What a Utah DUI Actually Costs You
Utah DUI penalties are among the toughest in the country, and they stack: criminal punishment from the court, an administrative license action from the Driver License Division, interlock and alcohol restrictions that follow you for years, and financial fallout that outlasts all of it. This guide lays out the complete 2026 penalty picture for first, second, and third offenses under Utah Code §§ 41-6a-502 and 41-6a-505, so you know exactly what is at stake — and where a skilled Utah DUI attorney can change the outcome. Remember, everything below describes what happens on conviction. None of it is inevitable while the case is still open.
First Offense: Class B Misdemeanor
- Jail: minimum 48 consecutive hours; up to 6 months possible. Courts may substitute 48 hours of compensatory service or home confinement.
- Fine: roughly $1,405 minimum once the ~90% surcharge and fees are added; up to about $1,900 statutory maximum before fees.
- License: 120-day suspension through the DLD — triggered by the arrest itself unless you win the 10-day hearing.
- Ignition interlock: 18 months as an interlock-restricted driver for most drivers 21 and older.
- Alcohol-restricted driver: 2 years during which any measurable alcohol while driving is a new offense.
- Other: substance use screening and assessment, educational series or treatment, court probation.
A first offense becomes a class A misdemeanor (up to 364 days in jail) with a passenger under 16, a passenger under 18 if the driver is 21 or older, or bodily injury. See our full first DUI in Utah guide for the step-by-step process.
Second Offense Within 10 Years: Class B Misdemeanor, Heavier Minimums
- Jail: minimum 240 hours (10 days), or at the court’s discretion 5 days of jail plus at least 30 days of home confinement with electronic monitoring.
- Fine: roughly $1,560 minimum with surcharge; higher amounts are common.
- License: a 2-year revocation for a second offense within 10 years.
- Ignition interlock: 3 years as an interlock-restricted driver.
- Alcohol-restricted driver: 10 years.
- Supervised probation: mandatory, with intensive treatment and testing — often including an ankle monitor or continuous alcohol monitoring device.
Second offenses are where judges stop treating DUI as a mistake and start treating it as a pattern. Our second DUI page covers the specific strategies that matter most in repeat-offense cases.
Third Offense Within 10 Years: Third-Degree Felony
- Prison: zero to five years in the Utah State Prison.
- Jail if probation is granted: minimum 1,500 hours (about 62 days), plus supervised felony probation.
- Fine: up to $5,000 plus the surcharge — commonly $2,850 or more at minimum.
- License: 2-year revocation, 6 years of interlock restriction, and long-term alcohol-restricted status.
- Record: a permanent felony with all its consequences — firearms, employment, housing, immigration.
DUI also becomes a felony regardless of priors when it causes serious bodily injury, or when the driver has any prior felony DUI or automobile homicide conviction. See our felony DUI guide for defenses specific to enhancement.
The Penalties Nobody Puts on a Chart
Monitoring and supervision costs
Defendants pay their own way in Utah: ignition interlock devices run roughly $60–$100 per month plus installation, ankle monitors and 24/7 testing programs bill daily fees, supervised probation carries monthly supervision charges, and treatment and classes are billed separately. Over a typical case, these quietly add thousands of dollars.
Insurance and employment
Expect years of sharply higher auto insurance premiums after any DUI conviction. Background checks reveal the conviction to employers and landlords, professional licensing boards may require reporting, and commercial drivers face separate CDL disqualification rules that apply even when the DUI happened off the clock.
Enhancement exposure
Perhaps the most expensive penalty of all is invisible: every conviction becomes a prior. A conviction today — including an impaired driving plea under § 41-6a-502.5 — counts toward felony enhancement for the next 10 years. Fighting hard on a first or second offense is how you avoid mandatory jail and felony exposure later.
Monitoring Tools Courts Use: Interlock, Ankle Monitors, and 24/7 Sobriety
Utah courts increasingly rely on technology rather than jail beds. Depending on your offense level and history, a sentence or pretrial release order may include an ignition interlock device that prevents your car from starting after a failed breath sample, a continuous alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet that samples your skin for alcohol around the clock, or enrollment in a 24/7 sobriety program requiring twice-daily breath tests — a model Utah authorized by statute and piloted in Weber County. Each comes with daily or monthly fees the defendant pays, and each creates a new way to violate probation: a missed or failed test can mean an arrest warrant and the jail time the device was meant to replace. If you are ordered onto monitoring, treat it as seriously as the underlying case.
Special Cases: Drivers the Standard Chart Does Not Cover
Several categories of drivers face different or additional penalties. Drivers under 21 fall under Utah’s Not-a-Drop law, with license consequences for any detectable alcohol. Commercial drivers face a 0.04% standard in a commercial vehicle and a one-year CDL disqualification for any first DUI conviction — even one in a personal car. And drivers with controlled substances or their metabolites in their system can be convicted of drug DUI without any showing of impairment at all. If any of these describe you, the standard penalty chart understates your exposure, and specific legal advice matters even more.
How Penalties Get Reduced
Utah’s mandatory minimums bind judges only after a conviction on the original charge. Real-world outcomes turn on what happens before that point: suppression of an unlawful stop or defective breath test through suppression motions, negotiation to impaired driving or a non-alcohol offense, plea agreements that substitute compensatory service and treatment for jail, and — in the right case — dismissal or acquittal. The earlier an attorney gets into the evidence, the more of these doors stay open.
The single most damaging mistake we see is pleading guilty at the first court appearance just to “get it over with.” A quick guilty plea locks in every mandatory minimum on this page, waives every defense, and creates a prior that raises the stakes for a decade. Nothing about a DUI case improves by rushing it — and almost everything can improve with a careful review of the stop, the tests, and the paperwork.
Brady Stuart and Kelly Cardon of Cardon, Stuart & Associates have defended DUI cases in justice and district courts across Utah from their Ogden office at 3856 Washington Blvd. The consultation is free, confidential, and available 24/7 at (801) 627-1110. Se Habla Español.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the penalties for a first DUI in Utah?
A first DUI is a class B misdemeanor carrying a minimum of 48 hours of jail, compensatory service, or home confinement, roughly $1,405 or more in fines and surcharges, a 120-day license suspension, 18 months of ignition interlock restriction, and 2 years of alcohol-restricted driver status.
What happens for a second DUI within 10 years in Utah?
A second DUI within 10 years carries a minimum of 240 hours, 10 days, in jail or 5 days plus 30 days of electronically monitored home confinement, fines around $1,560 and up, a 2-year license revocation, 3 years of interlock restriction, 10 years of alcohol-restricted status, and mandatory supervised probation.
Is a third DUI in Utah a felony?
Yes. A third DUI within 10 years is a third-degree felony under Utah Code 41-6a-503, punishable by zero to five years in prison. Even if probation is granted, the court must impose at least 1,500 hours, about 62 days, of jail.
Do I lose my license automatically after a Utah DUI arrest?
Yes, unless you act. The Driver License Division imposes an automatic suspension, 120 days for a first offense and 2 years for a repeat offense, unless you request an administrative hearing within 10 calendar days of the arrest. This deadline is separate from your court case.
Can DUI penalties be reduced in Utah?
Frequently. Suppression of unlawful evidence, negotiated reductions to impaired driving under 41-6a-502.5, jail alternatives like compensatory service and home confinement, and outright dismissals are all realistic outcomes depending on the evidence. A free consultation with Cardon, Stuart and Associates at (801) 627-1110 will tell you what is achievable in your case.