DUI Defense · October 28, 2026 · 12 min read
How Much Does a DUI Cost in California
The fine the statute names is $390. The schedule the court actually works from totals $1,670, and the gap is six penalty statutes doing arithmetic on that fine.
Criminal defense only. We do not file lawsuits or represent victims.
A first-offense DUI under Vehicle Code section 23152 carries a base fine of $390 to $1,000. The Judicial Council of California's 2026 bail and penalty schedule puts the court total for that same $390 fine at $1,670. The gap is not a markup. It is six penalty statutes doing arithmetic on the fine.
Key Takeaways
- The Judicial Council's Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedules, 2026 Edition, lists Vehicle Code 23152(a,b) at a base fine of $390 and a Total Bail of $1,670.
- Every $10 of base fine actually costs $41: the $10 itself, $29 in penalty assessments, and $2 of the 20 percent surcharge. That ratio is the whole story.
- Two of the penalty lines are county decisions, and a third depends on whether the court sits at night. The same offense at the same base fine totals $1,455 on Shasta County's own 2026 schedule.
- $1,670 is court money only. The DUI program, the $150 minimum restitution fine, the $125 DMV fee and any chemical-test cost sit outside it.
- This page is general information about California law as of September 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
The $1,670 broken into its parts
The Judicial Council publishes a Traffic Misdemeanor Bail and Penalty Schedule that itemizes each statutory line rather than printing one number. The 2026 edition's row for driving under the influence of alcohol reads as follows. Every figure below is that row, and every statute is named.
| Line | Authority | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base fine | Veh. Code 23536 | $390 minimum | $390 |
| State penalty | Pen. Code 1464(a)(1) | $10 per $10 of fine | $390 |
| County penalty | Gov. Code 76000(e) | up to $7 per $10 | $273 |
| DNA penalties | Gov. Code 76104.6, 76104.7 | $1 + $4 per $10 | $195 |
| Court construction penalty | Gov. Code 70372(a) | $5 per $10 | $195 |
| State surcharge | Pen. Code 1465.7(a) | 20% of base fine | $78 |
| Emergency medical services penalty | Gov. Code 76000.5 | $2 per $10, if county elects | $78 |
| Fine, surcharge and penalties | $1,599 | ||
| Court operations assessment | Pen. Code 1465.8(a)(1) | flat, per conviction | $40 |
| Criminal conviction assessment | Gov. Code 70373(a)(1) | flat, per misdemeanor | $30 |
| Night court assessment | Veh. Code 42006 | $1, courts holding a night or weekend session | $1 |
| Total Bail | $1,670 |
Two features of that table are worth sitting with. The first is that only one line, the base fine, is the punishment the Vehicle Code actually prescribes. Everything else is revenue attached to it by unrelated statutes: DNA testing funds, court construction, emergency medical services. The second is that the fine and the penalties are the same order of magnitude in reverse. The $390 the statute names produces $1,209 in penalties and surcharge.
The ratio that decides the number: $41 for every $10
Add the per-$10 lines together and the mechanism becomes obvious. Penal Code section 1464 takes $10, Government Code section 76000 takes up to $7, section 70372 takes $5, sections 76104.6 and 76104.7 take $5 between them, and section 76000.5 takes $2 where the county has elected it. That is $29 for every $10, or part of $10, of base fine. Then Penal Code section 1465.7(a) adds a surcharge of 20 percent of the base fine, which is another $2 per $10.
So each $10 of base fine leaves the defendant's pocket as $41. Multiply the 39 units in a $390 fine by $41 and you get $1,599, which is precisely the Judicial Council's own subtotal before the flat assessments. The arithmetic is not approximate. It is the schedule.
This is the part that changes how the number is argued rather than merely explained. Penal Code section 1464(b) provides that where a fine is suspended in whole or in part, the penalty is reduced in proportion to the suspension, and the Judicial Council restates the rule in the preface to its own schedule. A suspended dollar of base fine therefore does not save a dollar. It saves roughly $4.10, because the multiplier goes with it. Attention spent on the base fine is worth about four times attention spent anywhere else on the bill, and that is a point most people never hear because the assessments arrive as one undifferentiated total on the docket.
Where you are arrested changes the total
Two of the per-$10 lines in the table are not state decisions. Government Code section 76000(a)(1) states the county penalty as $7 for every $10, and subdivision (e) then reduces it in each county by whatever that county was charging for its local courthouse construction fund as of 1 January 1998. The result is a table of all 58 counties written into the statute itself, running from $2.00 in Lassen to $7.00 in 15 counties. Shasta is listed at $3.50. Los Angeles is listed at $5.00. The emergency medical services penalty is a separate county choice: it applies only, in the Judicial Council's words, when authorized by the county board of supervisors.
The consequence is measurable. Shasta County's own 2026 schedule lists the identical offense, Vehicle Code 23152(a,b), at the identical $390 base fine, and arrives at a Total Bail of $1,455. Its county penalty line reads $137 instead of $273, and its emergency medical services line reads zero. Same statute, same fine, $215 apart: $136 of that is the county penalty, $78 the emergency medical services penalty, and the last $1 the night court assessment, which Shasta's schedule carries at zero.
Los Angeles County sits at the other end. The Superior Court's published bail schedule for infractions and misdemeanors itemizes its additional penalty at $29 for every $10 of base fine and breaks it out across those same five statutes, listing $7 for the county penalty and the elective $2 for emergency medical services. Read that against the statute and the two do not agree, because the table in Government Code section 76000(e) lists Los Angeles at $5.00. The explanation probably lies in the local courthouse construction fund that subdivision (e) subtracts, but the schedule does not say so and neither will this page. The edition published at that address is also the 2022 schedule. Treat the breakdown as the county's stated method rather than as this month's confirmed total, and ask the clerk for the current itemization.
None of which tells you which building you will be standing in. Which courthouse hears the case is an assignment inside the Los Angeles Superior Court, whose jurisdictional territory is the whole county under Penal Code section 691(b), and your notice to appear names it. That matters here for a practical reason beyond travel: the itemized total is produced by that courthouse's clerk, and it is the clerk, not the statute, who can print what you actually owe.
What the $1,670 does not cover
The Judicial Council is unusually direct about the limits of its own number, and the sentence is worth quoting exactly.
"Other mandatory assessments may also be applicable, especially in DUI cases."
Judicial Council of California, Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedules, 2026 Edition, Preface, Section IV
Four items in particular sit outside the Total Bail figure, and three of them are not optional.
- The restitution fine. Penal Code section 1202.4(b)(1) sets a minimum of $150 for a misdemeanor conviction, and the Judicial Council's preface states it is imposed in addition to the Total Bail in every case where there is a misdemeanor conviction. That takes the floor past $1,800 on its own.
- The licensed DUI program. Vehicle Code section 23538(b) fixes the length, at least three months for a first offender below 0.20 percent and at least nine months at 0.20 percent or on a refusal, but not the price. Health and Safety Code section 11837.4, which governs program licensing, sets no statewide fee. The provider bills it, so no honest article can print a single number here.
- The chemical test. The Judicial Council's DUI footnote records that under Penal Code section 1463.14(b) a county board of supervisors may authorize an additional penalty equal to the cost of testing, less the $50 already deposited under subdivision (a). Two limits ride with it: the statute imposes it only where the defendant has the ability to pay, and in no case may the defendant be ordered to pay more than $50.
- The DMV. Covered below, because it is a separate case with a separate deadline.
The DMV bill, and the deadline that closes first
Vehicle Code section 14905(a) requires a fee of $125 before a driver's license may be issued, reissued or returned after a suspension or revocation under section 13353, which covers a refusal, or section 13353.2, which covers driving with an excessive blood alcohol concentration. The statute describes the fee as paying the cost of administering those programs. It is owed to the Department of Motor Vehicles regardless of what the court does, and it is the cheapest line on this page to overlook and the most expensive one to be surprised by, because an unpaid reissue fee means no license at the end of the suspension.
The DMV action is also the one with the short fuse. Under Vehicle Code section 13558(b), a person who wants a hearing before the suspension takes effect must request it within 10 days of receiving the notice, and that window closes long before most first court dates arrive. Our guide to the ten-day DMV rule covers what the request has to contain. If you are reading this in the first week after an arrest, the hearing request is the thing to handle before the arithmetic on this page.
What a defense lawyer costs, and what to do if you cannot pay one
Nothing in the Vehicle Code sets a defense fee, and any firm publishing a single figure for a DUI is quoting a case it has not read. The DUI and driving defense practice at this office quotes flat fees in writing after the case review, once the charge and posture are known, and the homepage puts the reason bluntly: you will never be asked to commit to a number before anyone has read the file. The case review itself is free.
The honest counterpart matters as much. In the last 30 days, this firm's own Google Ads search-terms report recorded searches for the public defender's office and for pro bono representation alongside searches for private counsel. If you cannot afford a private lawyer, the Los Angeles County Public Defender is appointed by the court, and that determination is the court's to make at your first appearance. Asking for appointed counsel is not a lesser move. Appearing without any lawyer at all is.
Where this analysis stops
Every dollar figure on this page is the schedule and the statute. Neither is a prediction. A court may suspend part of the fine, may consider ability to pay, and may permit installment payments. A prior conviction inside the ten-year window changes the tier. An injury moves the case to Vehicle Code section 23153 and a different schedule entirely. A commercial license, an out-of-state prior, or a refusal each change the analysis. For what the sentence itself looks like rather than what it costs, see the charge page for a first-offense DUI under VC 23152 and the guide to your first DUI in California.
This article is general information about California law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult an attorney about the facts of your own case.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a DUI cost in California?
For a first offense under Vehicle Code section 23152(a) or (b), the Judicial Council of California's Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedules, 2026 Edition, sets a base fine of $390 and a Total Bail of $1,670. That $1,670 is the court money only. It does not include the licensed DUI program, the $150 minimum restitution fine required by Penal Code section 1202.4(b)(1), the $125 DMV fee under Vehicle Code section 14905, or a defense lawyer.
Why is the DUI fine so much higher than $390?
Because six separate penalty statutes multiply the base fine before any flat fee is added. Penal Code section 1464 alone levies ten dollars for every ten dollars of the fine. Add the county penalty, the court construction penalty, the two DNA penalties and the emergency medical services penalty, and the additional penalty reaches $29 for every $10 of base fine, with a further 20 percent surcharge on top under Penal Code section 1465.7.
Does a DUI cost the same in every California county?
No. Two of the penalty lines are set at county level. The county penalty is set county by county in a table written into Government Code section 76000(e), running from $2.00 to $7.00 for every $10, and the $2 emergency medical services penalty under Government Code section 76000.5 applies only where the county board of supervisors has elected to levy it. Shasta County's own 2026 schedule lists the same offense at a Total Bail of $1,455 rather than $1,670.
How much is bail for a DUI in California?
Bail before arraignment is set by the county's own schedule adopted under Penal Code section 1269b, not by the Vehicle Code. The Los Angeles County Superior Court's schedule states its own purpose plainly: it fixes an amount on which a person arrested without a warrant may be released before appearing in court. Once the defendant first appears, the amount of bail lies with the judicial officer's discretion and may be higher or lower than the schedule.
What does the DMV charge after a DUI?
Vehicle Code section 14905(a) requires a fee of $125 before a driver's license may be issued, reissued or returned after an administrative suspension or revocation under section 13353 or 13353.2. That is the administrative charge and it is separate from anything the court orders. The DMV action also runs on its own clock: Vehicle Code section 13558(b) gives 10 days from receipt of the notice to request a hearing before the suspension takes effect.
Does the court total include the DUI program?
No. The licensed DUI program required under Vehicle Code section 23538(b) is billed by the program provider, and Health and Safety Code section 11837.4, which governs program licensing, sets no statewide fee amount. The Judicial Council's schedule is explicit that its Total Bail figure is not the end of the arithmetic, noting that other mandatory assessments may also apply, especially in DUI cases.
How much does a DUI lawyer cost in Los Angeles?
Defense fees are not set by statute and vary by firm, by charge and by posture, so any single published number would be a guess. The Law Office of Aaron P. McAllister quotes flat fees in writing after the case review, once the charge and posture are known. If you cannot afford private counsel, the Los Angeles County Public Defender is appointed by the court, and the court makes that determination.
Talk to a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney
The Law Office of Aaron P. McAllister is a Los Angeles firm practicing criminal defense exclusively, in Los Angeles County Superior Court across all districts. If you are inside the ten-day DMV window, say so when you call; that deadline does not wait for the court date. The case review is free and the fee is quoted in writing afterwards.
Sources
- California Vehicle Code section 23536, first-offense DUI penalties: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
- California Penal Code section 1464, the state penalty assessment: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
- Judicial Council of California, Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedules, 2026 Edition: courts.ca.gov
- Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Bail Schedule for Infractions and Misdemeanors (2022 edition): lacourt.org
- Also read and relied on, cited above by section: Penal Code sections 1202.4, 1463.14, 1465.7 and 1465.8; Government Code sections 70372, 70373, 76000, 76000.5, 76104.6 and 76104.7; Vehicle Code sections 13558, 14905 and 23538; Penal Code section 691; Health and Safety Code section 11837.4; and Shasta County Superior Court's 2026 Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedule.
Law Office of Aaron P. McAllister — Aaron P. McAllister, Esq., responsible attorney. 3415 S Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, CA 90034. Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome; every case turns on its own facts. Submitting information through this website does not create an attorney-client relationship. Law stated as of September 7, 2026.