Tachograph fines
How much does a tachograph violation cost?
Tachograph violations cost the company between DKK 2000 - 6000 per violation.
The driver cannot be fined for tachograph violations.
When the police check for violations at a roadside check, they look at 28 days.
When the Danish Transport Authority checks for driving & rest time violations (incl. tachograph violations), they look at a full month, i.e. from the 1st to the last day of a given month.
Fines for violation of the Tachograph Regulation
- Driving without a license.
- Incorrectly or not logged in/locked in with a company card.
- Vehicle files that cannot be validated (corrupted/empty)
- Tachograph calibration/overhaul date exceeded
Driving without a license:
If the authorities can see that the vehicle has been used without a driver card in the tachograph, they will initially ask for an explanation and documentation. If they do not find the explanation sufficient, e.g. that the tachograph should have been set to OUT or the driver's driver card was lost, they can fine the company DKK 6000 per day of driving without a driver card. If the company is aware of which driver has been driving the vehicle without a driver card, the driver can also be fined DKK 3000 per day of driving without a driver card.
Incorrect or not logged/locked in with company card in the tachograph:
When you buy, rent or lease a vehicle with a tachograph, the first thing you must do is log in to the tachograph with your company card.
If you forget to do this, you can be fined DKK 2000 per vehicle that you are not logged/locked into.
Vehicle files that cannot be validated (corrupted/empty):
If a data file from a vehicle cannot be validated, the Danish Road Safety Agency and the police will not approve it. They will ask to read the vehicle again, but if the data during the period is corrupted or if the tachograph is broken, you will not be able to extract new data from the tachograph afterwards. If you cannot obtain data for an inspection, it costs DKK 6000 per day of missing data. If you can't provide a single day in the month that the Danish Road Safety Agency is inspecting, you can risk a fine of DKK 126,000.
The Danish Road Safety Agency usually calculates the amount based on 21 weekdays in a month (21 x 6000 = 126,000).
There can be several reasons for a corrupted data file, such as a defective day in the data file, security breach in the tachograph, unauthorized technical data and several other reasons. We always send an email to our customers if we receive a corrupted data file. You can also see it if you log in to your TachoManagement.
An empty data file is most often caused by not being logged in with your company card in the tachograph. A company card acts as a house key for data and you can therefore only read data that contains activities from the period in which you are logged in with a company card. If the previous owner of the vehicle is still logged into the tachograph, the tachograph can only be read with their company card. If there is no company card logged into the tachograph, you may be able to read the data, but you will still risk a fine of DKK 2000 for not being logged in with a company card.
Exceeded date for calibration / overhaul of tachograph:
When buying, renting or leasing a vehicle with a tachograph, the tachograph must be calibrated every two years, also known as a tachograph inspection. If you overlook this and don't have your tachograph calibrated, it can cost DKK 2000 in an inspection.