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DUI with property damage costs: the first-degree misdemeanour step-up
A DUI that bends metal costs differently from a DUI that hurts no one and breaks nothing. This page prices the property-damage step-up in the states whose statutes were verified for this site — centred on Florida, where § 316.193(3) regrades the offence itself — and separates the criminal fine from the restitution and repair bills that follow in a different column of the case.
Damage regrades the offence in Florida
Florida is the clearest property-damage model in the published statutes. A standard first DUI under § 316.193(2) carries a fine of $500 to $1,000 and up to six months. Section 316.193(3) then provides that a person who is in violation of the DUI subsection, operates a vehicle, and by reason of that operation causes or contributes to causing damage to the property or person of another commits a misdemeanour of the first degree. Under §§ 775.082 and 775.083 that grade carries up to one year and a fine of up to $1,000. The fine ceiling does not move; the custody ceiling doubles. Florida's own DHSMV penalty summary states the tier the same way: a DUI misdemeanour conviction involving property damage or personal injury is a first-degree misdemeanour, not more than a $1,000 fine or one year's imprisonment.
Two neighbouring Florida figures are easy to confuse with this tier and are kept separate on this page. Leaving the scene of a crash involving only property damage is its own second-degree misdemeanour under § 316.061, priced in our hit-and-run guide — a driver can face both charges from one crash, but they are different offences with different ceilings. And the standard first-DUI stack that still applies alongside the step-up — at least 50 hours of community service, vehicle impoundment or immobilization, and licence revocation of 180 days to one year — is priced in our Florida penalties breakdown rather than repeated here as if the damage tier created it.
The damage tier and what follows it
The largest dollars in a property-damage DUI are usually not in the criminal column at all. Restitution is ordered to make the property owner whole for the proven loss — a repaired fence, a replaced mailbox, another driver's vehicle — and its amount is the amount of that loss, proved case by case. No statute publishes an average restitution figure, and this page does not invent one. The same discipline applies to the driver's own vehicle: repair or total-loss cost is a function of the crash, not of the DUI statute, and towing and storage after a crash arrest are priced in our towing and impound guide from the sources named there.
| DUI component | Published amount |
|---|---|
| Florida — DUI causing property damage or personal injury (§ 316.193(3)(c)(1)) | Misdemeanour of the first degree; up to 1 year; fine up to $1,000 under §§ 775.082 and 775.083 |
| Florida — standard first DUI, for comparison (§ 316.193(2)) | Fine $500–$1,000; up to 6 months — the custody ceiling the damage tier doubles |
| Florida — leaving the scene of a property-damage crash (§ 316.061) | Separate second-degree misdemeanour, up to 60 days in published summaries — a distinct offence, priced in the hit-and-run guide |
| Restitution for the damaged property (§ 316.193 cases) | Ordered on the proven loss to the property owner; no published schedule or average — never estimated on this page |
| Vehicle impoundment or immobilization after conviction (§ 316.193(6)) | 10 days on a first conviction, 30 and 90 days at the repeat tiers in the DHSMV summary — durations published, vendor charges not published as a state tariff |
Sources: Florida Statutes §§ 316.193(2)–(3), 316.061, 775.082 and 775.083 (Online Sunshine statute text and FindLaw reproduction); Florida DHSMV DUI and Administrative Suspension Laws summary. Last verified: October 2026.
The fine is one line in a longer stack — court costs, program fees, interlock, supervision and reinstatement all bill separately. Price the layers that apply to your case in the calculator.
Open the DUI cost calculatorWhat no authority publishes for a damage case
No authority publishes a typical total for a DUI with property damage, because the total is dominated by items no schedule sets: the restitution figure follows the damage actually proved, the driver's own repair bill follows the crash, and any civil claim runs separately from the criminal case. Court costs are set by the sentencing court and programme tuition is billed by the provider. There is also no published figure for the effect of a property-damage DUI conviction on car insurance prices in Florida, and none is estimated here, however the conviction is graded.
Read the criminal row of the table for what it is: a ceiling on the fine and custody the state may impose for the offence, not a prediction of what a particular case will cost. A first offender whose crash caused modest damage may be sentenced well inside the frame; the frame is what the statute publishes, and the frame is what this page reports. For the injury step beyond this tier, see our DUI causing injury guide; for the death tier, our DUI vehicular homicide guide.
Common questions
- Is DUI with property damage a felony in Florida?
- No. Under § 316.193(3) it is a misdemeanour of the first degree — up to one year and a fine of up to $1,000. Felony grading begins at the serious-bodily-injury and repeat-offence tiers.
- Does the $1,000 fine include repairing the damage?
- No. The fine is paid to the state. Restitution for the property owner's proven loss is a separate order, set case by case, with no published schedule.
- Can a driver be charged with both property-damage DUI and leaving the scene?
- They are separate offences — § 316.193(3) for the damage DUI and § 316.061 for leaving a property-damage crash — and one crash can produce both charges.
Related cost guides: DUI causing injury costs, DUI vehicular homicide costs, DUI hit-and-run costs, towing and impound costs, Florida DUI penalties breakdown.
Sources: Florida Statutes §§ 316.193(2)–(3), 316.061, 775.082 and 775.083; Florida DHSMV DUI and Administrative Suspension Laws summary. 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.