Being charged with a DUI means you will be acquiring a new, expensive, undesirable sideline, and getting released into the cold air of freedom after a long night in jail is only the beginning of that pricey, unpleasant journey.
Last week, B.D. of San Bernardino wrote to tell us about his fiancee's arrest for driving under the influence. He then asked what more she had to look forward to as she faces the consequences of the DUI charge.
B.D., your fiancee's DUI charge is going to be very, very costly. She is going to pay the price in lost time, lost sleep and a good deal of cold, hard cash.
A DUI is a serious crime with a wide range of possible outcomes, so I strongly recommend that if your fiancee can afford it, she hire an attorney well-versed in this specialized field. While the cost for DUI representation can vary greatly with skill, experience and the requirements of each particular case, fees average $2,500 or more.
Your fiancee has already had to spend some pretty unpleasant time in jail. While she was being booked, fingerprinted and charged, the cash register was already starting to ring. She will be billed for the services involved in her incarceration - and those fees will add, on average, another $156 to her tab.
Since your fiancee refused to take the chemical test, she has already lost her ability to drive for one year. When her license suspension expires, she will have to pay another $125 to the DMV to have her license reinstated.
You did not mention if the car was impounded when your fiancee was arrested. If it was, you already know that the towing and impound fees can run into hundreds of dollars.
What happens next will depend upon the outcome of her trial. If she is convicted, she will have to pay more than $1,300 in fines, penalties and additional fees to a restitution fund. She may also face more jail time. If the jails are to capacity, or she is unable to pay for some of the fines and fees that she incurs, the court may order her to perform community service. This might involve spending her weekends with a few dozen new friends in orange vests, picking up trash on the freeway.
The court might also order her to attend weekly DUI classes that usually have a tuition cost of around $500. In addition, the court can order her to attend mandatory weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The court also can require her to pay for the installation and upkeep of an ignition interlock device. Her car will not start if she breathes into it and there is alcohol on her breath.
Before she can drive again, she will have to make a pit stop to see her auto insurance agent. There, she will get the unwelcome news that the average annual premium increase for a first-time DUI offense is nearly $7,500.
The American Automobile Association estimates that the cost for a first-time DUI offense can easily exceed $12,000.
Even so, because no one was injured when your fiancee was arrested for driving under the influence, she was actually extraordinarily lucky. The price she would have paid if anyone had been killed or injured when she was driving intoxicated would have been much more than dollars and cents. It would have been incalculable.
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
