Methodology

Every state's data is sourced primarily from official state statutes - the actual laws on the books. Secondary sources include official state DMV websites, state court system resources, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), NHTSA state DUI law summaries, and MADD state profiles. We do not rely on law firm marketing pages or general legal blogs as primary sources.

Each state record includes the source URL where we verified the data, the date it was last verified, and a "Data verified [Month Year]" badge visible on every calculator page. If data has not been verified recently, we flag it.

Our DUI Total Cost Calculator estimates nine cost categories for every state and offense level:

• Fines and court fees - statutory fine range plus typical court costs and assessments
• Attorney fees - state-specific range from legal market data
• Bail and bond - typical bail amount with bondsman fee estimate
• DUI school or alcohol education program - mandatory program costs
• Ignition interlock device - monthly lease and monitoring cost times required months, plus installation and removal
• Insurance - premium increase percentage over the SR-22 filing period, or at least three years, since insurers commonly keep the surcharge that long
• License reinstatement - DMV reinstatement fee range
• Lost wages - share of pay for the working days in the first year of the suspension, lower where the state offers a hardship license
• Towing and impound - typical vehicle recovery costs at time of arrest

Our calculators produce three estimates: low, typical, and high. They are not drawn from court records or case outcomes. For a figure the seed holds as a range (a statutory fine, an attorney fee range, a reinstatement fee), the low and high are the ends of that range and the typical is its midpoint. Some lines then apply fixed factors of our own, listed below, so the low and high are a spread around the typical rather than a best and a worst case.

These are our own modelling assumptions, not figures from any statute or study. In the total-cost calculator: a BAC at or above the state's own high-BAC threshold, where the state has one, raises the fine range by 20% at the low end and 40% at the high end (attorney fees are not changed by BAC); an accident with property damage multiplies fines by 1.3 and attorney fees by 1.4, and one with an injury by 1.8 and 2.0; a felony raises the high attorney fee by half; bail is shown as a bond fee of 10% to 15% of the state's typical bail, or the full bail at the high end; insurance is priced on a $1,600 annual premium; an interlock adds $75 to $150 to install and $50 to $100 to remove; and the CDL line, shown outside the total, is 25% of the income you choose. Lost wages assume you lose 25% to 70% of your pay on working days during the suspension, or 15% to 50% where the state offers a hardship license. Other calculators use factors of the same kind, named in their own result lines.

Lost wages cover only the first year of a suspension. Beyond a year, costs depend too much on your own situation (a job you can reach, a restricted license, a move) to estimate honestly. Where a statute sets a felony-level maximum fine, the typical fine is placed no more than $5,000 above the statutory minimum, because courts rarely come near those ceilings; the low and high still show the statutory range.

States that do not use SR-22 filings (currently New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Minnesota) leave out the SR-22 filing itself but still include the insurance premium increase that follows a conviction.

DUI laws change. States periodically update fine ranges, IID requirements, and expungement eligibility. We maintain a data freshness tracking system that flags when state records have not been verified recently. Our goal is to verify every state's data at least annually.

If you believe any data on this site is out of date or inaccurate, please contact us at contact@duicostcalculator.com with a link to the relevant state statute. We take accuracy reports seriously and prioritize corrections.

Our estimates do not include civil liability costs (lawsuits from accident victims), costs associated with mandatory jail time, probation monitoring fees, victim restitution, or the long-term career impact of a criminal record beyond the initial suspension period. Real-world DUI costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances, the quality of legal representation, and court discretion. Our figures are estimates, not guarantees.