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DUI on an ATV or snowmobile costs: Wisconsin forfeitures and Minnesota DWI law off-road

Northern states wrote impaired-operation laws specifically for snowmobiles and ATVs, and they do not all work the same way. Wisconsin prices a first intoxicated snowmobiling offense as a forfeiture of $400–$550. Minnesota runs snowmobile and ATV impairment through its DWI chapter, with a one-year ban on operating either machine added on top. This page prices both models from the statutes.

Wisconsin: a dedicated intoxicated-snowmobiling law

Wisconsin Statutes § 350.101 prohibits operating a snowmobile while under the influence of an intoxicant, with an alcohol concentration at or above the state's per se level, or with a detectable amount of a restricted controlled substance in the blood. Section 350.104 adds an implied-consent and refusal framework for snowmobile operators. The penalties live in § 350.11(3)(a), and they escalate by prior convictions counted within five years. A first offense is a civil forfeiture — not less than $400 nor more than $550. A person with one prior conviction under the intoxicated snowmobiling or refusal law within five years is fined not less than $300 nor more than $1,000 and imprisoned not less than five days nor more than six months. With two or more priors in that window, the fine is $600–$2,000 and imprisonment is 30 days to one year in the county jail.

Wisconsin's ATV law is a mirror: chapter 23 and § 23.33 carry the parallel prohibition and penalty structure for all-terrain vehicles, and an intoxicated ATV conviction can also affect the person's motor vehicle driving record under the provisions the statutes cross-reference. Court costs and statutory surcharges are added to Wisconsin forfeitures and fines by the court, and because those add-ons are set by separate fee statutes and county practice, this page quotes the § 350.11 ranges themselves rather than a combined figure. Note what a first Wisconsin snowmobile offense is not: it is not priced like a first Wisconsin OWI in a car, and it does not carry the car-OWI fine structure. Our Wisconsin DUI costs page covers the highway offense separately.

Minnesota: chapter 169A applies, plus a one-year machine ban

Minnesota Statutes § 169A.20, subdivision 1b, makes it a crime to operate or be in physical control of a snowmobile or an all-terrain vehicle anywhere in the state while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, knowingly under the influence of a hazardous substance that substantially impairs operation, or with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more measured within two hours. Section 169A.20 is the same DWI section that covers cars, so the criminal degree structure — fourth-degree through first-degree DWI under §§ 169A.24–169A.27, graded by prior incidents and aggravating factors — supplies the offense level.

Two Minnesota provisions then tailor the result to off-road machines. Section 169A.07 provides that a first-time DWI violator whose offense involved only an off-road recreational vehicle or motorboat, and who has no qualified prior impaired-driving incident, is subject only to the criminal penalty for the applicable DWI degree and to loss of operating privileges under the machine-specific statute — and is expressly not subject to the license-revocation sanctions of the implied-consent law, plate impoundment, long-term monitoring, or the repeat-offender assessment provisions that apply to car cases. Section 84.91, subdivision 1, supplies the machine sanction: a person convicted of violating § 169A.20 on a snowmobile or ATV, or who refuses or fails testing, is prohibited from operating a snowmobile or ATV for one year, on notice from the commissioner. A Minnesota misdemeanor — the level of a fourth-degree DWI — carries the general penalty in § 609.02 of up to 90 days' imprisonment, a fine of up to $1,000, or both; gross-misdemeanor degrees carry up to a year and a fine of up to $3,000 under the same section. Those are the published ceilings; the sentence in a given case is the court's.

Sources: Wisconsin Statutes §§ 350.101, 350.104, 350.11(3)(a) (Wisconsin Legislature, docs.legis.wisconsin.gov); Minnesota Statutes §§ 169A.20 subd. 1b, 169A.07, 84.91, 609.02 (Minnesota Revisor of Statutes). Last verified: October 2026.

Does an off-road conviction reach your driver license?

That is where the two models genuinely diverge, and where summaries most often mislead. In Minnesota, § 169A.07 shields a qualifying first-time off-road-only offender from the implied-consent license revocation and plate impoundment that a car DWI would bring — the license consequence the statute substitutes is the one-year loss of snowmobile and ATV operating privileges. But the conviction is still a DWI conviction under chapter 169A, and Minnesota counts qualified prior impaired-driving incidents across vehicle types for later cases, so an off-road DWI can raise the degree of a later highway DWI. In Wisconsin, the snowmobile penalty ladder in § 350.11(3)(a) counts priors under the snowmobiling and refusal laws for its own five-year escalation, separately from the highway OWI ladder.

Recovery and storage of a machine left on a trail or lake after an arrest are private charges set by the operator who retrieves it; no statute in either state publishes a rate, so this page does not estimate one. The same is true of trail-permit consequences beyond the operating ban the statutes state.

Common questions

Can you refuse a breath test on a snowmobile?

Both states built refusal frameworks for this. Wisconsin § 350.104(5) violations are punished on the same ladder as the intoxicated-operation offense in § 350.11(3)(a). Minnesota § 84.91 makes refusal or test failure on a snowmobile or ATV a trigger for the same one-year operating prohibition as a conviction.

Is a first Wisconsin snowmobile offense a crime?

At the first-offense level it is a forfeiture — a civil money penalty of $400–$550 — rather than a criminal fine. It becomes criminal, with jail exposure, at the one-prior and two-prior levels in § 350.11(3)(a).

Does the 0.08 limit apply off-road?

Yes in both states: Wisconsin § 350.101 and Minnesota § 169A.20 subd. 1b both include an alcohol-concentration prong at the same 0.08 level as highway law, alongside the impairment prong.

Sources: Wisconsin Statutes §§ 350.101, 350.104, 350.11; Minnesota Statutes §§ 169A.20, 169A.07, 84.91, 609.02. Last verified: October 2026. This page is educational information about costs only — not legal advice. Laws and fees change; confirm current figures with your court and your state's driver-licensing agency.