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The Basics

DUI: The $10,000 ride home

A fine is just the start of what you'll pay for a drunken-driving conviction. Insurance-rate increases, legal bills, alcohol treatment and more can push the cost into 5 figures.

By Christopher Solomon
MSN Money

If you need any more reasons not to drink and drive, consider this: A driving-under-the-influence conviction is a financial wrecking ball. A typical DUI costs about $10,000 by the time you pay bail, fines, fees and insurance, even if you didn't hit anything or hurt anybody.

The penalties are intended to be discouraging. Alcohol played a role in nearly 41% of U.S. automobile fatalities in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available. That's 17,602 deaths, a number nearly unchanged over the past decade, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

So states are cracking down. The last of the 50 states have lowered their thresholds for DUI to 0.08% blood-alcohol content. Police arrested more than 1.4 million people in 2007 for driving under alcohol's grip, the FBI says.

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But forget for a moment the humiliation and hassle. Forget the toll on lives. Just look at what a DUI does to your wallet:

Bail. You'll have to shell out bail to get released after your arrest. Cost: $150-$2,500 (using a bonding company is what raises the cost).

(Costs shown in this article are for first-time DUI offenders. Costs and penalties are often more severe if you're a repeat offender or your blood-alcohol content is above 0.15%.)

Towing. When you're arrested, your car gets towed. In some places, retrieving it costs only $100 or so. But Chicago, sensing a moneymaking opportunity, ensures it really hurts: The city charges about $1,200 for the first 24 hours and $50 for each additional day of storage, says Chicago DUI defense attorney Harold Wallin. If you can't afford to get your car after 30 days, the city auctions it and then comes after you with a civil judgment for the impoundment bill, if the car's sale didn't cover the fees. Some cities around Chicago are doing the same, Wallin says. Cost: $100-$1,200.

Insurance. One of the biggest hits a drunken driver takes is in his insurance premiums.

"If you get a DUI conviction, it will likely affect your insurance rates for (at least) the next three to five years," says Carole Walker, the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

How much? "They could double, triple, even quadruple," Walker says. Some companies such as State Farm Insurance will move you to a portion of the company that handles higher-risk policies.

But "some insurance companies will drop you even upon arrest, regardless of conviction," says Steven Oberman, a Knoxville, Tenn., DUI attorney who is the co-author of a national treatise on drunk-driving defense. And if your policy isn't renewed, you'll have to try to find insurance someplace else or see whether your state has an assigned-risk pool. Either way, you'll pay for it. For example: Illinois estimates that the high-risk insurance costs an additional $1,500 a year for three years, on average.

Why three years? Most insurance companies look at records for at least three years and sometimes for five years, Walker says. To begin rebuilding your reputation in an insurer's eyes, you have to keep your nose completely clean -- no speeding tickets or other traffic citations.

But the financial impact of that DUI doesn't end after three years: You'll likely have to go as many as five more years, incident-free, to get back to the "preferred" status with the lowest premiums that you perhaps once enjoyed. In short, "it can be up to eight years afterward" that the DUI can affect you, Walker says. Ouch. Cost: $4,500 or more.

Legal fees. Attorneys might charge as little as $250 to enter a quick guilty plea. But with so much at stake, many people accused of DUI fight the charge. That's when things start to add up.

Attorney Oberman says legal representation to contest the criminal charge can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $25,000, depending on the rigor and complexity of the defense. But that's not the only expense. Oberman says a vigorous defense sometimes requires hiring an investigator ($1,000 to $3,000) to interview witnesses, transcribe the police video and try to uncover evidence to discredit the arresting officer's testimony. There may be a need for expert witnesses who can testify about the accuracy, or lack thereof, of field sobriety tests ($3,000 and up). Usually, attorney Wallin says, fees are $2,000 to $3,000 for a trial on a first-offense case, although they can climb to $7,500 or more with some lawyers. "A lot of times, my fees are some of the smallest expenses that people have to worry about," given all the other costs, he says. Cost: $2,000-$25,000.

Continued: The costs continue to mount

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Thursday, July 23, 2009 8:20:54 PM
True Dat!
Thursday, July 23, 2009 8:49:31 PM
If they would just issue a license to consume alcohol, they could take the problem out of the equation (barring those that always find ways). I'm sick and tired of hearing about how so many GOOD people can lose so much, but still have the right to drink...let them drive sober
Friday, July 24, 2009 3:11:03 AM

Polices Dept are deseperately for revenue, job protection, and they will do anything to make money.

Cops, Bail Bond company, Insurance, Court, Car Towing company, Lawyers, etc making good money.

You are the Only Loser. It is not worthy.

 

Friday, July 24, 2009 7:11:52 AM

The states are only seeking revenue!!!   Law enforcement is not about solving crime.  Its about sucking money off of whoever they can intimidate.  Here is Arkansas, they can pull you over and write you a ticket for not having a seat belt on.  If a cop wants to pull you over he simply says that you didn't have your seat belt buckled.  If it goes to court, then guess who's word the courts are going to take?   While he has you pulled over, he goes on a fishing expedition to see if there is anything else he can bust you for to generate revenue. 

     I was lucky recently. I was pulled over for "looking suspicious" to an Arkansas State Trooper.   He asked me if a search for drugs was ok and I said no!  He then called a three-car backup  and started getting right up in my face and trying to intimidate me.  I said "Sure, search the car" after all I had nothing and it seemed stupid to get shot or whipped on the side of the road.  Forty minutes later, he "apologized" told me that I "looked suspicious" and gave me a warning for following too close.   Now, I know that the republican's don't see anything wrong w/ this, and I don't either now that I carry a firearm, but it seems a shame when the people that are supposed to be working FOR YOU AS A CIVIL SERVANT are the ones that you need to protect yourself from and not the criminal.  I have NEVER owned a gun before, and I have never felt "threatened" by any criminal element.  I HAVE been and felt threatened by the police.  Now, I carry a .44 and the next time it happens, well, read the papers!!!!!

   

Friday, July 24, 2009 7:17:14 AM
For businesspeole they forgot one penalty.  You will have great difficulty EVER renting a car again! They all do an automatic scan of databases now.  Some will not rent if you have more than one speeding ticket too.
Friday, July 24, 2009 7:38:57 AM
Wisconsin is just now thinking about getting tough with drunk drivers.  They really don't want to get serious though.   My last drink was 8 years ago....right after I got a dui citation.  Right then and there I decided to quit drinking.(Very good idea)   Yes, my insurance went up and I received a hefty fine.  I was amazed to see how many organizations got a piece of that fine.   Talk about piling on.   I had to cancel all of my charitable contributions to keep my kids from suffering for my sin.  I was chastised for this but charity begins at home.  In reality, I guess I got off easy.   It just cost me some money.  I was able to quit drinking so I should be counting my blessings.   I could have very easily killed someone.   The bottom line is "Don't drink and drive".   On all fronts it just isn't worth the risk.  How could I ever have lived with myself had I killed someone.
Friday, July 24, 2009 8:52:53 AM
Pretty parental aren't we? DWI/DWIA bashing is a metaphor for post 9/11 America. While the highways are more crowded than in my day "with one hand on the bottle and the other on the throttle", the fact remains that distracted driving of all sorts is at least as dangerous and impossible to regulate. Oops, darn it, there goes my coffee all over my cellphone! ("Transfusion...transfusion... I'm just a mess of contusions...never, never, never gonna' speed again..")
Friday, July 24, 2009 9:23:21 AM

Alright, lets just look at this from a math standpoint :

 

Lets assume that you take a cab out to a bar 2 nights a week every week of the year.  An average cab ride is $20 each way, so that means $40 a night and let the value "Y" represent the total number of weeks.  Lets evaluate this...

 

2nights x $40 x "Y" = $10000

 

Solving for "Y" you get 125 weeks, that is equal to approximately 2.5 years.  So if you evaluate this information as long as you drink and drive and go at least 2.5 years without getting a DUI you are still saving more money! 

 

I'm not advocating drinking and driving, simply pointing out a fact.  Maybe cabs should lower there rates.....

Friday, July 24, 2009 10:01:50 AM
Wizard II, I agree with you, but I don't think I would pack a gun. Get a small tape recorder and keep it in car.
Friday, July 24, 2009 10:07:16 AM
I agree, Wisconsin is just starting crack down on DUI offenders.  My grandparents were hit head on by a drunk driver in WI(luckily they survived).  This was the guys 8th DUI in 10 years!  He's out on bail right now with a court ordered restriction of not visiting taverns.  I flew out from CA to care for my grandparents after the accident and to look for the guy because I knew the state wasn't going to anything but give him a slap on the wrist. 
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