How much does a tachograph card cost?

£32 for a first GB driver digital tachograph card or to exchange an EU, EEA or Northern Ireland card; £19 to renew an expired card or replace a lost or stolen one (gov.uk).

How do I apply for a tachograph card?

Online at gov.uk with a GB photocard driving licence, your licence number and a payment card, for a first card, a renewal within 90 days of expiry or a lost or stolen replacement. Damaged cards, name or address changes and foreign card exchanges go by post on form D777B/DL.

How do I renew a tachograph card?

Online from 90 days before expiry, or by post. The regulation requires the application at least 15 working days before the expiry date, and DVLA then supplies the new card before the old one runs out.

What do I do if my tachograph card is lost or stolen?

Tell DVLA immediately (0300 790 6109 or online), apply for a replacement within 7 calendar days, and drive on two printouts a day for a maximum of 15 calendar days while you wait.

Can I drive without a tachograph card?

Only if your card is lost, stolen, damaged or faulty, for up to 15 calendar days (longer only to get the vehicle back to base), with a printout at the start and end of each day. Not if you have never applied for one or let it expire.

Is the tachograph card the same as the Driver CPC card?

No. The digital tachograph card, from DVLA, records your driving and other activities. The Driver CPC card, from DVSA, proves your professional qualification. A professional driver of a digital-tachograph vehicle needs both.

Can I use my EU tachograph card in the UK?

To exchange it for a GB card you must apply by post and have lived in the UK for more than 6 months in the past year; the exchange costs £32.

Where is the card sent?

To the address on your driving licence. Update the licence address first if it has changed; the card application cannot do it.

Digital Tachograph Driver Card: Apply, Renew, Replace (Fees and…

By Vadym Starynets, editor and publisher · Checked against gov.uk guidance on 25 September 2026 · How we work

Every driver of a vehicle with a digital or smart tachograph needs their own driver card: the unit records to it, and driving without one is an offence unless the card has been lost, stolen or has failed and you are inside the 15-day allowance. DVLA issues GB cards. A first card costs £32, a renewal or a replacement for a lost or stolen card £19, and most applications are made online with a photocard driving licence.

Who needs one

gov.uk: "You’ll need a digital driver tachograph card if you have either a digital or smart tachograph in your vehicle." That covers every lorry registered since 1 May 2006 and, from 1 July 2026, vans over 2.5 tonnes on international hire-or-reward work (see tachographs for vans). The card is personal: DVSA’s rule is to "use only their own personalised driver card to record driving and other activities they undertake". Operators have a separate company card for downloading and locking data; it cannot be used to drive.

Fees

Application	Fee
First GB driver digital tachograph card	£32
Renewing an expired or expiring card	£19
Replacing a lost or stolen card	£19
Exchanging an EU, EEA or Northern Ireland card for a GB card	£32

Applying online

You can apply online to get your first GB card if you live in England, Scotland or Wales, to renew a card that is expiring within 90 days, or to replace a lost or stolen card. You need a GB photocard driving licence, your driving licence number and a credit or debit card. The card is sent to the address on your driving licence; if that is out of date, change the licence address first, because the tachograph card application cannot change it. Your photograph and signature are taken from the photocard licence.

When you must apply by post

Form D777B/DL, downloaded or sent by DVLA (call 0300 790 6109), is required to replace a damaged or faulty card, to change the name or address on a card, to get a first GB card while living outside Great Britain, and to exchange a foreign card. A driver with a paper licence uses form D777B (ST1A) instead. Exchanging an EU, EEA or Northern Ireland card is possible only by post and only if you have lived in the UK for more than six months in the past year. Northern Ireland has its own card and its own application route.

Renewal

The retained regulation sets the timing: a driver who wishes to renew "shall apply ... not later than 15 working days before the expiry date of the card", and where the request is made in time the new card is supplied before the old one expires (Regulation 165/2014, Article 28). DVLA opens online renewal 90 days before expiry. A card that has expired is renewed for the same £19 by post or online. Do not wait for the expiry date: without a valid card the vehicle cannot lawfully be driven, and there is no 15-day allowance for an expired card, only for one that is lost, stolen, damaged or faulty.

Lost, stolen, damaged or faulty

Two duties and one allowance, all from Article 29 of Regulation 165/2014 and repeated on gov.uk.

Tell DVLA immediately. gov.uk: "You must tell the DVLA immediately if your card is lost, stolen, damaged or not working properly." Theft "shall be formally declared", loss "reported in a formal declaration"; a damaged or malfunctioning card must be returned.
Apply for a replacement within 7 calendar days. "If the driver card is damaged, malfunctions or is lost or stolen, the driver shall, within seven calendar days, apply for its replacement." DVLA "shall supply a replacement card within eight working days" of a detailed request.
You may drive without the card for up to 15 calendar days, "or for a longer period if this is necessary for the vehicle to return to the premises where it is based, provided that the driver can prove the impossibility of producing or using the card during that period." DVSA’s guide explains how: take two printouts a day, one at the start and one at the end, and write your name, licence or card number and signature on them, with a printout at each change of vehicle. Keep them with your records for the 28 days.

Card and Driver CPC card are different things

New drivers often confuse the two cards that arrive after qualifying. The Driver CPC card (driver qualification card) proves the professional qualification and comes from DVSA; the digital tachograph card records your hours and comes from DVLA. gov.uk’s "after you’ve qualified" steps list both: apply for a digital tachograph card, and wait for the Driver CPC card. The Driver CPC side is on the Driver CPC page.

Using the card day to day

Insert it before moving off and leave it in for the working day; DVSA’s guide says the card should not be removed "during the working day unless otherwise authorised", the recognised cases being a change of vehicle or another driver taking over during your break. Answer the manual entry prompt at insertion for any activity since the card was last used. Protect it from dirt and damage. Let the operator download it at least every 28 days. The symbols the unit uses, and what a wrong mode costs, are on the tachograph symbols page; the unit itself is fitted and calibrated at an approved tachograph centre.

Common mistakes

Applying for the first card after starting the job. It takes time to arrive and there is no allowance for never having had one.
Letting a card expire. Renew from 90 days before; the regulation requires at least 15 working days.
Driving on printouts beyond 15 days, or without applying for the replacement within 7 days.
Using a colleague’s card to move a vehicle. That is an offence for both drivers.
An old address on the driving licence, which sends the card to the wrong house.

Digital tachograph driver card: apply, renew, replace