Interviewer: How would you break down the cost of a DUI, not including attorney fees?
Mark Rosenfeld: One of the questions I get a lot is “What does a DUI cost?”. If you look on some of the advertising from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration or some of the billboards around town that come up from time to time, you may see a number of $10,000 in an advertising slogan. There will be an image of someone blowing into a breath test machine and it says, “You just blew $10,000.”
A few years ago, back in 2011, MSNBC actually did a study and came up with an average statistic for the nation estimating the cost of a DUI being about $10,000. In some states that study showed that the costs were higher; of course, in California the costs are typically higher, and they were in 2011. They continue to be today. The administration office of the court puts the cost much higher than the $10,000 figure that MSNBC came up with. That particular organization came up with a cost of more than $40,000 over a few-year period of time for someone who was arrested and convicted of driving under the influence.
We’ve got other organizations like Triple A (American Automobile Association) and the Los Angeles Times who have done studies putting the cost of a DUI conviction somewhere around $16,000 to $20,000. There are a few different places to get numbers, and the bottom number seems to be about $10,000 and going up from there to over $40,000 for a regular first-time DUI. The costs of a DUI are very, very steep. There are a lot of different factors that play into that.
Mandatory Penalties Such as Fines and Fees
When we look at a case, there are certain mandatory penalties that may be enclosed, certain fines and fees. It’s all different. If somebody is convicted of a first-time DUI in California, the minimum fine is $390. That $390 figure is actually very misleading because that is the “base fine.” A base fine is what the legislature or the statute says the minimum fine is.
However, that’s not what the fine actually ends up being. The legislature has also added what is commonly referred to as a tax or a “penalty assessment” on any base fine. You would have, on top of a $390 base fine, different penalty assessments, which would increase the amount due by four or five times the base fine. It’s not unusual in Los Angeles to do that calculation with just the fines alone coming in at about $2,000. I know other counties in California are more than that, and that’s just for the fines alone.
When we take a look at a DUI, before we ever get the fines, if someone is stopped, detained, and arrested for a DUI they will have other costs. We may begin with costs of the car being impounded, so there may be tow charges or impound charges. Someone may be arrested or taken into custody and required to post bail. Bail may start on a low-level misdemeanor DUI at $5,000. You could use the services of a bail bondsman, for which you would pay a percentage of that, usually 10%, and the bail bondsmen would post the rest. You may be starting right out of the gate at $500 or more just to bail out. The fines and fees and costs add up very quickly when someone is stopped for a DUI.
In California Everybody Is Required to Have Certain Level of Insurance Coverage
In addition to those costs, another big factor that plays into driving under the influence cases would be insurance. Everybody in California is required to have certain minimum level of insurance coverage. If someone gets convicted of a DUI or there’s an administrative action at the DMV against the driver, the driver would be required to have what’s called an SR22, which is a special proof on insurance. Typically this SR22 would cause someone’s insurance rates to go up – not just up in the short run, but up in the long run. Of course, if you want to actually protect your assets and you want more than just bare minimum coverage, the insurance is going to become a big deal and cause increased fees for years to come.
Another cost is with the Department of Motor Vehicles. If a license does get suspended or taken away from you by an officer, there are license reissue fees and other fees. There’s time away from work to deal with the Department of Motor Vehicles to get the license reissued. That can range from hundreds of dollars on up. If somebody is involved in an accident, this would take us out of a normal, standard DUI realm into something a little more complicated. Now we’re dealing with restitution, repair issues. Hopefully nobody got hurt, because then we could be dealing with a DUI with injury.
There are also additional classes that someone may be required to attend. If somebody is convicted of a DUI, there are certain mandatory alcohol classes which cost money. A lot of times people are setup on payment plans to pay for the class over time, but classes can run anywhere from $500 to $1,500 or more – just on a basic first-time DUI. The district attorney or city attorney who is prosecuting the DUI may want somebody, as part of a plea deal, to attend other types of classes, such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving or Victim Impact Panel. There they often solicit donations, which they don’t necessarily tell you are donations.
There’s quite a bit that could go into what a DUI will cost in the short-term and what a DUI will cost in the long-term – that’s before you ever get to attorney’s fees. Additionally in Los Angeles County, if you’re convicted of a DUI – whether it’s a first, second, third – is the requirement of an ignition interlock device. An ignition interlock device costs money to install, to maintain, to remove, and is another factor to consider in whether or not you want to accept a deal or push forward with more litigation and possibly a jury trial.
All of this is before attorney’s fees, and all of this is before the stigma of a DUI conviction on your record. Everything associated with a DUI can cause you to miss work, miss employment opportunities, and cause problems with the license. A good attorney should be able to minimize the exposure and expenses involved in a DUI. Although, cheap lawyers aren’t good and good lawyers aren’t cheap. A good lawyer can actually save you more money in the long-run. It may seem that an attorney is more pricey, but if the case is handled correctly and defended correctly, it can end up saving you more money by having a private attorney represent you than by trying to do it yourself or even with the public defender’s office.
An Inexpensive DUI Attorney May End up Costing More Than You Bargained For
When looking at the cost of the DUI and a private attorney, you may find that some private attorneys are relatively inexpensive. There are attorneys that advertise in Los Angeles that they’ll handle a DUI for $800 or $1,000 or $1,500, which is relatively inexpensive. If you’re shopping based on price alone, you may end up with one of these attorneys. It’s important to take a step back and think about what are you actually getting. If an attorney is charging $1,500 to handle a DUI case, what are you really going to get? What does that price tell you about the attorney?
An inexpensive price is going to tell you a couple of things about the attorney. It’s going to tell you either that the attorney is inexperienced and doesn’t have the knowledge to properly handle a DUI case or, if the attorney is experienced, that they’re not going to spend the time your case deserves. It’s important when investigating and litigating a DUI case that the attorney have the appropriate training and experience and spend the time to do the work necessary to get the very best possible result.
There are some attorneys on the low end, as mentioned previously, that are $1,000 or $1,500. On the other end there are attorneys that may charge $15,000 or $20,000 on a standard first-time DUI. Just like you don’t want to be hiring an attorney that’s too inexpensive because you’re going to get what you pay for, on the other end, if you hire a $20,000 attorney on a regular standard first-time DUI, that’s probably not going to be a wise investment. You may get a great attorney with a lot of experience, but you’re not going to get the return on the investment that you’re looking for. It’s just too expensive.
In Los Angeles County you typically can find a pretty good solid attorney somewhere around the $4,000 range. By collecting fees in that range, the attorney can invest in the classes and training necessary to defend a case. That fee allows the attorney to spend the time working on the training and coursework while they’re handling your particular case. Now, that price around $4,000 would be a price not including a jury trial. Jury trials become very expensive and time-consuming, depending on which courthouse they’re in. The cost could easily double if you’re looking at taking a case all the way through a jury verdict.
It’s important to keep in mind the differences between a $1,500 attorney and a $4,500 attorney. Keep in mind what the result is that you’re trying to obtain. Usually if it’s a low-end attorney, they’re not going to have the training in field sobriety testing; they’re not going to have training in the breath testing or the blood testing. They’re not going to have experience trying cases to juries, or working with the judges and the prosecutors in the local courts.
When looking at the cost of an attorney, the price alone is not the only factor. An attorney’s reputation and experience are very, very valuable in getting the best possible result for your case.
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