DUI costs: fines, fees and other expenses are different

The phrase suggests a single price. In practice, the expenses connected to a DUI arrest come from several unrelated sources, and they follow different rules. A licensing agency can charge a fee to restore a driving privilege. A criminal court can impose a fine and statutory assessments after a conviction. A court or agency can require a program or an ignition interlock device. An insurer sets premiums. A lawyer sets a fee.

It helps to sort these into three groups. Imposed costs are amounts a statute directs a court or agency to collect, such as a fine or a reinstatement fee. Contingent costs attach only if a particular event occurs, such as a conviction, a sustained suspension or an order to complete a program. Private-market costs, such as legal fees, device charges and insurance premiums, are priced by businesses rather than fixed in the excerpted statutes.

Because each state writes its own law, the categories that apply, and their amounts, differ by state. Nothing here adds them up, and no total should be inferred from these explanations.

The license case runs separately from the criminal case, and it can carry its own charges. Texas offers a clear example. Tex. Transp. Code § 524.051 provides that a license suspended under that chapter may not be reinstated, and no other license issued, until the person pays the department a fee, in addition to any other fee required by law. The statute adds that the fee is not required if the suspension is rescinded by the department or is not sustained by an administrative law judge or a court. Tex. Transp. Code § 724.046 sets a parallel reinstatement fee for suspensions and denial orders under its own chapter, again excused if the suspension or denial is rescinded by the department, an administrative law judge or a court.

Ohio Rev. Code § 4507.45 provides for a reinstatement fee when a license or privilege has been suspended, disqualified or canceled for an indefinite period or for at least a minimum period the statute specifies, plus a deputy registrar service fee. The section does not apply where a different reinstatement fee is prescribed by law.

Georgia Department of Driver Services guidance on Administrative License Suspension hearing requests states that a licensed driver must submit the hearing request and pay the appropriate fees to DDS within the required appeal period. That guidance does not itself state the length of that period.

Some state laws allow restricted driving during a suspension or revocation, and those privileges can carry their own fees, separate from reinstatement.

North Carolina's statute, for example, provides that when a court issues a limited driving privilege, the applicant or petitioner must pay a processing fee in addition to any other costs associated with obtaining the privilege. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-20.2 directs that the fee be paid to the clerk of superior court in the county where the privilege is issued, and states that failure to pay the fee renders the privilege invalid. In North Carolina, then, this privilege comes from a court, and the fee is paid through the court clerk.

Arizona takes a different route through its licensing agency. A.R.S. § 28-1401 allows a person whose license has been suspended or revoked under listed provisions, and who meets the stated criteria, to apply to the department for a special ignition interlock restricted driver license. The statute provides that an applicant shall pay an application fee in an amount determined by the director, rather than an amount written into the statute itself. It also states that issuing this restricted license does not delete the suspension or revocation from the department's records.

Criminal fines and assessments depend on a conviction. They are part of sentencing, not part of the license case, and they are set by the state's sentencing statute.

Arizona's statute shows how a sentencing provision can stack several distinct financial obligations. A.R.S. § 28-1381 provides that a person convicted under that section shall pay a minimum fine and, separately, additional assessments deposited into named state funds: the prison construction and operations fund and the public safety equipment fund. The statute states that these assessments are not subject to any surcharge, and it describes how the money moves from a municipal, justice or superior court through a city or county treasurer to the state treasurer. The same section provides for larger minimum amounts where a person has a qualifying prior conviction within the lookback period it describes.

The section also allows the court to order community restitution, and it directs the licensing department to require completion of an approved traffic survival school course. A fine, an assessment and a course requirement are therefore three different obligations, even when they appear in the same sentencing statute. How these provisions apply to a particular case is a question for a lawyer licensed in Arizona.

Programs and ignition interlock devices sit between the court case and the license case, and they can carry expenses beyond the fines and fees themselves.

Arizona's law links them directly to restoring a license. A.R.S. § 28-3319 provides that when a person is ordered to attend alcohol or other drug screening, education or treatment, the department shall not terminate the suspension, or issue certain licenses, until the person or a licensed treatment facility provides proof that the person has completed, or is participating satisfactorily in, that program. The same section provides that, on receipt of a report of a qualifying conviction, the department shall require any motor vehicle the person operates to be equipped with a functioning certified ignition interlock device for a period the statute sets. It also provides for alcohol and drug screening instead of a device where a qualifying medical condition is documented as the statute describes.

The excerpted statutes establish these requirements but do not state what a program or device costs or who sets that price. Those questions fall outside what the statutes supply, and a lawyer in the state involved can explain how the requirements operate.

Insurance appears in DUI law mainly as a condition of getting a license back, not as a price set by statute. Arizona's statute, for example, provides that when a license is suspended or revoked under listed provisions, the department shall not terminate the suspension or revocation, or issue a special ignition interlock restricted driver license, until the person provides proof of financial responsibility under the chapter it cross-references. Ohio Rev. Code § 4510.105 similarly provides that a participant in the reinstatement program it describes must provide proof of financial responsibility under the provision it cites before reinstatement.

These statutes require proof of coverage. They do not set the premium, and nothing in them predicts what an insurer will charge. Premiums are priced by private insurers under their own rules, so any change in what a policy costs is a private-market expense rather than an imposed legal cost. No reliable prediction about a particular premium can be drawn from the law itself.

What counts as acceptable proof, and when it must be shown, are questions a lawyer in the reader's state can answer.

Fees for a private defense lawyer are not set by the statutes in this guide. They are agreed between a lawyer and a client, and they can vary with the lawyer, the court, the issues in the case and whether a separate license proceeding is involved. Because both a license case and a criminal case can be active at once, it is reasonable to ask a lawyer whether a fee covers one proceeding or both.

Public funding for defense also exists in some form, though its availability depends on each state's law. Ohio's statute shows one connection between license fees and defense funding: Ohio Rev. Code § 4507.45 directs that a portion of each reinstatement fee it prescribes be deposited to the credit of the indigent defense support fund, with the rest going to the public safety highway purposes fund. That provision describes where the money goes; it does not say who qualifies for appointed counsel.

Questions about how a fee is structured, what it includes and whether appointed counsel might be available are matters to raise directly with a lawyer licensed in the state where the case is pending.

Payment options depend on the state. Ohio's statute, for example, provides that if a person is eligible for reinstatement fee debt reduction under the program it describes and does not or cannot pay the remaining reinstatement fees in full, the director of public safety shall place the person on a payment plan. Ohio Rev. Code § 4510.105 allows the plan to include other reinstatement fees the person owes, requires a minimum monthly payment until the fees are paid in full, and adds a service fee for payments made in person at the bureau of motor vehicles or a deputy registrar office.

Pennsylvania guidance illustrates why the license side has its own requirements regardless of amounts. The PennDOT Driver's Manual states that, in addition to serving the sanction, restoration requirements must be satisfied before the driving privilege is restored.

Specific dollar amounts change with legislation and depend on precise conditions, so this explanation describes how the categories work rather than restating figures. State-specific information is organized by state, and a lawyer in the reader's state can confirm which amounts apply.

Deadlines, limits and penalty ranges are set by each state’s statutes, so this page does not state them. Each state page shows them with the official source and the date they were verified — or says plainly that a figure has not been confirmed yet.