Lost, stolen or faulty driver card: what to do under EU rules

If your driver card is lost, stolen or stops working, you have seven calendar days to apply for a replacement. The authority must supply the new card within eight working days of receiving the application. In the meantime you can drive for up to 15 calendar days, printing tachograph data at the start and end of each journey.

Who you tell depends on what happened

The first question is where to report it. Art. 29 of Regulation (EU) 165/2014 draws a distinction.

What happened	Who you report it to	Article
Card damaged or faulty	Return it to the competent authority of the state of normal residence	Art. 29(2)
Card stolen	Formal report to the competent authorities of the state where the theft took place	Art. 29(2)
Card lost	Formal declaration to the authority of the issuing state and, if different, of the state of normal residence	Art. 29(3)
In every case	Apply for a replacement within 7 calendar days, to the authority of the state of normal residence	Art. 29(4)

Your state of normal residence is where you live for at least 185 days a year (Art. 26(2)). For most drivers it is also the state that issued the card.

A broken card does not go in the bin. Art. 29(2) says it must be returned, Art. 35(1) that it must be kept together with any record sheets used in its place. Read together: you keep it until you hand it back.

The days without a card

Art. 29(5) allows driving without the card for up to 15 calendar days. You can go beyond that only if it is needed to bring the vehicle back to its base. The condition is that the driver can prove it was impossible to produce or use the card during that period. Keep the theft report or the receipt of your replacement application in the cab.

During those days you work with printouts. Art. 35(2) explains how.

At the start of the journey you print the details of the vehicle you are driving. On the printout you write the details that identify you: name, driver card or driving licence number, signature. You add the periods of other work, availability and rest the tachograph could not have recorded.

At the end of the journey you print the periods recorded by the tachograph. Fill in by hand any that are missing. Sign again.

These printouts count as records. They are part of the 56 days you carry on board (Art. 36), and the operator keeps them for at least one year (Art. 33(2)).

A worked example

On Monday 9 March 2026 Luca, a driver resident in Italy, has his wallet stolen with the card inside at a motorway services near Nuremberg. He reports it to the competent German authorities the same day.

On Tuesday 10 March, back home, he applies for a replacement to the Italian authority that issues driver cards. He is in time.

The eight working days run from receipt of a detailed application. If the office receives it that Tuesday, counting Monday to Friday with no public holidays in between, the new card is due by Friday 20 March 2026. That is 11 days after the theft. Even counting from the day of the theft, Luca stays under the 15-day ceiling for driving without a card.

Every journey in those days has two signed printouts. One at the start, one at the end. The traffic office collects them, files them by date and keeps them with the copy of the theft report, so that at a check on company premises the story of those two weeks can be put together in a few minutes.

An expiring card is a different matter

A card is valid for five years at most (Art. 26(6)). Renewal must be requested no later than 15 working days before the expiry date (Art. 28(1)). Do not leave it late: Art. 27(2) prohibits using an expired card.

One valid card per driver, says Art. 27(2). No spare card in the drawer.

Before you set off again

Report it in the right country and keep a copy in the cab. Apply for the replacement within seven days. Print and sign at the start and end of every journey until the new card arrives. Once you have it, have the data downloaded as usual: the 28-day limit for tachograph downloads applies to the new card too.

The hours those printouts have to prove are the ones in the EU driving hours rules. Periods away from the vehicle go in as manual entries; the attestation of activities form is only a fallback. If your truck already has a smart tachograph version 2, the printout procedure is the same.

What this article does not cover. We do not cover the national procedure for a replacement application (office, forms, fees) in any country, nor national penalties for driving without a card beyond the limits. We do not cover temporary cards for non-residents (Art. 26(4)) or card exchange (Art. 30).

The EU texts were read from the Publications Office repository, because EUR-Lex was not reachable on 15 November 2026: first in Italian, then checked against the English text.