Many times you will have wondered why the time recorded on your smart / digital tachograph does not correspond to the local time. This is because UTC time is not changed throughout the year. However, the local time does. For your printout to be legally valid, it must be in UTC time.

UTC time is the legal time of the tachograph.

Do you know what UTC stands for? It stands for Universal Time Coordinated and coincides with Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

If we focus on the time zone of the United Kingdom and Ireland, the local time will remain the same as the UTC time in Autumn and Winter. However, in Spring and Summer, we move our clocks forward 1 hour, so it will make the tachograph time 1 hour above the UTC time.

However, all records from our smart / digital tachograph are made in UTC time. And, the local time that appears on our screen is only valid for display purposes.

Consequently, it is really important for you to keep in mind that for a printout to be legally valid, it must be in UTC time.

I want to change the time on the digital / smart tachograph.

Both smart and digital tachographs (VDO's DTCO 3.0 and DTCO 4.x) can have the local time adjusted in 30 minute blocks, and this should reflect the local time where the driver is operating.

The UTC time can be adjusted by a driver on digital tachographs (VDO's DTCO 3.0) by one minute per week. However on smart tachographs (VDO's DTCO 4.x), drivers are unable to amend the UTC time. For UTC time changes, VDO recommend that drivers / Fleets take their vehicle to an authorised tachograph centre for support.

Please check out the video below completed on the VDO online tachograph simulator to see how the local time can be amended:

 

Quick calculation to change the time of the digital tachograph.

In this table you can make a quick calculation, to work out your local time, whilst taking into account that UTC time is the one that the smart / digital tachograph will always require.

 

 

Conclusions for the tachograph time change

 As mentioned, you must always keep in mind:

  • The time that your smart / digital tachograph should pick up is UTC time
  • You can change the local time on your tachograph by 30 minutes to adjust it to the country you're in

Don't forget that to make changes on the UTC time, it is advised that you take the vehicle to an authorised tachograph centre for support.

To find your local VDO tachograph workshop, please go to the PartnerFinder.