A Euro VI car carrier driving 500 kilometres through Germany has been paying around €174 in LKW-Maut since July 2024. The same 500 kilometres in Austria: €286,20 in GO-Maut. France and Belgium charge similar amounts on long routes, and from 1 July 2026 the Netherlands adds its own kilometer charge: €0,201 per kilometre for a heavy Euro VI combination above 32 tonnes.
These are the numbers that have quietly rewritten the business case for vehicle transport. A car carrier running half-empty in 2026 pays this bill across fewer vehicles than a full truck would. Margins do not erode through one large shock, but through dozens of kilometre-based charges, each defensible on its own, that together reshape the market.
Five countries, one shared direction
Tariffs differ by country and vehicle type, but the underlying movement is the same everywhere: kilometre-based charging is becoming the standard, with strong CO₂ differentiation as the steering mechanism.
Germany. Since 1 July 2024, Toll Collect has applied tariffs of €0,303 to €0,348 per kilometre for heavy Euro VI combinations in CO₂ class 1. The exact rate depends on the number of axles and weight. A 500-kilometre route works out to about €174 in toll. Lower rates apply to cleaner CO₂ classes, higher rates to older Euro classes.
Austria. In 2026, the GO-Maut applies a tariff of €0,5724 per kilometre, exclusive of VAT, to heavy Euro VI combinations with four or more axles in CO₂ class 1. Across 500 kilometres that comes to €286,20. A 25% surcharge applies on the Inntal section of the A12 motorway. For a transit route through Austria, the actual toll often runs higher than this base tariff suggests.
France. France operates a concession model: motorways are run by private operators such as Vinci, APRR and Eiffage. Heavy car carriers fall under vehicle class 4. Tariffs rose by an average of 0,86% across the major concession networks in 2026. On top of this, 25 active low-emission zones (ZFE) require Crit'Air stickers, and a national weekend ban applies to vehicles above 7,5 tonnes from Saturday 22:00 to Sunday 22:00. French toll costs are therefore less predictable than in Germany or Austria, but on long transit routes they end up in the same range.
Belgium. The Viapass kilometer charge applies to vehicles from 3,5 tonnes upward. The 2026 tariffs differ by region: a Euro VI vehicle above 32 tonnes pays €0,204 per kilometre in Flanders, €0,194 in Wallonia and €0,267 in the Brussels-Capital Region. A transit route from Antwerp to Brussels to Liège therefore crosses three different tariff levels within a single Belgian leg. Foreign vehicles entering Brussels are also subject to mandatory registration under the regional LEZ; fines for non-compliant vehicles can reach €350.
Netherlands. From 1 July 2026, the Dutch HGV charge applies to N2 and N3 vehicles from 3.500 kg upward. A Euro VI combination above 32 tonnes pays €0,201 per kilometre in CO₂ class 1. A fully electric variant pays €0,038. The Eurovignette ends on the same date.
What stands out is not the level of any single tariff, but the shared direction: nearly every European transport corridor in 2026 is charged by the kilometre, with a surcharge for older or more polluting vehicles.
What this does to the price per vehicle
A car carrier in practice loads between five and nine vehicles, depending on the model and the route. A 500-kilometre route through Germany then costs in toll alone:
- with 9 vehicles: about €19 per vehicle
- with 7 vehicles: about €25 per vehicle
- with 5 vehicles: about €35 per vehicle
The same route through Austria:
- with 9 vehicles: about €32 per vehicle
- with 7 vehicles: about €41 per vehicle
- with 5 vehicles: about €57 per vehicle
These are toll-only figures. Fuel, driver wages, depreciation, insurance and margin still need to be added. The relative pattern, however, holds: every unused vehicle slot pushes up the toll cost per loaded vehicle. With dedicated transport for one or two vehicles, the toll per vehicle quickly rises to three or four times the figure for full loading.
Why 2026 is fundamentally different from 2021
In 2021, an empty car carrier could drive across the Netherlands without paying for road use. The Eurovignette charged a fixed amount per year, regardless of distance covered. Empty runs were an operational problem — bad for fuel consumption and wear — but rarely a direct financial item.
That changes from 1 July 2026. Empty kilometres become visible in the toll invoice, down to the cent. A carrier driving 270 empty kilometres across the Netherlands on a route from Eindhoven to Frankfurt pays about €54 in HGV charge with nothing in return. On the German return leg, 300 empty kilometres add another €100 or so. A typical empty leg or return run will cost €150 to €200 in 2026 with no one paying for it.
For transport partners, this means empty returns have shifted from "necessary evil" to direct loss. For shippers, it means that carrier pricing will move: those who can guarantee volume, or who ride along with already-running capacity, will receive structurally different rates than those who book a dedicated run on an ad-hoc basis.
CO₂ differentiation as accelerator
All five toll regimes reward cleaner vehicles and penalise older ones. In the Netherlands, a fully electric combination above 32 tonnes pays €0,038 per kilometre; the diesel version €0,201. That is a factor-five difference. Germany and Austria apply similar differentiation through CO₂ classes. France works the differentiation through Crit'Air zones, Belgium through emission classes within the Viapass system.
This creates a second layer in the cost story. In the short term, the question is how to use existing capacity. In the medium term — once electric car carriers become realistic on specific corridors — the question shifts to choosing the right vehicle for the right route. Anyone thinking about transport strategy now cannot treat these two movements separately.
What shippers and carriers can do with this
For an automotive company shipping vehicles across Europe in 2026, three practical conclusions follow.
First: a quote without a breakdown of toll and fuel components is no longer reliable to assess. On cross-border routes, tolls vary so much by country and vehicle type that transparent pricing becomes the minimum requirement for sound procurement.
Second: the choice between dedicated transport and spotfilling — loading along on already-running capacity — becomes structurally different. With dedicated transport, the shipper carries the full toll cost, including any empty return. With spotfilling, the carrier spreads that cost across more vehicles and more shippers. The difference does not lie in the rates carriers apply, but in the volume booked under the same toll invoice.
Third: per-trip CO₂ reporting is no longer a luxury. For shippers with external sustainability obligations — supplier audits, ESG reports, customer questionnaires — route-specific emission data forms the basis of every claim that follows. The toll regimes reinforce this: knowing which trip ran in which CO₂ class also tells you what the actual kilometre price was.
In closing
The 2026 Dutch HGV charge does not stand on its own. It is part of a European shift toward kilometre-based, CO₂-differentiated road pricing. Germany led in 2024; Austria reinforced its system in 2026; France indexed its motorway tariffs; Denmark has stated its intention to extend its charge in 2027 to vehicles from 3,5 tonnes upward. What starts in the Netherlands this summer is becoming the norm.
For anyone buying or running vehicle transport, the question is no longer whether this cost level is here to stay. That has been answered. The question is how to lower the price per vehicle within this new regime — and few levers are as direct as spotfilling, removing empty kilometres by smart use of running capacity.