment note and a condition report with a damage diagram; the same documents are countersigned at delivery. That note is what puts our liability as carrier in writing — our article on the CMR consignment note sets out what to check on it.

CMR liability applies to every consignment, including those a partner drives. On top of that, ad valorem insurance up to €250,000 per vehicle is available as an option.

Intra-EU transport requires no customs formalities, but it does follow the cabotage rules, which our article on EU cabotage breaks down. On tolls, the German Maut runs from €0.187 to €0.473 per km depending on emission class and axle count; our article on 2026 truck tolls also covers the Danish KmToll and the Swiss LSVA. And if you want to know how many vehicles fit on a car carrier, there is a dedicated article on that.