Everyone searches for the fine. The fine is the smallest line item. A San Diego DUI comes with a ledger of costs — court assessments, mandatory DUI school, DMV fees, towing, insurance, lost time — that keeps running long after the courtroom empties. This page lays out the whole ledger, line by line, and shows where a strong defense changes the math.
Type “DUI fine San Diego” into a search bar and you get the statutory answer: for a first-offense misdemeanor DUI, the fine is $390 to $1,000. That number is technically true — and deeply misleading. California stacks court costs and penalty assessments on top of the base fine, which means the amount you actually write a check for on a first offense is typically around $2,100.
Repeat offenses keep the same $390-to-$1,000 base fine but the assessments climb: a second offense within ten years typically totals around $2,500, and a third typically around $3,000. A DUI causing injury — always chargeable as a felony in California — carries fines of $390 to $10,000, plus restitution to injured parties. A fourth offense within ten years brings fines that are substantially higher, often exceeding $1,000 before the significant penalty assessments are added.
Here’s the part the search result doesn’t tell you: the fine — even with every assessment stacked on — is one line on a much longer ledger. The rest of this page is that ledger.
This is what a first-offense misdemeanor DUI actually invoices you for, line by line. Where a figure comes from California’s penalty structure, it’s filled in. Where the real-world cost depends on your case — the tow yard, the interlock vendor, your insurer — the line is left open. Those blanks are not small. That’s the point.
| Line item | What it covers | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Court fine | The statutory base fine for a first-offense misdemeanor DUI. | $390–$1,000 |
| SubtotalCourt fines & assessments — the number everyone budgets for | ≈ $1,800–$2,100base fine $390–$1,000 plus the court costs & penalty assessments stacked on top | |
| DUI school | Mandatory 3-month alcohol education program on a first offense — longer if your BAC was over .20% (and 18–30 months on a second or third offense). | roughly $500+first-offender program; more for extended programs — confirm with a current San Diego provider |
| DMV fees | License reissue and administrative fees after a suspension — a separate DMV track with its own 10-day clock to request a hearing. | varies by actionreinstatement/reissue & restriction fees — confirm the current DMV fee schedule |
| Towing & impound | Your car doesn’t drive itself home from the arrest. Tow charge plus per-day storage at the impound lot. | several hundred to $1,000+tow plus daily storage; longer impounds can exceed $1,000 — varies by tow company, city contract & storage days |
| Ignition interlock device | If required for restricted driving: installation plus monthly monitoring for the life of the requirement. | ≈ $70–$150+ install, then ≈ $60–$100+/moyou pay the full program cost unless eligible for reduced fees; whether one’s required depends on the conviction, priors, injury/refusal facts & restriction path — confirm with a current vendor |
| Insurance increases | Higher premiums, typically for years — often the largest dollar line on this whole table. | a substantial multi-year increasean SR-22 filing is typically required to drive on a restricted or reinstated license, commonly for three years; how much your premium rises depends on your carrier, history, coverage & eligibility |
| Lost wages & time | Court dates, DUI-school sessions, possible jail time, and getting to work without a license for up to 6 months. | varies by job & case |
| Attorney | The one line item that can shrink every line above it — by fighting the suspension, the charge, and the conviction itself. | discussed at your free consultationdepends on the facts, priors, testing issues, the DMV hearing & trial posture |
| The real cost of a San Diego DUImany times the ~$2,100 in fines once every line above is counted | $10,000+ | |
Dollar figures shown are drawn from California’s DUI penalty structure as summarized on our San Diego DUI penalties page. Blank lines are real costs that vary case by case — Josh will walk you through every one of them for your situation.
The ledger above is only the part you can pay with a check. The rest of the bill is collected in freedom, mobility, and record — and it escalates fast with each offense within a ten-year period.
A first offense brings a 6-month license suspension, with the possibility of a restricted license if you didn’t refuse a chemical test. A second offense within ten years means a 2-year suspension; a third means a 3-to-10-year revocation; a fourth means a 4-year revocation with stringent conditions for reinstatement. A DUI causing injury carries a 1-to-5-year suspension. Refusing the chemical test adds suspension time with no opportunity for a restricted license.
Even a first-offense misdemeanor carries up to 6 months in county jail. A second offense within ten years means 96 hours to 1 year; a third, 120 days to 1 year. Cross into felony territory and jail becomes prison: 16 months to 3 years for a fourth offense, and 16 months to 10 or more years for a DUI causing injury, depending on the severity of injuries and prior convictions. Having a minor under 18 in the vehicle adds mandatory jail time on top.
Every misdemeanor DUI conviction comes with 3 to 5 years of probation and a mandatory alcohol program — 3 months on a first offense (longer with a BAC over .20%), and 18 to 30 months of classes on a second or third. Felony convictions can bring formal probation. And the conviction itself stays on your record, quietly repricing job applications, professional licenses, and insurance for years.
Courtesy of Gateman1997 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
High BAC (0.15%+): increased fines and longer DUI program requirements
Test refusal: added suspension with no restricted license, and harsher penalties
Minor in the car: additional charges and mandatory jail time
Excessive speed / reckless driving: enhanced penalties
Facing any of these? (858) 289-2624
Look back at the ledger. Almost every line on it is contingent — it only becomes real if the conviction does. A dismissed case doesn’t pay a fine, doesn’t serve a suspension for the conviction, doesn’t sit through 18 months of classes. That’s why the attorney line is different from every other line on the table: it’s the only cost that can make the others smaller.
For qualifying misdemeanor DUI cases, DUI diversion offers a court-supervised treatment path that ends in dismissal — no DUI conviction on your record, and none of the decades-long repricing that follows one. Josh doesn’t just file diversion applications; he testified in Sacramento to help keep DUI diversion alive in California.
And because the DMV action runs on its own track, the license fight — the one with the 10-day deadline — has to be waged separately and immediately. Josh handles the DMV hearing and the criminal case together, along with every other front of a DUI defense: the stop, the field sobriety tests, the chemical evidence, the charge itself.
The cheapest DUI is the one that never becomes a conviction. Every dollar on the ledger above is arguing for taking the defense seriously in week one — not after sentencing.
Photo: Defending Rights Law Center
Experience: over 2,000 DUI cases personally handled
Focus: entire practice dedicated to DUI
Both tracks: criminal defense and DMV hearings, from day one
Recognition: frequently asked to lecture on DUI topics throughout Southern California
Free consultation: (858) 289-2624
The statutory fine is $390 to $1,000 — but court costs and penalty assessments stack on top of it, so the total a first-time offender typically pays the court is around $2,100. And as the ledger on this page shows, the court payment is only one line item in the full cost of a DUI.
Because different sources count different lines. Some quote only the $390 base fine. Some include penalty assessments. Very few include DUI school, DMV fees, towing, an ignition interlock, insurance increases, and lost wages — costs that vary case by case and vendor by vendor. Any single “total cost of a DUI” number you see online is really an estimate built on assumptions about those lines. That’s why this page shows the structure and leaves the case-specific lines open.
Yes — on every line at once. The typical court total rises to around $2,500, the license suspension jumps from 6 months to 2 years, jail exposure runs from 96 hours up to a year, and the mandatory alcohol program grows from 3 months to 18–30 months of classes. A third offense within ten years escalates again: around $3,000 in typical court costs, 120 days to a year in jail, and a 3-to-10-year license revocation.
The DMV process moves on its own track, separate from the criminal case — and you have only 10 days after the arrest to request a DMV hearing before the license action proceeds. That deadline is why calling an attorney in the first week matters so much: the suspension has real costs in wages, logistics, and DMV fees, and the hearing is your chance to fight it.
It’s the only line on the ledger that can reduce the others. Nearly every cost on this page is contingent on the case ending in a conviction and a suspension. A defense that wins the DMV hearing, challenges the evidence, or resolves the case through diversion and dismissal removes entire lines from the ledger — the fine, the classes tied to a conviction, and the years of record-driven costs that follow. What that defense costs for your case is exactly what the free consultation is for.
“In my career, I have personally handled over 2000 DUI cases, and I am frequently asked to lecture on DUI topics throughout Southern California. I stand ready to help you with the legal challenges you are facing.”
— Joshua Price, San Diego DUI Attorney
The ledger on this page has blanks because every case is different. In a free consultation, Josh will walk through your arrest, your license deadline, and what each line is likely to cost you — and what a serious defense can take off the table. We are receiving calls 24/7.
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