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Ignition interlock violation costs: what a failed test, a missed calibration or tampering adds
An ignition interlock requirement does not end at installation. Failed breath tests, missed service visits and tampering each carry consequences — and they are priced in two different systems: the licensing agency can extend the requirement or revoke the license, and the court can punish tampering as a new crime. This page separates the two, using Florida's interlock statute, which publishes the clearest figures in the country.
Three kinds of violation, three different price tags
The violations providers report fall into three groups. A failed or refused rolling test is a data event: the device records a breath sample above its set point, or a missed retest, and the report goes to the monitoring authority. A missed calibration or service appointment is a compliance event: the device must be inspected and its data downloaded on the schedule in the service agreement, and missing the window can lock the vehicle out. Tampering and circumvention — disconnecting the device, having another person blow, driving a vehicle without a device — are conduct offenses that statutes punish directly. Only the third group has a published criminal fine in the states covered here. For the first two groups, the consequence is time: the requirement runs longer, and every extra month is another month of provider lease and calibration charges under the driver's own service contract. Those contract prices are set by the provider, not by a state schedule, so this page does not quote device prices as if they were fees — see our ignition interlock costs page for how installation and monthly charges are structured.
Florida: § 316.1937 publishes the penalties
Florida Statutes § 316.1937 makes it unlawful to tamper with or circumvent a court-ordered ignition interlock device, to request or solicit another person to blow into the device or start the vehicle, to blow into another person's device, and to knowingly lend or rent a vehicle without a device to a person restricted to interlock-equipped vehicles. Upon conviction of a violation of that section, § 316.1937(5)(a) directs the department to revoke the person's driving privilege for one year from the date of conviction — and for five years upon conviction of a separate violation during the same required-use period. That revocation is in addition to any other penalty, and it restarts the practical cost clock: reinstatement afterward carries the Florida DHSMV alcohol-related fees described in our reinstatement guide ($75 revocation fee plus the $130 administrative fee for an alcohol or drug related offense).
Where the person convicted holds no driver license, § 316.1937(5)(b) substitutes money: a fine of not less than $250 or more than $500 for each violation, which becomes a lien against the motor vehicle used in the violation if it is not paid. The underlying offense is a first-degree misdemeanor under Florida's interlock scheme, carrying the general first-degree misdemeanor exposure of up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000 under §§ 775.082–775.083. A violation can also be a probation violation in the original DUI case, which exposes the person to the sentence the court suspended in that case — a consequence no fee schedule can price, and one this page states without a dollar figure.
| Interlock violation — Florida § 316.1937 | Published consequence |
|---|---|
| Tampering, circumvention, soliciting or providing a blow, lending an unequipped vehicle — first conviction (§ 316.1937(5)(a), (6)) | License revocation for 1 year from conviction, in addition to any other penalty |
| Second conviction during the same required-use period (§ 316.1937(5)(a)) | License revocation for 5 years |
| Violation by a person with no driver license (§ 316.1937(5)(b)) | Fine $250–$500 per violation; unpaid fine becomes a lien on the vehicle |
| Failed test or missed calibration reported to FLHSMV | No published state fine; review through a licensed DUI program and possible extension of the required-use period |
Sources: Florida Statutes §§ 316.1937, 775.082, 775.083; Florida DHSMV ignition interlock program guidance and fee schedule ($12 interlock-related DHSMV fee where a restricted license is granted). 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 calculatorFailed tests and missed calibrations: the honest position
Readers searching this topic usually want a price for a failed test. In Florida there is no published state fine for a failed test standing alone. What the Florida DHSMV process does publish is a procedure: violation reports from the provider go to the department, the driver is notified, and the driver must contact a licensed DUI program in the county where they live, work or attend school to schedule a review — and repeated violations can extend the time the device must remain installed before the restriction can be cleared. The costs that follow are the program's own charges under its state-regulated fee structure and the extra months of the driver's provider contract. Neither is a single statewide figure, and any page that quotes one as an official "failed test fee" is inventing it. Missed calibrations work the same way in most states: the device may prevent the vehicle from starting after the service window lapses, and the charge to restore service is in the provider agreement, not in a statute.
What is published, and worth noting, is the small DHSMV interlock fee itself: Florida's fee schedule lists a $12 ignition interlock fee where a restricted license is granted, separate from the provider's installation and monthly charges. California likewise publishes only its DMV-side fees — the $125 administrative per se reissue fee — while device charges remain provider-set. The pattern is consistent: states publish the license consequences and their own small administrative fees; the device market publishes nothing official.
Common questions
- Is having someone else blow into the device a separate crime?
- In Florida, yes — for both people. Section 316.1937(6) makes it unlawful to solicit the blow and unlawful to provide it, and a conviction carries the one-year revocation (five years for a second conviction in the same period) described above.
- Does one failed start-up test violate probation?
- A failed test is recorded and reported; whether it becomes a probation violation is a decision for the supervising authority and the court on the full record, including mouth-alcohol explanations the device data may support. This page prices the statutory consequences and does not predict that decision.
- How much does a violation add in device fees?
- There is no published state figure. The added device cost is the extra months of your own provider's lease and calibration charges if the required-use period is extended — check your service agreement for the monthly amount that applies to you.
Related cost guides: ignition interlock costs, license reinstatement fees, DUI probation and supervision fees, and hardship and restricted license costs.
Sources: Florida Statutes § 316.1937; Florida DHSMV ignition interlock and driver-license fee schedules. 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.